Andy Lee will help put bums in seats @ MSG Theater, like Stevens and Rosado did before him. He's also a marketing tool for the promotion of a potential Chavez Jr vs GGG fight. As a fighter obviously he's pretty average and won't pose no threat to Golovkin. Thing is, if Golovkin is able to get Chavez Jr or Martinez in the fall, from there on out he'll be facing 2 divisional top 5's a year, but also 2 Lee-caliber top 20's a year to help fill the schedule - including that one off a year, non-HBO fight in Monte Carlo / Monaco. That leaves HBO with two top 5 guys for Golovkin and one top 20 altogether... 3 HBO dates a year, same as last year.
This would be an okay fight if Golovkin was, say, 26. But he's older than that. He needs to fight better competition already, somehow.
Lee is not a bad MW... was outboxing Chavez and ahead on the cards prior to the stoppage, also beat Vera. I would give Lee a chance at beating title holders Quillin and Sturm, he would definitely beat Geale.
I don't think it's really his fault that these less than desirable fights happen to appear. It's all about money and a lot of boxers aren't going to risk there career for low amounts of money. It's sad but thats (Boxing) today. Now, i do believe he could of selected an opponent that is more worth of a match but than again he's been very constant and performing very well. So, a slight break maybe excusable! Maybe after this fight we will see him fight some better opponents, that will place him in the right position for the mega fights.
I must say it is a step in the right direction as we also see Wilder on the same path.:good:hey :smoke
And you're correct that Maidana and Khan have been in bigger fights and have better wins. At the end of the day, the matchup of Mayweather vs Maidana and GGG vs Lee are pretty synonymous. Both easy matchups for the favorite, and I think fans should have a problem with both. We want to see our champions tested. I know it's not GGG's fault that Geale found an understandable out, Martinez is unavailable, Murray is chasing a Sturm fight and is a chronic GGG ducker besides, Barker retired, and Sturm has made an art of ducking GGG, so I guess Lee is the decent substitute, but most of us were hoping for a bit more in April. I'm not sure what Mayweather's excuse is. I guess it's money; trying to make the biggest money fight possible, and that's respectable and smart business, but Maidana won't test him.