GGG possibly the best ever 33 year old fighter in this sport's history

What's going to happen in nine months? Golovkin beats Alvarez? lol Mayweather has already taken him to school and his "victories" over Trout, Lara and Cotto hardly establish him as an atg.

 

Boxing is one of the few sports where I DON'T see that evolution like in other sports. At heavyweight, yes, a quality 6'5, 240 lb. guy like Lennox would be too much for a quality 6'2, 200 lb. fighter like Louis. Marciano would be too small for many quality HWs, although I think he'd do fine at cruiserweight. But other divisions, that's a different story. Fighters like Sergio Martinez and Timothy Bradley being high on p4p rankings (Sergio was #3 at one point!!), and Amir Khan being a top 2 fighter in what was considered a good division does not speak well of any sort of positive boxing "evolution".

The evolution in boxing was in the 30s and 40s. Before then, I see more of the "primitive" styles. I give anyone credit if they actually have the patience and focus to sit through a Jack Johnson fight. Ugh. But during the 30s and 40s, techniques improved a lot.

Fighters in current years have excelled at old ages by using very similar techniques to fighters during the 40s and 50s. James Toney was taught by Bill Miller many moves of fighters of this time period such as Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Jersey Joe Walcott, George Benton. Same with Floyd Mayweather Jr. B-Hop was the friggin LHW champion while approaching 50! Now I doubt that's the case if he were born 30 years earlier and had to compete in the LHW era of the late 70s and early 80s.

Since the 40s and 50s, there's no constant increase in quality, nor a decrease. It's peaks and valleys. But overall, I'd say the decrease in quality started from the 80s, I guess. Infighting is a lost art. One thing I loved about Corrales-Castillo 1 was not just the action and the shocking 10th round, but the subtle parts of infighting. It wasn't two guys just brawling wildly, it was too guys fighting very skillfully on the inside. A little step here to the side, shifting your body or head a couple inches to get the right angle, combinations which did what it's supposed to do, create and exploit openings (not this fast inaccurate flurry junk we see too much of). Also where there isn't as much of what I see is clever countering, traps being set.

I think in the last couple years, there's been some good signs of young talent being more refined and skilled. Crawford is one example. GGG & Kovalev aren't "young", although they appear are rather young in boxing years as opposed to real years, but they are also examples of having more of the technical skills and ring IQ to go with the raw power. There is a good article over at a Neutral Corner which talked about GGG being a scientific puncher, and goes over how he goes about knocking his opponents silly.

http://a-neutral-corner.blogspot.com/2014/07/gennady-golovkin-scientific-puncher.html

 

yaaaaaaaaa....except ggg wouldnt fight ward

 

Chavez was on the way down. He won his title back against Randall by a very dubious decision and didn't rematch him until they were old men. He went from #1 p4p at 31, going into the Whitaker fight in September 1993, to not even being ranked in the top 10 at the end of 1994. De La Hoya at 33 was fighting Mayorga after the layoff from the Hopkins fight. Biggest star in the sport, but no longer a top p4p fighter, and I've always felt never was the same after the loss to Mosley in the first fight. He lost some sharpness, and overall effectiveness. Holyfield was viewed as done at 33 after the 3rd Bowe fight, but surprised many when he beat Tyson at 34.

Mayweather and Lewis were better overall fighters at 33 than GGG is now. I'd also say RJJ, Monzon, McCallum, and Hopkins were better. Lower KO percentages than GGG, sure, but better overall fighters.

 

Great post as usual.

 

Really?

How many knockouts does Archie Moore have on his record? 131. Wake me when someone gets half as many.

Joe Louis has 25 defenses of the LINEAL title. Call me when one of these modern blubberweights gets remotely close...

 

Joe Louis' 25 LINEAL HW title defenses

Muhammad Ali winnning the LINEAL HW title 3 times

Archie Moore's 131 KOs

Marciano's 49-0 record

Ray Robinson winning the MW title 5 times

 

:deal

Dude needs to try his luck at hitting a 90+ MPH fastball...

 

I don't care about an aura, that whole "aura of invincibility" is **** anyway. All the fighters who were supposed to be "unbeatable", that's always a circumstance of luck and timing. If they had to fight in eras where guys fought 10, 15, 20 times a year, well they are bound to lose at least one. Only natural.

I'm talking about the overall quality of a fighter. There's been too many great fighters throughout history.

And Monzon hadn't lost in like 70-something fights when he was 33.

 

You're correct. Robinson cannot be compared with any active fighters today because the guys fighting today are at best a class or two below Ray - and that's being generous. Robinson would have mopped the floor with Bumlovkin...

 

Here's a record.

Rudy Chapa set the national high school track and field record for the 10,000 meter in 1976, which still stands.

Before you try to move the goalposts again, let me remind you that your exact words were, "ANY sports record".

 

Alvarez had at least 15 pounds on Mayweather. Call us when Bumlovkin beats a LHW.

 

No. Not even close. By the time Lewis was 33, he had a resume that takes a HUGE dump on Bumlovkin's.