You’ll often see people when giving their takes on X fighter against Y, for example, Crawford against Ray Leonard, that Crawford would lose because Ray Leonard fought much better competition than him. And this is a valid point, don’t get it twisted. However, I have an issue when someone says said fighter has *no* chance whatsoever based on that reasoning. History shows otherwise. You’ll have plenty of cases where a fighter with a far inferior resume topples the more accomplished, greater fighter. Ray Robinson against Randy Turpin, Muhammad Ali against Ken Norton, Evander Holyfield against Riddick Bowe, Riddick Bowe against Andrew Galota, Wladimir Klitschko against Tyson Fury, Ezzard Charles against Nino Valdez, Anthony Joshua against Andy Ruiz, and the list goes on and on and on. So while the level of opposition is indeed a key factor in determining a fighters ability, it is not the only way to go about it. Because of this, I feel one shouldn’t be immediately dismissive of hypotheticals like, say, Usyk Vs Holmes etc, and actually think beyond just their resumes.
True, but fantasy fights exist in a world where there is any justice whatsoever and winning countless grueling fights against champion after champion counts for more than being born as a mutant with light heavyweight arms attached to a lightweight's body. Unfortunately we don't live in that world so I'm sure lightning fast Gumby would brutalize the guy who fought LaMotta six times while giving up a whole weight class with same day weigh ins.
Yep valid point. If it was solely down to resume and achievements then Teo Lopez isn't beating Lomachenko......... or further to that in the Kambosos v Teo fight people would play the "Teo beat Loma and therefore Kambosos stands no chance... who's he beat" card. Yes take it into consideration, but it cannot be the be all and end all. People already use it against Wilder........ but that boy has god given power that could knock any man into the next dimension. It took a 280 pound mammoth and genetic freak to beat him whilst getting put on his ass himself 4 times in the process.
People use resumes a bit too much trying to say who'd win. "Who did XXX beat that makes you think he'd beat ZZZ? or "Who did XXX knock out to let you think he'd KO ZZZ?" None of those are realistic arguments, but seem to happen here daily.
I wouldn't call resumes overrated. They are one of the best measuring sticks we have when sizing up two fighters abilities in hypotheticals. Sure they aren't a guarantee as proven by your upset examples. Anything can happen in this sport. Any given Sunday, and given fight. But when I want to make a point, I'm going to dig through records and look at opponents.
I agree ,it's not the only tool to use in hypothetical matchups. The first judgement I make in a fantasy fight is style matchup, has either fighter faced this style before and then against who. The Ali Norton reference is a great example, Norton's style was a nightmare for Ali and he literally had no answer. But against Foreman Norton was crushed so that's why I put style #1 when matching fighters. Then comes resume , chin, toughness and intangibles. It's certainly not a foolproof system but in general it works
I agree with your point here. But I believe most of the victories you use as examples were considered upsets in some capacity.
I've always thought that when we talk about X fighter fighting Y fighter, we talk about possibilities. If I say that mayweather would win to durán on points, I mean that I think that the chances of that happening are >50% at least. By no mean I think any fighter, no matter how great he is, can win to durán with a 100% certainty. Any ATG sends his oponent to dream land faster than he blinks. Thinking that an atg cannot win a fight is ridiculous, of course they can, all of them, they are atgs ffs. But some of them have more chances than others.
Well yeah, you have to specify are we talking legacy vs legacy or are we talking H2H. Also resumes of older fighters are less impressive to me when considering how much the demographics have evolved over the years
