The old line I need to see more of him to judge.

If Golovkin loses to Canelo and then Saunders it will a bit hard to know for sure are what is what. Was he someone who looked good against pretty average contenders like Geale and Lemieux but was exposed against better opponents, or was he really one of the top MWs who just couldn't get the top fights before he got old? It will be hard to conclusively answer that question.

So I guess the answer might be that he we needed to see more of Golovkin years ago.

 

I'm inclined to agree.

 

It reveals that he's not just hype.

 

Apparently I'm not good at wording this so I'll try again.

Right now Golovkin looks like a killer, based on what we've seen he looks immense.

If he loses to Canelo, he's clearly not as good as I thought he was. I'd be beats Canelo them at worst he continues his form which is already ridiculously good.

 

How many 210 - 220 pounders would you favour over him?

 

Just because a current fighter might lose to another current fighter doesn't mean that hypothetically speaking, he couldn't beat a past ATG. Example, Tyson lost to Douglas but people will still argue vehemently that Tyson could have beaten Joe Louis. Lennox Lewis was flattened by Rahman but people will still argue that he'd have beaten Marciano.

So I don't think a fighter should be written off vs ATG in H2H matchups simply because they may have even been stopped by a non ATG. One has to look at the totality of the circumstances.

If AJ were KO by Pulev, depending on how it played out, it wouldn't mean that therefore he'd be useless against any past ATG.

 

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Perception is reality. How would many of the 70s fighters been perceived had they not benefitted from having Ali as an opponent? If Bonavena or Lyle came around in the 1980s would they be so highly regarded?

If Liston beat Patterson before he regained the title, honestly the win may not have been as highly regarded. If he got the title from Johansson, it'd be considered a good but not great win. Despite the fact that it would have been the same Liston with the same attributes.

 

I think it's more relevant to compare his age to contemporary fighters than past ones since the average prime of fighters really has hiked up in the last 20-30 years.

Rigondeaux is older and Kovalev is around the same age. Wlad was at his peak at 35 and Floyd was pretty close to his. Even Pac still looked very convincing when at 35 dispatching Bradley in the rubber.

Converserly in the 70's and the 80's, top fighters in their mid 30's were rarities.

With that said, it's hard to definitely rule out that age has started to catch up with Golovkin.

 

Sam Langford,Harry Wills,Sam McVey,Evander Holyfield,Muhammad Ali,Tony Zale,Marcel Cerdan,Willie Pep ,Jess Willard , Alexis Arguello,Kostya Tzsu, Oscar Delahoya to name more!


Soon to come Vitali Klitschko!

 

Read what I wrote. Giving up the worlds hwt championship via quitting. Big black mark in terms of AT greatness.

 

So its ok to quit if its not a title fight? Willard?
You made one of your sweeping statements and, as usual wound up being confounded by it or to be more classical." Hoist with your own petard!"

 

Did Willard quit?
I thought his corner stopped it, and that he wanted to continue.