How can I “miss the point” when all I’ve done is quote the statistics supplied by BoxRec, because we’re only talking about their rankings?
The algorithms that Boxrec uses for their points calculation system does not discriminate between weight-classes.
You miss the point because I made a claim about the rankings being harsh to a certain group of fighters, and you responded by making posts about the supposed difficulty of capturing particular factors in the methodology that shapes these rankings. Sure, it may well be difficult to account for those factors, but that is perfectly consistent with the rankings undervaluing certain fighters--in other words being harsh by giving them fewer points than they deserve based on how they perform and who they beat--in comparison to people who fight in divisions with marked differences other than the quality of competitors.
Since my point was about how the rankings poorly reflect reality in a certain set of cases, NOT how difficult it is for them it is for them to align with reality, you're missing my point by continually focusing on the latter. Perhaps there are too many nuances involved for you to grasp that.
Half of Roman Gonzalez’s previous ten opponents were actually defeated in their previous outing prior to facing him… and we’re talking about one-sided decision losses or stoppage defeats.
How many ranking points does Gonzalez deserve to gain for defeating an opponent that regularly competes in four round contests that has failed to win 32 of his previous 58 fights?
A year ago, Gonzalez faced Juan Purisima who had failed to win 5 of his 16 bouts in total. However, during the fight immediately prior to his contest against Roman, Purisima had dropped a lop-sided 120-105 decision to a 7 fight novice.
That’s the problem that BoxRec will have in trying to calculate Roman Gonzalez’s ranking points. He may have defeated a few world champions in his previous ten bouts, but more often than not, he also faces journeymen that wouldn’t be considered worthy opponents for the big names competing in the heavier weight classes.
Like I’ve said before, I am a fan of Roman Gonzalez and I don’t know enough about all of his opponents to criticise them, but statistically-speaking, the majority of the Mexican’s opposition he faces have bloody terrible resumes.
I’m not sure if I agree or even approve of your theory about there being “less evasion” in the lighter weight-classes, as it seems that there’s an attitude of “anyone can fight any world champion regardless of poor form”.
The BoxRec rankings are merely a statistical tool, which means that their rankings system cannot possibly account for all situations that could occur in the real-world. That being said, despite Gonzalez’s obvious talent in the real-world, in statistical terms alone, he doesn’t deserve to be ranked that highly when he keeps facing journeymen or second-tier fighters that have only just tasted defeat during their preceding bout.
If Mayweather, Klitschko or Golovkin faced the sort of men that Gonzalez does, they’d be subject to obscenely heavy criticism, but the only reason why Roman gets away with it, is because it seems that the majority of casual boxing observers don’t give a damn about the lighter weight classes.
I've already mentioned that Gonzalez frequently engages in stay busy fights, which is likely because he can't afford to sit around because purses are smaller at the lower weights. Still, he manages to fit in good opposition between this, and while you predictably focus on his relatively poor opposition you fail to note that within about the last year and a half he's also fought a multi-time world champion, a reigning lineal champion, a current unified champion, and a solid contender. Shortly before that stretch he also clearly defeated a current world champion who has looked excellent, and he's been handily beating world class opponents for several years and in multiple weight classes. This body of accomplishments is respectable regardless of the divisions he fought in,and to me far more impressive than those of people like Tyson Fury, Shawn Porter, and Cornelius Bundradge, and even if Gonzalez's obvious talent is not a part of the equation I don't believe fighters like this should be ahead of him.
Smart boxing fans shouldn't have a big problem with stay busy fights when the boxers are competing so regularly. If someone would've otherwise sat around doing nothing I don't believe there should be a major problem with those boxers instead fighting lower-level opponents between bigger fights. It's also clear that fighters in the lowest divisions tend to be paid a relatively low amounts, meaning they can't afford to be inactive like fighters at a similar level in the higher divisions can. That reality should be considered when people consider some of the opponents Gonzalez has fought, whether for the formulation of rankings or not.
