Grading the Big Drama Show (Golovkin's career under Abel Sánchez)

You're not being a hater or a harsh critic, eh? Why do you suppose that of sixty respondents in the poll, literally nobody except yourself has voted as low as B- (save for one clearly troll-bait vote for the D(erp)/IDKSAB" option). Many of Golovkin's most vocal critics on this board submitted higher grade votes than you did. You stand alone. But sure, you're not a hater or a harsh critic. Okay.

Let me roll up my sleeves and have a sip of coffee. Okay, here we go...

"His 18th opponent was a 10-0 guy named Makarov who beat absolutely no one significant and couldnt make it past the 2nd round. This was also the first undefeated fighter golovkin faced."

Great. Cool. When did you once see me mention Makarov? In this thread, anyway? I'll wait.

I did a brief single-paragraph write-up of him in a separate thread (which I linked to in the OP, here: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...he-record-straight-on-several-matters.532505/) where I highlighted about half a dozen or so early career opponents (pre-HBO debut vs. Proksa) that I thought stood above the rest of the largely forgettable riff-raff. You'll note that I wrote the shortest paragraph for Makarov, barely two sentences, much less than for Gardner/Khomitsky/Ouma/Bouadla/Mamani. The win, I noted, was significant only because Makarov was an unbeaten southpaw from the same national program (even bad Russian amateurs - like those from most ex-Soviet territories, generally have a leg up on average-to-fair boxers in other countries' AM programs) and primarily of interest because of the method by which Golovkin beat him, just a complete demolition. Never did you see me hype up Makarov in this or any other thread. He is an example of Golovkin's mostly forgettable opposition in his first two dozen matches or so.

"Once again, i dont expect a ten fight novice like golovkin to be tearing down the cream of the crop."

Good. So what's the problem? I specifically indicated that none of the Young Gennady opponents were the cream of the crop. What I did see fit to do was to highlight the few that stood out above the rest as not, IMO, complete tomato cans or "D level" garbage. There is a wide expanse in between garbage and elite, you know that, right? By praising the likes of Gardner/Khomitsky/Bouadla as better than most of the rest of Golovkin's anonymous pablum that he fought around the same time, I'm not saying they are world beaters. I'm saying that his career didn't follow this straight linear narrative that you're pushing, where everybody that shared the ring with him was equally bad until one day he magically stepped up (against...Rubio? Seriously? You do know that most knowledgeable boxing fans would call a Khomitsky vs. Rubio match-up about 50-50, right? Anyway...) which isn't what happened. If you plotted his early career out it would resemble an EKG reading, with some dips & spikes, all below a certain line to be sure but it wasn't all in the gutter. Pointing that nuanced fact out in opposition to your simpler, less correct narrative isn't me "hyping" up Golovkin nor his competition.

"Thats who a guy with under 15 fights is supposed to be fighting: c and d level guys. Thats the whole point, to build experience and improve technique and sharpness until your ready for the elited."

Agreed 100%. Most of his early career opponents fit this bill. To an extent so did the guys I mentioned (they just happen to be a lot better than all the rest).

"So the feather fisted 32 year old Khamitski was ten fold better than the guy Golovkin fought for his first title and first defense? Khamitski lost 3 of his last 6 fights and had a draw and couldnt punch his way out of a bag."

You've never seen the Ghost fight. Gotcha. Lemme guess, you have a BoxRec tab handy (as your primary source) whenever you debate anything boxing related, huh?

"Boudla was 11-1...12 fights. Unless he was like Lomachenko demolishing world class opponents, making a big deal out of this guy is very strange. Enlighten me. How have I not heard of this guy? A 12 fight novice is a big scary risky opponent for ggg?"

If you have never heard of Bouadla it just amplifies what the rest of your post is already virtually screaming, that you haven't followed the global scene in Golovkin's weight range very closely over the last several years. Bouadla is a guy that was never going to get within sniffing distance of a world title (unless it was some bizarre situation where a total unworthy ends up in a title match, like Jaime Barboza, inferior to Bouadla yet ended up fighting Brian Magee for a version of a "world championship" in an utterly farcical chain of events), and would've been lucky to even top out with a Euro belt (although he does have a few international/intercontinental straps to his credit, and was French national champ), and yet he isn't complete trash. He's better than all 15 of Young Gennady's first eighteen opponents whose names I didn't bring up (because nobody has ever heard of them or seen them). Bouadla has fought, since Golovkin, two dozen more times, going 20-4 and with all the losses to credible opponents (three of them world class) such as Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Dmitrii Chudinov.

Now, you enlighten me. When did I "make a big deal out of" Bouadla? Why are you putting the words "big scary risky opponent for ggg" in my mouth?

Bouadla was a tougher h2h competitor than most of his contemporary GGG victims, and this is evidenced by him (along with Gardner and later Ouma) providing the hardest fights of Young Gennady's pre-championship career. I'm not sure what's hard to understand about that? Or how your extrapolation from that is that I'm claiming Golovkin was decimating some kind of rogue's gallery of Charley Burley types who though obscure could've been world champs? Because that isn't what I have been saying, at any point.

 

Was it?

Read my rebuttal.

 

What is he arguing exactly?

This all started with GCC posting:

That's how this back and forth began - with that comment (prefaced with the rhetorical, passive aggressive "no comment").

Since you seem to be cheerleading for him, can you clarify wtf he was talking about?

What is the "hilarious attempt to hype up the tomato cans and D level garbage he (GGG) fought before finally stepping up"? Show me where I made a "hilarious attempt" to "hype up" anybody?

 

Here's another consideration:

As of when I made this thread, a year and a half ago, I was making some assumptions which in hindsight have been proven wrong.

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...you-off-there-he-actually-doesnt-ever.567948/

1) I thought it would take a few years for the best at 160 to fall in line and be ready to have a go at Golovkin. Within a year both Jacobs and Canelo did (and both, surprisingly fought him on more or less even terms)

2) Canelo turned out to be no more a gimme than Jacobs. He did nearly as well (most agreeing the draw isn't an outrageous result, even if Byrd's scorecard was outrageous; while most think Jacobs vs. Golovkin was a point-in-either-direction affair).

3) Most of the alternate challengers I mentioned have either failed to build up their profile, taken pretty devastating losses, retired, changed divisions, or been imprisoned. The only guys left standing that could make for big-money showdowns in the remotely near future with GGG are BJS & Murata - neither of whom are going to rival the payday or bombast of the last two guys he already fought. Jacobs and Canelo rematches are probably the only remaining body of work the general public is going to accept from Golovkin as he moves into his prime's graying twilight.

A move up in weight could actually be the shot in the arm Golovkin's legacy needs if he wants to put in one last bid for greatness. I still don't think he needs to, just to prove the haters wrong, but it would help erase the memory of under-performing thrice in a row (against what just happens to be his best trio of competition to date, which is, while not impossible, awkward for his fans to explain away...) and cement his place...especially with the sea change there has been lately with SMW overtaking MW as a glamour division, thanks in large part to the WSBB. (and the aforementioned prospects at 160lbs sort of fizzling or stagnating for the most part)