Aye, that's my take. I share your begrudging admiration for what Canelo's done, roughy, in moving up and slaying a boogeyman quite a bit larger than himself - but I just can't reconcile naming him "p4p #1" given the gulf in skill between himself and guys Crawford and Lomachenko, who also have strong résumés of their own, if not quite on par with his (but also without some of the asterisks or caveats). He's absolutely top 5, though.
Never been a big fan of Canelo, but that position is becoming increasingly difficult to justify. His resume is just too easy to pick holes in though.
It wasn't stunning. It was what most people expected going into the fight. Yarde was on the verge of stopping him.
Not a fan but I begrudgingly respect Canelo and I can't deny his talents and skills in the ring. I still don't give him a pass for his drug use but he's proved me time again that he's a legit fighter. Have to give credit where it's due.
I don't think that the Kovalev fight does anything that elevates Canelo on the p4p list, simply because it wasn't a p4p performance. I would argue that one could take the skillset of any top 5 p4p fighter into the ring against Kovalev and the results would have been more pronounced. One could argue convincingly that Kovalev was winning the fight without much effort until the stoppage which in itself is suspect. I didn't see any superior skills on display from Canelo. Nothing that would cause me to elevate him in the p4p rankings. That's just my opinion.
Loma Inoe and Crawford may indeed have more talent than Canelo, but until they put together the resume Canelo has, or even come relatively close, they do not belong in the same conversation.
I hate the "boxer A winning is better for boxing" argument, I heard it in the first Canelo GGG fight right before the cards were read. What is good for boxing is an even playing field and accurate judging.
I was not all that impressed with Canelo to be honest. Kovalev really didn't seem to try to take out Canelo. I just can't get over how easy Mayweather beat Canelo. Was Mayweather really that good or Canelo is not that good. Canelo's fights are boring as hell and I was shocked he was able to stop Kovalev.
Canelo is #1 since the Golovkin win (considering that prior to the rematch GGG was #1). it's by far the biggest name on anyone's resume and he has other big names also. So, no matter what I think about Canelo not actually winning in any of the Golovkin fights, he officially should be recognized as the best. It is what it is. Writing this, I have no bias, I don't even like Canelo and I am a fan of Loma, Inoue, Spence and GGG.
