BoxRec

As we’re less than ten days away from Gennady Golovkin’s next world title defence, I thought I’d perform a statistical review of his career for the last five years, using a combination of the Ring Magazine's divisional ratings, coupled with BoxRec’s resume information.

I used the “WayBackMachine” internet archive website to gather the Ring Magazine divisional ranking of each opponent at the time of their contest against Golovkin. Also, to simplify things, I rated their champ as the number one ranked fighter in the 160lb division and everybody else accordingly.

Note: This post is not meant to undermine Golovkin’s feats, but to help you evaluate his achievements and his dominant performances in their true context, based on the calibre of the opposition he has been facing. So please don’t get too upset about the things I’ve written, because everything I’ve stated is factually-correct, based on information supplied by reliable third-party sources.

My comments are in the context of the facts of each world title contender at the time they entered the ring against Golovkin:

Date: 23/04/16 Opponent: Dominic Wade Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A lightly-regarded opponent whose only accomplishment was scoring a controversial decision victory over a 41 year old shot version of Sam Soliman

Date: 17/10/15 Opponent: David Lemieux Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 5
Was the IBF champion (after competing for the vacant belt and having never defended his crown), a former light middleweight, at the time of the GGG fight, had suffered two losses on his record, with one of them being a stoppage defeat to Marco Antonio Rubio (who himself was KO'd inside two rounds by Golovkin)

Date: 16/05/15 Opponent: Willie Monroe Jr Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A former light middleweight that was lightly-regarded and was untested, having never previously competed against a top-ten world-rated middleweight prior to the Golovkin bout

Date: 21/02/15 Opponent: Martin Murray Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 7
A two-time failed world title challenger, with only one loss on his resume prior to facing Golovkin

Date: 18/10/14 Opponent: Marco Antonio Rubio Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 8
A former welterweight and two-time failed world title challenger, with six losses on his resume, that had previously been dominated or stopped by Chavez Jr. and Pavlik

Date: 26/07/14 Opponent: Daniel Geale Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 3
A former world middleweight champion that had already tasted defeat against Golovkin in the amateurs and lost his world title in his penultimate bout prior to facing GGG

Date: 01/02/14 Opponent: Osumanu Adama Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
One-time failed world title challenger, a former light middleweight and a lightly-regarded opponent

Date: 02/11/13 Opponent: Curtis Stevens Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 11
An anonimous fighter that had already lost three times prior to facing Golovkin, one of them to the lightly regarded Jessie Brinkley

Date: 29/06/13 Opponent: Matthew Macklin Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 7
A former welterweight, one time failed world title challenger and entered the ring against GGG having lost two of his previous three bouts

Date: 30/03/13 Opponent: Nobuhiro Ishida Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A former light middleweight that had failed to win ten of his bouts, entered the ring against Golovkin having tasted defeat in his previous two outings

Date: 19/01/13 Opponent: Gabriel Rosado Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A former light middleweight, having lost five fights, that had never previously engaged in either a 160lb bout nor a world title fight

Date: 01/09/12 Opponent: Grzegorz Proksa Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 10
Was defeated in one of his previous three bouts immediately prior to facing Golovkin and was also a former light middleweight

Date: 12/05/12 Opponent: Makoto Fuchigami Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
An anonimous fighter that had already lost six times

Date: 09/12/11 Opponent: Lajuan Simon Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A failed world title challenger that had lost three of his previous five bouts at the time he fought Golovkin… and had even lost his previous bout immediately prior to facing GGG

Date: 17/06/11 Opponent: Kassim Ouma Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A former welterweight contender and 154lb world champion that had tasted defeat in five of his previous seven bouts at the time he entered the ring against Golovkin

Golovkin’s next opponent is 12-year veteran, whose competes as a welterweight and has never scored a clear-cut decisive victory over a top-ten world class 147lb-er.

Thoughts?

Shite.

There's my thoughts for you.

Enlightened-One wrote:Golovkin’s next opponent is 12-year veteran, whose competes as a welterweight and has never scored a clear-cut decisive victory over a top-ten world class 147lb-er.

He beat Porter clearly enough.

Taansend wrote:Shite.

There's my thoughts for you.

I concur

Thoughts: A masterclass in copying & pasting someone else's work.

Horse wrote:

Enlightened-One wrote:Golovkin’s next opponent is 12-year veteran, whose competes as a welterweight and has never scored a clear-cut decisive victory over a top-ten world class 147lb-er.

He beat Porter clearly enough.

There were UK boxing TV pundits from Sky and Box-Nation that thought Kell Brook should have lost his fight against Porter. For sure, it wasn't a robbery, but it definitely wasn't a clear-cut win for the Brit.

