While others bash them: 2 of em, 1) Tim Bradley, I consider him a great fighter. He went nip and tuck with Pacquiao twice. That's something a Juan Manuel Marquez would do, and he gets classified as one of the best Mexicans... 2) Canelo Alvarez, not a cherry picker! Always praises those who paved the landscape before him... Next to Manny Pacquiao, I can't name one other fighter other than Canelo to be the number 2 spot in excitement that he brings to the table over all these years, just because he was outboxed by a Terrence Crawford who didn't nearly come close to beating the pulp out of him, it was a typical fight , a boxing match, not a showcase or a brilliant performance... I don't think he warrants all the backlash, Timmy neither!!! Tim has a solid resume, the Ruslan Provodnikov fight, Devon Alexander was pound for pound at the time... When he fought Joel cassamayor it looked like his punches didn't have much power behind them for a fighter that visibly physically strong. I'll give him that as a detriment. Canelo fought a who's who of everybody. He was just doing his job, fighting! And looked sensational doing it. Peace!!!
Benavidez. A unique combination of size, speed , power, volume = killer. While I laugh at the critics harping on about his bad feet and poor defense. Years ago when I saw a few minutes of highlights I instantly said to myself, Canelo is never fighting this kid and if he does he would get whipped. Some people are so blind. Canelo wasn't though. Canelo has always been a boring fighter. Can barely think of of his fights that were exciting or worth rewatching. He is a fabrication.
Ryang Ho Han (this giant zainichi can be the most dangerous at 115 lbs he remind me Yota Sato),Tomoya Tsuboi (the most serious prospect at 115 lbs and he can be a serious threat for the elite in 118 / 122 lbs) , Moreno Fendero (still the most serious French prospect), David Surov, Rafael Espinoza (surely one of the most great in history at 126 lbs) , Seiya Tsutsumi (currently the best 118 lbs now we need the unification), Fernando Daniel Martinez (I'm sure we will see him again even if he had a lot of wars in his career I'm sure he will be back at 115 lbs). They can be in the history of their weight classes. Three very underrated world champions in boxing of the last years Jean-Baptiste Mendy very charismatic and very technical, Daniel Ponce De León southpaw pressure Mexican with a high volume of shots and puncher, Ryoichi Taguchi started his career very modestly and his defeat against Inoue awakened his potential; he defended his world title several times before obtaining The Ring belt and becoming one of the best 108 lbs.
shakur, bam and benavidez are 3 i said were special the first time i saw them fight, before they had done anything significant.
JMM and Bradley are nothing alike. JMM did a TON more than compete and later beat Manny so please dont minimize him or his efforts to make Bradley look better. Canelo was a great fighter. His prime was amazing to watch. No, Canelo is not the GOAT nor the GOAT Mexican, but its funny how things work. Canelo came into the game under GBP and I'll be damned if he didnt have an extremely similar career to DLH...fought everyone, won most of the time, left people hungry for more, had some controversy. I'll be damned if thats not DLH part 2.
I was always big on Crawford. Always ranked him as an ATG. Always knew Crawford would dominate given the platform. PBC - the same promo company that ducked Bud for years - was actuall the telltale sign. Bud always passed the eye test but PBCs refusal to let ANYONE fight Bud spoke VOLUMES. Danny ducked Bud in 2019, Thurman in 2022, Spence fight was hyped as early as 2018 but Haymon let it marinate. Porter, Bud's actual friend, was the only one to fight Bud and even that came pretty late in the game. Hell, Roach "swerved" (NOT ducked) Bud when the Manny fight was talked about ~2016-2017. Roach trained Postol and after the fight repeatedly stated that he "didnt like Crawford for Manny." Genuinely, I said it years ago and I'll say it again, Bud wouldve beaten them all had they took the fight. By the way, full disclosure, I had Bud LOSING the Madrimov fight. Bud wouldve had a much better resume had those guys stepped up but its hard to not be impressed by a 4 division champ who was undisputed at 3 different weights.
To be fair, Benavidez did have a pretty shitty defense years ago. He mainly shelled up in his high guard and waited for his moment, its why he went life and death with Ronald Gavril of all people. But, he kept improving and improving and now his defense is really damn good.
Bradley ducked Khan and Canelo always faltered against anyone who could box and move. If Canelo didn't have an iron chin he would have been less than mediocre.
Bam hasn't beaten anybody in their prime. A 33 year old at 115 is like a 40 year old at heavyweight. Small men age like milk.
I really liked Keith Thurman at his peak, 2015/2016 time. After Porter and then Garcia, i thought he was prepped for a real hot streak. Shame he lost interest.
well, either we have different opinions of what prime means, or you haven't seen much of bam. if youre exaggerating for effect, then you're just exaggerating, not really concerned with reality. from 108-115 who has bam missed that you think has a chance because they are prime?
