Compare George Foreman's pre-title opponents...

This is only guess work, I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'm confident Geale, Murray, Lemieux and Macklin's were likely ranked. Macklin may have been just outside.

 

In Macklin and Murray you have to fighters that ran the lineal Middleweight champion close. Murray performed slightly better, Macklin was competitive at the very least and also scored a flash knockdown (might even have been a glove touching the canvas). Both also ran the second best Middleweight in the world even closer, Macklin's case likely stronger here and may well have deserved the nod.

Just a bit of insight for you guys that aren't so up to date with some of the more modern stuff, although I have been getting increasingly out of touch with it myself. The lineal champ these two faced, Sergio Martinez is one of the weaker champions the Middleweight division has seen, although I expect most of you already knew that last bit.

 

Apologies, I believe Sturm was ranked 3rd, 2 behind the champ

 

And it's not like Foreman's wins were in a style that were that much more emphatic in comparison to Golovkin's. Especially if we are to concede that Golovkin has faced better opposition. I guess it's still up for debate, but minus the 3 wins BE listed, I'm seriously struggling to find another name on George's resume that qualifies as a good win pre-title