Syntax Error wrote:Thoughts: A masterclass in copying & pasting someone else's work.

If you think that I’ve plagiarised the contents of my post, then please prove it.

Enlightened-One wrote:There were UK boxing TV pundits from Sky and Box-Nation that thought Kell Brook should have lost his fight against Porter. For sure, it wasn't a robbery, but it definitely wasn't a clear-cut win for the Brit.

It was a close fight, but Brook was the rightful winner.

Brook is a rubbish opponent for Golovkin, but he does have one good world class win.

Horse wrote:Brook is a rubbish opponent for Golovkin, but he does have one good world class win.

Yes - I agree with what you've said, but my original point remains true.

What your not understanding is very few fight true top 10 opponents. In the scheme of things Golovkin has fought great opposition.

www.premierboxingorganisation.com/middleweight-160

Golovkin has still fought the best by miles, if you go through each division it is a similar pattern. Someone even said Floyd Mayweather fought weak opposition the other day. Floyd is #1 out off 44,955 over the last 25 years.

GGG's resume probably isn't much worse than Hopkins at the time he fought Trinidad.

It's not a situation of his own making anyway. He'd have fought Canelo in a heartbeat.

Enlightened-One wrote:As we’re less than ten days away from Gennady Golovkin’s next world title defence, I thought I’d perform a statistical review of his career for the last five years, using a combination of the Ring Magazine's divisional ratings, coupled with BoxRec’s resume information.


Thoughts?

I can appreciate the effort put in on this one but I think that everyone's had enough of this topic. Most agree with you, Anti or Pro GGG, that GGG's resume is lacking some big names. But I do not agree that these fighters he's beaten are all cupcakes and GGG deserves more credit than he's getting for walking through the level of talent he has.

For instance, GGG's last 4 opponents combined for a record of 100-4-1 and he knocked them all out in spectacular fashion and he did this all in less than a year and a half. How can he not get credit for that?

If you're the most feared boxer in the world, the chances are, you will have trouble getting people to fight you. To me, this makes their strength of schedule exempt from criticism. When boxers like Canelo choose to vacate a belt instead of fighting him, you have to put that into consideration when knocking the guy for his resume.

Someday GGG will get the credit he deserves. In the meantime, you haters can do your thing and try to tear him down. I'm just going to enjoy every second of his fights because I fully believe that i'm witnessing an all time great in GGG.

caldo2025 wrote:I do not agree that these fighters he's beaten are all cupcakes and GGG deserves more credit than he's getting for walking through the level of talent he has....

All I’ve done is detail the Ring Magazine rankings and submitted a sentence summarising the BoxRec resume info. I’ve pretty much listed facts in parrot-like fashion.

I have not expressed a personal opinion on the matter and I’m not trying to suggest that Golovkin isn’t the best middleweight fighter on the planet.

Facts don’t care about personal opinions and it seems fairly obvious that facts don’t always compel people to change their minds. Interpret my post as you deem fit.

This just makes me more sad about the Canelo situation, that could be a great fight.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:GGG's resume probably isn't much worse than Hopkins at the time he fought Trinidad.

Hopkins competed in 21 middleweight world title fights between 1994 & 2004 and had defeated the following world champions:
• Oscar De La Hoya
• William Joppy
• Carl Daniels
• Felix Trinidad
• Keith Holmes
• Simon Brown
• Glen Johnson
• John David Jackson

Bernard, a relative novice, had also fought and lost the great Roy Jones Jr. in 1993, which was his very first world title fight.

In terms of his overall career, Bernard Hopkins has competed in 37 major world title fights (including the Ring & Lineal titles), emerging victorious in 26 of them and won titles in two weight classes (25 at middleweight and 12 at light heavyweight).

Hopkins also managed to defeat the following world champions above the prescribed middleweight limit: Ronald Wright, Antonio Tarver, Jean Pascal, Tavoris Cloud, Beibut Shumenov and eventually Roy Jones Jr.

Hopkins also agreed to compete in Oscar De La Hoya’s own back yard by facing him at a contractually-stipulated catch-weight limit of 156lbs.

When you consider the above facts about Hopkins and then compare them to Golovkin’s 16 world title fight career record over the last five years or so, do you really believe that GGG’s resume “isn’t much worse”?

Enlightened-One wrote:

jamesmcdonnell wrote:GGG's resume probably isn't much worse than Hopkins at the time he fought Trinidad.

Hopkins competed in 21 middleweight world title fights between 1994 & 2004 and had defeated the following world champions:
• Oscar De La Hoya
• William Joppy
• Carl Daniels
• Felix Trinidad
• Keith Holmes
• Simon Brown
• Glen Johnson
• John David Jackson

Bernard, a relative novice, had also fought and lost the great Roy Jones Jr. in 1993, which was his very first world title fight.

