A still reigning champ, a man that brought respect to the sport, a proven dominant champ.... He is what boxing is all about. A highly successful individual in his field is GGG, an if American, half the haters would have him no1 ever
Maybe not number one mate but they'd have him rated highly for certain. Being such a great opponent against Canelo who he honestly beat must mean he's a great fighter in his own right. He dominated the middleweight division and had Sergio Martinez, Sturm, Cotto and even Canelo running from him during his prime. That was of course until age finally seemed to take its toll and he looked beatable against Jacobs who's a very good fighter in his own right having given Canelo a good fight too. He's dominated fighters who'd usually give trouble to even the best around and proven his quality. His resume is unfortunately lacking a little bit but maybe he can do something significant with the remaining fights he has. He's overrated by a load for sure but head to head he is a bit of a monster fighter to face for absolutely anyone. He is one tough out in the ring.
This part of the video (timestamped) says everything you need to know about him. This content is protected
At his peak of popularity, he had some comp for the #1 spot. Ward, Kov, Loma, Roman Gonzales. I really don't think you can place all the blame on Americans for not putting him #1 on a consistant basis. That is a tough group to get a great deal of seperation from.
His reign of terror at 160 was probably the greatest streaks ever. His level of comp compared to Hopkins and Hagler falls short, but I can't argue if people put him #1. A prime G gives every MW great troubles.
I don't know about other boxers and also about Mr Sturm, maybe he was willing to fight vs GGG? The biggest problem that they does have managers and boxer's promoters and event's promoter. Looks that really they did not had gave him Sturm to fight with. In order to place fight on card you need accept from event's promoter and boxing commision. Not only from boxer and his manager and team. Yeah, looks that they did not had gave GGG some 1-2-3 possible marquee fights in europe and good for him that he had moved to US.