Gennady Golovkin - All Time Ranking?

Never done a full ranking, but probably not in the top 10. Middleweight is historically stacked, GGG has been in a pretty weak era and hasn't even really dominated.

 

He passes the eye test easily, has freakish power and has displayed good longevity. Sadly his resume is thin compared to the all time greats at middleweight, not through any fault of his own. He's beaten all of his available opponents that got in the ring with him, depending how you scored the Alvarez fight. Sadly the amount of fighters that were reluctant to mix it up with him will effect him in an all time great sense, although no fault of his own. H2H he is a formidable opponent for any middleweight in history.

 

Top 5. Dominant, long-reigning champion; very good skills, extraordinary power, and an excellent chin. Arguably at least even money against any middleweight who’s ever lived.

 

For how stacked Middlweight is, consider on top of the ones mentioned:
Tommy Ryan
Kid McCoy
Philidephia Jack O'Brien
Roy Jones Jr
James Toney
Joey Giardello
Teddy Yarosz
Vince Dundee
Marcel Thil

 

Flirting with top 15 even with a bit of career to go.

 

You have to give him a good chance against most who've been middle champs. Robinson, monzon and Hagler beat him but even then its not easy. Jones and Toney ,not entirely decided .He's the type of fighter that most would struggle with, what ever there skill set .

 

This

 

He's a great fighter but middleweight is a stacked division historically so he possibly wouldn't make the list.

 

His resume is very thin for an ATG, and his dominance hasn't carried over against the top fighters he faced (Jacobs and Canelo). I thought he won both fights, but at that level he looked more pressure fighter than destroyer. 160 is historically stacked with granite-chinned pressure fighters who were proven against tougher competition.

You have to respect the numbers and his current P4P status, and also acknowledge that his career is far from over. Before throwing him in with the top 5 at 160, I'd probably want to see him beat a borderline great in decisive fashion. The eye test tells us he is great, but his quality of opposition can be picked apart.

With more and more proliferation of alphabet titles and interim belts, it will become easier for fighters to build up impressive looking numbers, but in turn harder to distinguish from the pack. Unless he gets more career defining fights, Golovkin's legacy could potentially be a victim of this.

 

I think what Canelo and Jacobs showed us is what everyone already knew. If a world class boxer wants to survive a fight, he can. Not to say that both guys aren’t super talented and didn’t put on a great performance, it’s just they weren’t out there like Gennady trying to mix it up to win the fight.

Also, going by recent events, it seems that Golovkin may have scared Canelo into taking synthetic enhancers. Canelo seems to have all his pride and confidence stripped. Golovkin ripped away Canelos image in boxing just by being the intimidating level of opponent he is. It’s not normal.

Then you have the gym stories; Out wrestling Andy Ruiz Jr, regular sparring sessions with Murat Gassiev, beating up SHWs and running them out of camp, etc.

The guy is a once per century fighter.
If he was around pre-1920 he’d be fighting HWs.

 

His resume won't hold up over time imo.

Plus he could drop a belt , do some ducking , or even take a loss.

If he beats Saunders his resume will obviously go way up , but I doubt he will go for that fight , never mind win it.

His fanboys complained that Saul Alverez was moving around the ring too much. What do you think is going to happen when he fights the much better moving and faster footed Saunders?

As it is , he wasn't dominant against the only two live guys he fought , the rest of his opposition came against the same caliber of guys Arthur Abraham beat.
His regular WBA opponents were not ranked in the top 10. I'm just pointing out the truth , no hatin.

If he goes out and destroys Canelo in the rematch , his resume and legacy improves greatly , because true greats always overturn controversial decisions in the rematch.

If you ask me about GGG , i say he's a bully who outright refused challenges , battered under matched opponents mercilessly and like a true bully boy backed down against guys who were good enough to stand up to him.

Skill wise he is great though , near flawless punching technique and posses a great jab.

 

Resume top 15. H2H top 10.

 

Accomplishments:

1 ) We can start off by saying he will hold the most consecutive title defenses among the field. No such man in a division who does this should ever be rated outside the top 15, fair enough?

2 ) Golovkin is one of the top three punchers at 160 pounds, and he also has one of the top three chins at 160 pounds never being floored as a professional or amateur. That's two separate areas that I'm packing into one point. Move him up from whatever baseline for most title defenses.

3 ) Can he box? Check his punch stats, no one lands more jabs at 160 pounds. I believe Golovkin has a top 5 all-time jab at middleweight. He's also one of the few middleweight champions to hold the #1 pound for pound rank at Ring Magazine. Very impressive. By now, you should have Golovkin inside the top ten, as NO one alive or dead has better in the top three areas I mentioned.

3 ) Longevity? He's 36, an age when other past great middles were long since retired. Add some bonus points.

4 ) He might also retire undefeated, meaning he never lost to an inferior fight, things legends like Monzon and Hagler who I view as top 5 All time greats can't say. Add a bit more bonus points. Who else in boxing history was un-defeated at age 36? Very few.

5 ) Golovkin is very likely a first ballot hall of fame fighter, the ultimate stamp of being elite.


Head to head: He's destroying's the good boxers who can't hit that hard based on his aggressive style and would outlast the punches didn't have world-class skills. If all else fails, he's the more active puncher with a great jab and would be very difficult to beat on the scorecards.

Maybe a very long and fast type with an excellent chin and jab would beat him. A Mike Nunn type, if his head was in the game.


Quality of opposition:

This is the lone area critics can be correct on, but they go overboard. Golovkin's competition is average, however he often beats his opponents in their backyard and being the older man, which makes it a bit more impressive. I would argue how you beat someone counts and doing it outside your prime also counts.

It's not Golovkin's not his fault he was highly avoided by Martinez and Cotto. He was also unlucky that big names guys at welter or jr middles, such as Mayweather and Khan would not dare share the same ring with him. Hagler and Monzon had their share of famous guys moving up, Golovkin did not get this opportunity.

THE IBRO POLL at Middleweight voted upon by 20+ historians has it

Top 10

Harry Greb
Sugar Ray Robinson
Stanley Ketchel
Mickey Walker
Carlos Monzon
Marvin Hagler
Marcel Cerdan
Bob Fitzsimmons
Jake LaMotta
Charley Burley

Top 11-20

Tony Zale
Tiger Flowers
Bernard Hopkins
Tommy Ryan
Roy Jones Jr.
Dick Tiger
Mike Gibbons
Freddie Steele
Kid McCoy
Gene Fullmer

I have no issues at all placing Golovkin inside the top ten, and would pick him head to head to beat many in the top ten.

I'd probably place him over Ketchel and Walker, but behind SRR, Greb, and close to even with Monzon and Hagler. So say about 4th-7th, and his career is still going.

 

So his best official win is a close points win over Daniel Jacobs and that guarantees him a top 5 spot all time at 160?