In terms of his overall career, Bernard Hopkins has competed in 37 major world title fights (including the Ring & Lineal titles), emerging victorious in 26 of them and won titles in two weight classes (25 at middleweight and 12 at light heavyweight).

Hopkins also managed to defeat the following world champions above the prescribed middleweight limit: Ronald Wright, Antonio Tarver, Jean Pascal, Tavoris Cloud, Beibut Shumenov and eventually Roy Jones Jr.

Hopkins also agreed to compete in Oscar De La Hoya’s own back yard by facing him at a contractually-stipulated catch-weight limit of 156lbs.

When you consider the above facts about Hopkins and then compare them to Golovkin’s 16 world title fight career record over the last five years or so, do you really believe that GGG’s resume “isn’t much worse”?

I did say at the time of the Trinidad fight. You can't add in people he hadn't fought yet.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I did say at the time of the Trinidad fight. You can't add in people he hadn't fought yet.

If I revise my list of world champions that Hopkins faced up to and including the Trinidad fight, the quality of his resume (at that moment in time) is still rather impressive:
• Glen Johnson
• John David Jackson
• Simon Brown
• Keith Holmes
• Roy Jones Jr
• Felix Trinidad

Unfortunately, I’m unable to quantify the Ring Magazine rating of the men he competed against for his other world title fights during the same period, since the data isn’t available.

However, due to the fact that so many of the names he’s faced are recognisable (to me at least), it’s my personal opinion that most of them would have almost certainly been universally regarded as genuine top-ten world-ranked talent.

Enlightened-One wrote:

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I did say at the time of the Trinidad fight. You can't add in people he hadn't fought yet.

If I revise my list of world champions that Hopkins faced up to and including the Trinidad fight, it doesn’t change that much:
• Glen Johnson
• John David Jackson
• Simon Brown
• Keith Holmes
• Roy Jones Jr
• Felix Trinidad

Unfortunately, I’m unable to quantify the Ring Magazine rating of the men he competed against for the other world title fights during the same period, since the data isn’t available.

However, due to the fact that so many of the names he’s faced are recognisable (to me at least), it’s my personal opinion that most of them would have almost certainly been universally regarded as genuine top-ten world-ranked talent.

Yes, it's a better list, obviously Roy wasn't the star people knew now, and Hopkins lost that one, I meant before the Trinidad fight, not after it.

If you remove RJJ and Trinidad, the list isn't really that much more impressive. Holmes and Joppy were very good, but not exceptional fighters, from what I recall Simon Brown was at his best at 154, and already past his best by the time he got to Hopkins, he was certainly never a real force at 160. John David Jackson again, past his best by the time he got to Hopkins.

The fact is, that GGG isn't able to get opportunities, he can't get the big names to fight him without moving up in weight. Hopkins was fortunate that King put together the MW tournament, or he might have toiled in obscurity for the rest of his career.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:If you remove RJJ...

There’s no reason to remove Roy Jones Jr. from consideration, because their fight was competitive.

And besides, Jones Jr. received quite a bit of hype around the time he faced Hopkins during their first fight, so his talent was undeniable.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:…the list isn't really that much more impressive.

I beg to differ... and you didn't comment on Hopkins' victory over a borderline Hall-of-Famer like Glen Johnson.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Holmes and Joppy were very good, but not exceptional fighters.

But clearly much better than Golovkin’s best two career wins to-date (according to Ring Magazine): Daniel Geale & David Lemieux.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:…from what I recall Simon Brown was at his best at 154.

Out of all the world title challengers that Golovkin has faced that also happened to compete in the lower weight classes (i.e. welterweight or light middleweight)… how many of them had a resume anywhere near as good as Simon Brown’s?

Here’s a list of the guys for you to consider:
• David Lemieux
• Willie Monroe Jr
• Marco Antonio Rubio
• Osumanu Adama
• Matthew Macklin
• Nobuhiro Ishida
• Gabriel Rosado
• Grzegorz Proksa
• Makoto Fuchigami
• Lajuan Simon
• Nilson Julio Tapia

jamesmcdonnell wrote:John David Jackson again, past his best by the time he got to Hopkins.

Hopkins faced John David Jackson at a catch-weight, weighing only 156½lbs. Bernard also agreed to compete against De La Hoya at a catch-weight, weighing 156lbs.

We’ve been listening to Team Golovkin boldly proclaim for the five years or so that they could “easily” compete and defeat any fighters from 154lbs to 175lbs, but Hopkins actually carried out his promise.

