Realistically, how great can GGG be?

[jezzamundo]

I consider myself a GGG fan, but not a 'nuthugger'. My question is: at 34, how much longer will his prime last? How much longer can we expect to see him fighting and how much can we realistically expect him to achieve in that time?

My belief is that GGG has the ability to be the greatest fighter of this generation, greater even than Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, but he is likely to fall short of that lofty height due to his poorly managed career up until the age of 30, and the fact that he is being avoided by many of the biggest names and that is likely to remain the case until he shows signs of slowing down.

[jamesmcdonnell]

He'd really have to go some to be the greatest fighter of his generation. He'd have to clear out 160 and then beat Ward, and Kovalev for me to do that.

If he managed those three feats, in the time he has left, I'd be amazed.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Say he boxed til he's 40, he has at least 10-12 fights. I understand why Mayweather tells him to move up, but i think GGG simply wants to clear the middleweight division and the last real opponent he can have is Canelo. Fair enough, i could see him fight BJS ans Eubanks Jr. But its the GGG-Canelo we all want to see. I think he could move up to super middleweight, there is a lot there too, start off with a Bute, move on to Jack, DeGale. If Ward can still make weight at Super middleweight then why not. His team need to act fast now. Canelo's next fight will
Not be against GGG, but guaranteed, any fight he now has, in the post-fight interviews, he will alwaya get bombarded with GGG questions

[Ricky_]

He's possibly the best fight i've seen with regards to this generation. I don't think he quite has the silky-smooth poetry-in-motion that Floyd had, or the unrelenting combination of speed, footwork and work-rate Pacquiao had, but there's something about Golovkin that just makes him more formidable than both. I think it's a fantastic all round game, the ability to punch at angles i've not seen before (such as the Rubio KO) put together with astonishing punching power than make him the beast he is.

The only thing that Golovkin seems to lack is credible opponents. Pacquiao was lucky enough to have guys like Barrera, Marques and Morales to put him to the test when he was in his prime. Hagler had Hearns and SRL. Golovkin was unable to get Martinez in the ring and now it looks like he's left having to entice Canelo into the ring just to get a decent name on his resume. After he beats Canelo, provided it happens, there isn't really any A-listers for him to go and write his legacy.

[Cygnus475]

I don't understand ggg fans

You want him to stay at 160 and clear out the division, unify belts, etc.

But no one will fight him at 160.

He gets offers from numerous fighters at 154-168 (his team were the ones who declared they would move around to begin with) but find a way to dismiss them claiming they're "boring", "don't bring any money", or "whats wrong with staying in his own weight class plenty of people have done it".

He's 34 his best win is David lemiux with 100 k ppv buys. His team has relentlessly chased canelo, a guy who CLEARLY doesn't want to fight ggg but they keep trying to flex like they're the a side. When people do it to him it's a problem but when he does it its just smart busines. He needs to fire his moronic team for failing to negotiate a blockbuster payday despite being an undefeated knockout artist and get rid of that able Sanchez moron who won't stop running his mouth.

Way I see it, if he can't make the Saunders or Jacobs fights he is wasting his time and ours. What the hell would be the point of staying at 160 then??? I already know there will be plenty of people who sincerely argue that's a good idea.

[jujigatame]

His "greatness" in the all-time sense is definitely hampered by the fact that he turned pro at age 24 and didn't start facing serious opponents until he was 30.

GGG is brilliant to watch but he's not a defensive wizard like Hopkins was. I'm not convinced his style will carry well into his late 30s.

[Kalan]

His "greatness" in the all-time sense is definitely hampered by the fact that he turned pro at age 24 and didn't start facing serious opponents until he was 30.

GGG is brilliant to watch but he's not a defensive wizard like Hopkins was. I'm not convinced his style will carry well into his late 30s.

Hopkins was overrated on offense and defense. He has 7 losses and 2 draws and Golovkin has never lost more than 1 round to anyone. In a couple years when he finally gets the middleweight record for title defenses he'll move up to 168 and 175 targeting Ward and Kovalev. Nobody feared Mayweather so he got a lot of fights. You never saw Golovkin go wobble kneed, with quivering legs, and grabbing and holding in desperation, like happened to Floyd after getting nailed by an old man like Mosley. Floyd also gets dinged for fighting cherry picked Andre Berto - when Kell Brook and Keith Thurman represented World Welterweight Title Unification Fights.

