GGG is ruining his opponents

I’d ask whether Rubio will still have anything left after Golovkin. I’m not sure if I’m entirely off point here but I do wonder if Golovkin is ruining everyone he fights. I’ve given it a little bit of thought and I think there’s certainly a case there, although I’d say there is plenty to debate and I’m not 100% convinced by what I’m saying.
Of Golovkin’s last 7 (I started with Proksa mostly because that’s when I started to really pay attention) opponents, Adama and Geale haven’t fought since, so they’re hard to judge. Neither fought him that long ago, and neither are that young, so it’s hard to say how far they’ll go after, but I don’t expect it to be that far!

Now, of the 5 left, Ishida was getting on and went up to heavyweight after Golovkin (I don’t think we can really give Golovkin any credit for that one).
So that leaves 4 guys to work with, which are Proksa, Rosado, Macklin and Stevens.

Proksa – Had a comeback fight against Szekeres and then lost to Sergio Mora. Proksa was a decent fighter, who hasn’t done anything since losing to Golovkin. I do question whether that’s thanks to Golovkin wrecking him.

Rosado – Rosado has been the most active of the lot since losing to Golovkin. It was a pretty bloody affair but he managed to stay on his feet (in part due to Golovkin supposedly being ill). Rosado has always looked game, and even looked good against Quillin, but his face is now made of paper. I think Golovkin only helped speed up that problem, but I do think Rosado is on a downward slope as a result of a pretty hard career, and I think Golovkin has really contributed to that.

Matthew Macklin – Macklin is getting on a bit, and has been in some top fights, so I think this is a more natural process than the others. But again, I don’t think he has looked especially good after Golovkin. He wasn’t in there long with GGG, so I don’t think he took as much of a beating as the others, but he may well have suffered mentally, and maybe just doesn’t have it anymore. Can Golovkin take much credit for this?

Curtis Stevens – Stevens is a bit hit and miss anyway, so saying he hasn’t looked great since he lost to Golovkin isn’t necessarily a big indicator, but he was on a good run before Golovkin, and then he got hit with that shot that made him go ‘ooooooh’. Stevens gave Golovkin a reasonable fight, and was very game, but since then he’s either looked good against bad opposition, or he’s losing to Hassan N’Dam (and even getting knocked down, against a guy with not that much power).
As I said, I’m not necessarily convinced by what I’m saying, more just posing a question (and giving some information to make the discussion easier). I think some of these guys may have just been a bit long in the tooth, or just weren’t that good in the first place, so maybe Golovkin caught them at the right time. But if Adama and Geale wind down their careers, or look finished in their next bouts, it adds to the argument.

Golovkin is wrecking his opponents. is that going to continue if/when the opposition really improves?

 

I think it reflects more so the type of guy who would get in the ring with GGG. All those fighters you mentioned (besides maybe Rosado) had reached their potential and didn’t know if they were going to get another big opportunity. A fight with GGG, while dangerous, presented them their biggest pay day and a chance to take their career to the next level. A loss to GGG also presented little downside risk or loss of credibility because of how good GGG is perceived.

Therefore, I think the lack of production from those fighters after fighting GGG also partly reflects the struggles they would have had with or without GGG. In a parallel universe where they don’t fight GGG, I doubt any of them would have gotten a title shot with Martinez/Cotto, Quillin, or Germany. And besides those three, there are not that many commercially appealing fights in the middleweight division. Also, those guys you mentioned are good but they are not clearly better than the other fringe top 10 fighters. In the meantime, they could have lost to one another or N’Dam, Korobov, Soliman and never be heard from again.