Duran vs the following

When you're the middleweight champion you have the option of holding middleweight title fights at middleweight. Don't you think? Screw anyone who doesn't what to fight you at the middleweight limit if that's what YOU want. Being a champ in a weight division has some benefits and this is one of them.

 

True, true, true...GGG is the MW champion at 160 pounds. Let his challengers meet him at the middleweight 160 lbs. His challengers know in their heart they don't have a prayer of beating him at 160 .
Canelo knows he cannot beat GGG at 160 which forever has been the MW division.Why should GGG bend to their silly demands ? Stick to your guns Gennady. They truly fear you and I cannot blame them...

 

I agree of course. I think the circumstances so far for GGG to get a decent fight are outrageous. I WANT him to be great but to do this he has to take one big fight for **** pay and prove himself because these C level fighters aren't cutting it. I don't support what Canelo did with that 155 catchweight which was complete bull****. But nevertheless GGG would be making well over a million dollars from the fight with Canelo. Money isn't an issue he's just greedy no denying that. I could retire off of a million dollars today and be happily set for the rest of a good long life.

Look at Hagler, he made like $40,000 combined from all of his fights until he won the title. GGG makes at least 10x that in 1 fight.

 

I agree but GGG isn't the A side. The A side get to set the terms. The B side (GGG) shows up to fight. Now if he wins and becomes the A side he can fight at 160 all he wants. As him and every middleweight title holder SHOULD.

In boxing you have to make sacrifices to advance. GGG isn't going to get anywhere unless he makes some sacrifices. Now he has to fight Bums until fall of next year and who knows how good he will be then. It will most likely be too late.

 

Whether he's the A side or not is a matter of opinion. As far as I'm considered he's good enough to have the benefits associated with being a title holder at 160 and if he wants to fight at 160 all the power to him. Mark me down as someone who is no fan of catchweights. You wants someone's title then fight him at the weight allowed and go get if from him. Don't negotiate for it, fight for it.

 

Very well said.

I think GGG's plan all along was to clean out the division, get a big money fight with Canelo, and then start moving up the divisions.

I can't blame Canelo for not wanting to fight GGG, but at the same time I do blame him.

I'm thinking about what Tommy Farr said about Louis during the buildup to the fight. "I will beat him, or die trying." Said it with a completely straight face.

 

Canelo is the bigger draw therefore he is the A side. I completely agree with everything else you said.

 

In my opinion who the bigger draw is should only relate to who gets paid what, it shouldn't have anything to do with what size two middleweights titleholder's are going to fight at.

 

Glad to hear it. :good

 

As said before GGG has shown advanced technical skills but he's not exactly a marvel of skills like a Freddie Steele. Great footwork in terms of closing off the ring, great jab, impressive shot selection and high level ring intelligence. He's very powerfull but his main attribute is his physical strength. The man could pull a plough. He is however stiff and Robotic and not exactly hard to hit and that imo would be his downfall vs Duran who would out slick GGG if GGG can't impose his will on Duran.

 

What has this got to do with anything? My point is GGG has not fought anybody to be put on such a high pedestal. The Hagler thing is irrelevant. If we put Hagler in GGG'S position then he most definitely would have question marks over how great his ability really is just like GGG has but it's beside the point. My point still stands that GGG has not been tested and is vastly overrated. I honestly believe that the Mayweather of Canelo vintage could have stepped up and looked good against GGG.

 

You have not understood my question, so what is the use of arguing the point. I have seen hundreds of ringside bouts with great fighters of the past plying their trade and my gut feeling is that were GGG to have fought in the days of Hagler, he would have more than held his own...
You sir are contradicting yourself about Hagler fighting the same opponents today as GGG has and not understanding that he would STILL be Marvin Hagler today and in any era, namely a great fighter no matter his opposition. Think about it if you CAN ?

 

Sure GGG may well be a fighter of great ability fighting in a poor era and may well have more than held his own in any era but there will always be question marks over how good he really is if he's only beating up stiffs. You sir are not understanding my point.

 

I agree with all of the stuff in bold. And I agree that he can be a bit stiff but I don't think he's really all that robotic (and I think he's gotten much less stiff over the years).

I suspect that our main disagreement is that I don't see Duran as being nearly as formidable at middleweight as you do.

Also, though Golovkin has not yet faced elite competition, he's been so dominant and exhibited such an impressive degree of skills and physical talent that I would favor him against many very good middleweights. I could be wrong but that's how I would put down my money. I get your disagreement with my line of reasoning--especially if you believe that Duran was a monster at middleweight--but I don't see why you find my take to be so unreasonable.

 

I don't think Duran is a monster at middleweight, Roy Jones would have humiliated him, Hopkins wins easy, Monzon breaks him down, Steele stops him. Stylistically Duran has a style that could give GGG no ends of trouble imo. This is what I'm basing it on. Duran looked good at middleweight Purley because of the styles of the fighters he faced played into his hands. I feel GGG'S style would suit Duran.