Roberto Duran fought 65 fights from Bantamweight to Lightweight - but Duran STILL fought Hagler at 160. Golovkin offered to go to 154 for fight for FLOYD'S Super Welterweight Title, but Floyd's sense of self preservation is overwhelming. That doesn't push him up there to a high spot. If you look at the whole package as a pure fighter: boxing, punching, offense, defense, body punching, KO ratio, and the fear factor he generates, GGG is ahead of Floyd. As a marketing genius Floyd will never be matched - just like as an investor Warren Buffett will never be matched.

[jujigatame]

Hopkins defensively overrated? Now I've heard everything. Dude beat Jean Pascal at 46 years old!! He sure as hell didn't do that with his overpowering offense and workrate. He did it by being tricky as fornicate.

I love watching Golovkin. The guy is brilliant, and his lack of quality opponents isn't really his fault, but the fact remains, a boxer's legacy is defined by the fighters he beat in the ring, and Golovkin has beaten a long list of very marginal fighters.

The Floyd comparison is ridiculous. I hate Floyd's obnoxious persona as much as the next guy, but Floyd fought Genaro Hernandez when he was 21 years old. Golovkin hasn't even fought anyone that good yet, and he's 34. There is zero comparison between the quality of their respective resumes.

[PredatorHayds]

He still hasn't had a career defining fight that all ATG need at least once in their career.

At the moment that fight would need to be Canelo unless he moved up.

[gilgamesh]

He can still break the record for Middleweight title defenses, and possibly become a Champion at 168 pounds before he retires (I'm not sure if he'll attempt to or not)...most importantly he needs some big significant wins on his resume. He's already done enough to be a Hall of Famer, but I don't know where he'd currently rank in the minds of fans among the ATG's. If the KO streak continues, and he's able to get some big name opponents in the ring with him he'll retire having built a very highly respected legacy, and people will always wonder how he'd match up with the Middleweights of a greater era.

[boxing_rocks]

I don't understand ggg fans

You want him to stay at 160 and clear out the division, unify belts, etc.

But no one will fight him at 160.

He gets offers from numerous fighters at 154-168 (his team were the ones who declared they would move around to begin with) but find a way to dismiss them claiming they're "boring", "don't bring any money", or "whats wrong with staying in his own weight class plenty of people have done it".

He's 34 his best win is David lemiux with 100 k ppv buys. His team has relentlessly chased canelo, a guy who CLEARLY doesn't want to fight ggg but they keep trying to flex like they're the a side. When people do it to him it's a problem but when he does it its just smart busines. He needs to fire his moronic team for failing to negotiate a blockbuster payday despite being an undefeated knockout artist and get rid of that able Sanchez moron who won't stop running his mouth.

Way I see it, if he can't make the Saunders or Jacobs fights he is wasting his time and ours. What the hell would be the point of staying at 160 then??? I already know there will be plenty of people who sincerely argue that's a good idea.

He gets "calls" from many including middleweights, but as soon as a fight against Golovkin becomes more real, most of them suddenly become very quiet or price themselves out.

[jujigatame]

Has he really done enough to be a HOFer right now? His 3 biggest opponents were David Lemieux, Martin Murray, and Daniel Geale. That's pretty awful for a unified champ. A lot of people say Barry McGuigan has the worst HOF record but I think as of right now GGG's is worse.

[crusader]

GGG seems to have a very good reputation among major boxing writers, and if he breaks the MW defense record and the consecutive title KO record (a lot of people are running with him being at 17 defenses even though he only had an interim title for some) he'd have historical achievements that appear impressive on the surface.

I think if he continues to rack up the victories as he's been doing there's a very good chance of him getting in, even with a relatively weak resume.

[Kalan]

Floyd fought Genaro Hernandez when he was 21 years old. Golovkin hasn't even fought anyone that good yet, and he's 34. There is zero comparison between the quality of their respective resumes.

