Middleweights in boxing history who could stand toe to toe with Prime Golovkin?

roberto duran

 

Because he has the mind of a bully boy. He'll go ham hock on the likes of Vanes , Rolls , Macklin etc. But will box with extreme trepidation against Jacobs and Canelo , who just happen to be the best guys he fought.

You could say thats a smart strategy, true , but his choice to not turn up the heat against Canelo cost him in the two biggest fight of his career. You have to come out of your comfort zone and take risks , he never did.
Canelo did. He risked getting sparked out by the bigger heavier handed puncher , but taking the bull by the horns was a risk he was willing to take in order to get win by whatever means necessary.
Some guys just refuse to be denied. Canelo is one of them. Ward is another.

Maidana came within a hair of beating Mayweather by going all out. Duran didn't become MW champ by boxing safely against a bigger man. He got stuck in to Barkely which is why he scored that knock down.
Golovkin never came close to even producing a knockdown against Canelo because as you put it , he was totally unwilling to mix it up or take risks.
That reservation doesn't bode well for him against former elite MWs who have high work rates and dont tire like Canelo.

 

Why stand 'toe to toe' on someone when you can just outbox them?

 

In addition to those names: Tony Zale, Calos Monzon, Jake Lamotta, and Dick Tiger would have no problem fighting toe to toe with GGG.

And Gerald McClellan would knock GGG into next week if GGG just fought him toe to toe.

 

Wright would have exposed GGG too..

 

I don't know about Expose. GGG was clearly legit. But I do agree that Winky would be a horrible night for Golovkin

 

At MW? Not a chance

 

Be a risky ploy to trade with Golovkin for anyone but with his durability perhaps he would of fancied the match up that way.

 

GGG V Nigel Benn would have been fun while it lasted

 

Definitely. That fight could go either way. GGG seemed pretty durable. But, he never got hit by a puncher like Benn. GGG certainly didn't seem anxious to trade with the hard punching, but very limited Lemieux.

 

So it seems unanimous golovkin isnt some old school barroom brawling slugger who will eat 5 shots to land his own and will trade with anyone to make sparks fly and please the crowd.

Why did this take so long for people to get? It certainly wasn't his critics who were making all these ridiculous innacurate claims about him. Why couldn't we reach this consensus when the hype train was rolling and people thought he would beat hearns and monzon on the ssme night with one hand behind his back?

 

There are a host of MWs who would fight him toe to toe. Too many to name. The question for me is who has young GGG beaten from age 24-32 that compares to the greats in history? Up unti, 2014 when he turned 32, I see guys who basically had little to no chance on his resume.

History is filled with MWs who fought toe to toe. The MW division was and still is considered considered the sluggers division. I don't rate GG as one of the best sluggers in history. He puts pressure on you uses defense and boxes. Many would slug it out with him.

 

The only guys GGG goes "toe to toe " with are the top middleweights such as Adama, Wade and Rolls type.

 

It depends in part how you define "toe to toe." To me, it's the willingness to stand in the pocket without changing distance. Golovkin certainly has done that, although not always. I would describe young Hopkins as going toe to toe, but he was never defensively irresponsible.

There's a difference to me between toe to toe and facefirst brawling. I would describe MAB/Morales I as the former and Gatti/Ward I as the latter.