If Canelo beats Usyk, will he be the GOAT?

None of those guys beat an opponent by KO whilst landing fewer punches who also massively outweighed them and had a significant height + reach advantage and had the KO power of Kovalev. You need to try again!

You think Thomas Hearns, a guy who is 6 foot 1 and has an 78 inch reach beating another guy who is 6 foot 1, with an 77inch reach is remotely as impressive as a 5 foot 7 guy with a 70 inch reaching KO'ing, not decisioning a 6 foot 1 light heavyweight with a longer reach and a significantly higher KO percentage than Virgil Hill? Please, kindly reassess what you're saying.

 

We can definitely justifiably question the Canelo-Kovalev fight to be somewhat suspect. However, as long as it STANDS officially on paper, we will have to consider Canelo's win over Kovalev OFFICIALLY the greatest single win of all time pound for pound. Nobody has ever come close to achieving a feat that is comparable to that.

Thus, Canelo has already OFFICIALLY cemented himself as arguably the greatest pound for pound fighter of all time.

However, skills in terms of eye-test is a different topic altogether

 

LMFAO! You're reaching! Hearns had a MASSIVE reach advantage in the lower weight divisions where he started, and could have easily been competing above middleweight from the start of his career. Plus, he still only beat Hill via a close decision, who's knockout record at light heavyweight is nowhere near Kovalev's. Canelo, despite being much shorter in terms of height and reach, literally switched the much bigger Kovalev's lights out, whilst landing fewer punches in total than Kovalev landed on him. Hearn's victory is not even remotely on the same ball-park historically as Canelo's win over Kovalev.

One is a knockout victory against a much bigger, taller and rangier opponent with a devastating KO record (Canelo's victory over Kovalev) whilst the other is a close decision victory over an opponent who is the same height and with one inch less reach and with a low KO percentage (Hearn's victory over Hill).

 

A reach, and yet we can look back at both Hearns' and Hill's careers. Virgil stands as one of the greatest LHW's ever. Hearns beat a prime Virgil, the champion, one who would regain and establish a second reign just as long as the first one. Canelo beat a post prime Kovalev (who I was a fan of, but definitely post prime), a Kovalev that had already been stopped twice. Also, Kovalev is already falling into obscurity and he's not even officially retired yet. No one's gonna talk about Kovalev in 20-30 years. People are still discussing Virgil Hill. Hearns' win over Virgil was leagues beyond Canelo beating Kovalev. I don't want to dump on Kovalev, as I stated I was a fan and thought he was great in this era for a time. But a reach................nah. The only person reaching is you Mr. Fantastic.

 

Unless Usyk is weight drained, this is not a competitive fight. Canelo isn’t a big MW and would I be giving up too much size. Usyk moves better than Canelo abs has a higher ring IQ. Canelo doesn’t win a round. No knock on him, it’s not reasonable to expect him to give up this much size and skill.

 

No I'm sticking with my answers.

 

1) Canelo Alvarez had the height disadvantage over Kovalev, Thomas Hearns did not have a height disadvantage over Virgill Hill. 1 point for Canelo Alvarez!

2) Canelo Alvarez had the reach disadvantage over Kovalev. Thomas Hearns had the reach advantage over Virgil Hill. 2 points for Canelo Alvarez!

3) Canelo Alvarez won by knockout over Kovalev in a way no smaller fighter moving up that many weight divisions ever did against a champion, where they landed fewer punches than their much bigger opponent and still KO'ed them. Meanwhile, Thomas Hearns won a close unanimous decision over Virgil Hill. 3 points for Canelo Alvarez for a more unique victory!

4) Kovalev had a higher KO percentage than Virgil Hill, proving he is the far more dangerous puncher. Canelo Alvarez still KO'ed Kovalev while Hearns failed to KO the lighter-punching Hill. Thus, once again, another point for Canelo Alvarez at 4 points.

5) Thomas Hearns beat a younger and slightly better version of Virgil Hill than the version of Kovalev Canelo Alvarez beat. Thus, 1 point for Thomas Hearns.

So I've outlined 5 clear reasons why Canelo Alvarez's win was SIGNIFICANTLY more impressive and historical than Thomas Hearn's victory over Virgil Hill.

Also, Virgil Hill being more remembered around these forums means nothing, given he is an American and most posters around here are from USA or the Western part of the world. From everything we've seen so far, Kovalev is a level above Virgil Hill. Virgil in his prime got beat by Dariusz Michalczewski and would likely also get beat by Kovalev. Apart from the one fluke loss against Eleider Alvarez who he later went on to school in the rematch, none of the guys that beat Kovalev are going to be troubled by Virgil Hill in the slightest.