There's a very strong comparison of the guys they fought, but not the results. Hernandez had been knocked out before and couldn't defend himself very well. I had a 39-year-old Azumah Nelson beating him and Nelson was done winning any fights because he was too old. Martin Murray was 29-1-1, but should have been 31-0 because he beat both Sergio Martinez in Argentina, and Felix Sturm in Germany. Also David Lemieux was 34-2, hadn't been beaten in 4 years. He was a World Middleweight Champion when Golovkin completely dominated him and stopped him. Haters predicted Golovkin would lose, then after he won very easily they say his opponent was a bum. Floyd is an ATG fighter, but lacked the punching power, work rate, ring domination, aggression, and toughness of Golovkin. Plus Floyd was a ducker who cherry picked Andre Berto (who lost 3 of his previous 6 while getting knocked down 6 times) instead of fighting Brook or Keith Thurman in World Welterweight Title Unification Fights. They would have beaten Floyd.

There's not a single Middleweight Champion in History (except Golovkin) who fought all comers and had 16 wins in 16 World Middleweight Title Defenses, with 16 KOs, and remained undefeated for his career. For instance, Sugar Ray Robinson was 3-3 with 2 KOs in World Middleweight Title Defenses.. Hopkins had 2 losses before he even got going well as Middeweight Champion. Hagler could afford to lose a few. Leonard was only 34 when he lost to Norris, but that's the age excuse that was made for him. Ali could lose fights without a problem. Golovkin is like Floyd in this one respect. If Floyd ever lost a fight the Hate would have be flying fast and furious from every corner of America like 7 tons of sauced up spaghetti. That's why Floyd cherry picked. But Golovkin doesn't have that luxury. He will have to fight everybody in front of him. People mindlessly accuse him of ducking Ward, when there's no way that fight could have ever happened because GGG had the Lemieux fight signed when Ward made his offer. And there was the understanding that GGG would next fight the winner of Cotto-Canelo. Prior to that, ward had contract problems or injury problems. The fight couldn't have reasonably gotten done with the hype and buildup that type of fight needs.

[jujigatame]

Numerical records don't matter. Murray and Lemieux are B-list fringe contenders. Lemieux only held a belt because he was gifted a shot at a vacant title against another fringe contender. Genaro Hernandez was better than anyone Golovkin has ever faced and the same is true for probably around 10-15 of Floyd's other opponents as well. Just because Floyd ended his career with that shameful Berto fight doesn't change this.

Hopefully Golovkin/Canelo will happen and GGG can finally get the signature win he needs.

[boxing_rocks]

Numerical records don't matter. Murray and Lemieux are B-list fringe contenders. Lemieux only held a belt because he was gifted a shot at a vacant title against another fringe contender. Genaro Hernandez was better than anyone Golovkin has ever faced and the same is true for probably around 10-15 of Floyd's other opponents as well. Just because Floyd ended his career with that shameful Berto fight doesn't change this.

Hopefully Golovkin/Canelo will happen and GGG can finally get the signature win he needs.

Something is wrong with your logic. Would Canelo beat Murray and Lemieux with neutral judges? I say "no". So, how would a win over him be better than wins over those guys.

[Kalan]

Just because Floyd ended his career with that shameful Berto fight doesn't change this

YES it does... It changes EVERYTHING... Kell Brook and Keith Thurman were the only 2 prime welterweights, who were the most logical opponents for Floyd face, who were full sized Welterweights with power, speed, and great boxing ability.

Canelo was green when he fought Floyd and he was weight drained... Oscar was a crack head... Mosley was done... Corrales was a punching bag... Hernandez had no skills either - he was a punching bag... Maidana was a punching bag... Guerrero was a punching bag... Oritz was a punching bag... Berto was a punching bag... Pacquiao WAS truly a great fighter but he had a badly torn rotator cuff and was not allowed pain killing shots before the fight - even though the pain killers weren't on the PED list... Miguel Cotto was Floyd's best opponent but he had a terrible coach for that fight in Pedro Diaz - who Cotto ditched after the Trout loss.. Cotto jabbed Floyd up nicely and got the blood flowing from his nose but he never turned up the heat.. Diaz kept telling Cotto he was winning the fight.. That was the only real fight Floyd ever had I think - the Cotto fight. Cotto is an ATG great fighter, but he's very short and easy to hit.. Canelo had no trouble beating the crap out of Cotto so I really don't think Floyd ever fought an excellent opponent and I was hoping he'd fight Brook or Thurman instead of somebody like Berto or Khan or Bradley.

[Chepppaaa]

if prime jones is 10 than ggg, the best he can be is 8,5-9,3, around that.

[jezzamundo]

if prime jones is 10 than ggg, the best he can be is 8,5-9,3, around that.

What is that supposed to mean? RJJ is more gifted than GGG - although not in terms of power or durability - but I'm far more interested in what each accomplishes in their career. If GGG moved up and beat Ward or Kovalev, that would trump any of Jones's victories IMO.

[Chepppaaa]

if prime jones is 10 than ggg, the best he can be is 8,5-9,3, around that.

What is that supposed to mean? RJJ is more gifted than GGG - although not in terms of power or durability - but I'm far more interested in what each accomplishes in their career. If GGG moved up and beat Ward or Kovalev, that would trump any of Jones's victories IMO.

i am talking ability! what is the most important.

achievemants, ggg moving to beat ward and kovalev, stop with that disney sh%/t

[jezzamundo]

if prime jones is 10 than ggg, the best he can be is 8,5-9,3, around that.

What is that supposed to mean? RJJ is more gifted than GGG - although not in terms of power or durability - but I'm far more interested in what each accomplishes in their career. If GGG moved up and beat Ward or Kovalev, that would trump any of Jones's victories IMO.

i am talking ability! what is the most important.

achievemants, ggg moving to beat ward and kovalev, stop with that disney sh%/t

It's not likely, but not impossible either - a fan is allowed to dream! I disagree that ability is the most important thing when comparing greatness - actual performance and quality of opposition are far more important to me.

[Rexob]

Shame GGG hasnt got any other great fighter to fight so realistically he not going to get to show us his stuff, he ain't getting any younger. I would love to see him fight BJS though might be a bit tougher than people think.

[jujigatame]

Numerical records don't matter. Murray and Lemieux are B-list fringe contenders. Lemieux only held a belt because he was gifted a shot at a vacant title against another fringe contender. Genaro Hernandez was better than anyone Golovkin has ever faced and the same is true for probably around 10-15 of Floyd's other opponents as well. Just because Floyd ended his career with that shameful Berto fight doesn't change this.

Hopefully Golovkin/Canelo will happen and GGG can finally get the signature win he needs.

Something is wrong with your logic. Would Canelo beat Murray and Lemieux with neutral judges? I say "no". So, how would a win over him be better than wins over those guys.

I believe Canelo would beat Murray and Lemieux pretty easily. Canelo only has trouble against slick boxers, and Murray and Lemieux ain't that.

[jujigatame]

Just because Floyd ended his career with that shameful Berto fight doesn't change this

YES it does... It changes EVERYTHING... Kell Brook and Keith Thurman were the only 2 prime welterweights, who were the most logical opponents for Floyd face, who were full sized Welterweights with power, speed, and great boxing ability.

Canelo was green when he fought Floyd and he was weight drained... Oscar was a crack head... Mosley was done... Corrales was a punching bag... Hernandez had no skills either - he was a punching bag... Maidana was a punching bag... Guerrero was a punching bag... Oritz was a punching bag... Berto was a punching bag... Pacquiao WAS truly a great fighter but he had a badly torn rotator cuff and was not allowed pain killing shots before the fight - even though the pain killers weren't on the PED list... Miguel Cotto was Floyd's best opponent but he had a terrible coach for that fight in Pedro Diaz - who Cotto ditched after the Trout loss.. Cotto jabbed Floyd up nicely and got the blood flowing from his nose but he never turned up the heat.. Diaz kept telling Cotto he was winning the fight.. That was the only real fight Floyd ever had I think - the Cotto fight. Cotto is an ATG great fighter, but he's very short and easy to hit.. Canelo had no trouble beating the crap out of Cotto so I really don't think Floyd ever fought an excellent opponent and I was hoping he'd fight Brook or Thurman instead of somebody like Berto or Khan or Bradley.

You are ridiculous.

[man]

He'd really have to go some to be the greatest fighter of his generation. He'd have to clear out 160 and then beat Ward, and Kovalev for me to do that.

If he managed those three feats, in the time he has left, I'd be amazed.