GGG is willing to face Mayweather Jr. at 154lbs, but refused to consider facing Canelo & Cotto at 155lbs and Brook at 157lbs.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:The fact is, that GGG isn't able to get opportunities, he can't get the big names to fight him without moving up in weight.

And the problem is…? Golovkin claims that he’s willing to face anyone at 168lbs barring Andre Ward, who he insists on facing at a 164lb catch-weight.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Hopkins was fortunate that King put together the MW tournament, or he might have toiled in obscurity for the rest of his career.

Hopkins and Ward both engaged in tournaments, but neither were "fortunate", because they had to beat a lot of elite-level fighters in order to be crowned the “top dog”.

In terms of Golovkin’s opportunities, if he was promoted by the likes of Arum, De La Hoya, Haymon or the guys at Roc Nation, he’d almost certainly have earned bigger paydays and also faced a higher calibre of opposition.

For the record, I’m a huge fan of GGG, but I reckon his career could have been managed better.

I will certainly agree his career could probably have been managed a lot better.

Enlightened-One wrote:

jamesmcdonnell wrote:If you remove RJJ...

There’s no reason to remove Roy Jones Jr. from consideration, because their fight was competitive.

And besides, Jones Jr. received quite a bit of hype around the time he faced Hopkins during their first fight, so his talent was undeniable.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:…the list isn't really that much more impressive.

I beg to differ... and you didn't comment on Hopkins' victory over a borderline Hall-of-Famer like Glen Johnson.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Holmes and Joppy were very good, but not exceptional fighters.

But clearly much better than Golovkin’s best two career wins to-date (according to Ring Magazine): Daniel Geale & David Lemieux.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:…from what I recall Simon Brown was at his best at 154.

Out of all the world title challengers that Golovkin has faced that also happened to compete in the lower weight classes (i.e. welterweight or light middleweight)… how many of them had a resume anywhere near as good as Simon Brown’s?

Here’s a list of the guys for you to consider:
• David Lemieux
• Willie Monroe Jr
• Marco Antonio Rubio
• Osumanu Adama
• Matthew Macklin
• Nobuhiro Ishida
• Gabriel Rosado
• Grzegorz Proksa
• Makoto Fuchigami
• Lajuan Simon
• Nilson Julio Tapia

jamesmcdonnell wrote:John David Jackson again, past his best by the time he got to Hopkins.

Hopkins faced John David Jackson at a catch-weight, weighing only 156½lbs. Bernard also agreed to compete against De La Hoya at a catch-weight, weighing 156lbs.

We’ve been listening to Team Golovkin boldly proclaim for the five years or so that they could “easily” compete and defeat any fighters from 154lbs to 175lbs, but Hopkins actually carried out his promise.

GGG is willing to face Mayweather Jr. at 154lbs, but refused to consider facing Canelo & Cotto at 155lbs and Brook at 157lbs.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:The fact is, that GGG isn't able to get opportunities, he can't get the big names to fight him without moving up in weight.

And the problem is…? Golovkin claims that he’s willing to face anyone at 168lbs barring Andre Ward, who he insists on facing at a 164lb catch-weight.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Hopkins was fortunate that King put together the MW tournament, or he might have toiled in obscurity for the rest of his career.

Hopkins and Ward both engaged in tournaments, but neither were "fortunate", because they had to beat a lot of elite-level fighters in order to be crowned the “top dog”.

In terms of Golovkin’s opportunities, if he was promoted by the likes of Arum, De La Hoya, Haymon or the guys at Roc Nation, he’d almost certainly have earned bigger paydays and also faced a higher calibre of opposition.

For the record, I’m a huge fan of GGG, but I reckon his career could have been managed better.

Watch around 14:00 here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgv3qHIgrBY

caldo2025 wrote:

Enlightened-One wrote:As we’re less than ten days away from Gennady Golovkin’s next world title defence, I thought I’d perform a statistical review of his career for the last five years, using a combination of the Ring Magazine's divisional ratings, coupled with BoxRec’s resume information.


Thoughts?

I can appreciate the effort put in on this one but I think that everyone's had enough of this topic. Most agree with you, Anti or Pro GGG, that GGG's resume is lacking some big names. But I do not agree that these fighters he's beaten are all cupcakes and GGG deserves more credit than he's getting for walking through the level of talent he has.

For instance, GGG's last 4 opponents combined for a record of 100-4-1 and he knocked them all out in spectacular fashion and he did this all in less than a year and a half. How can he not get credit for that?

If you're the most feared boxer in the world, the chances are, you will have trouble getting people to fight you. To me, this makes their strength of schedule exempt from criticism. When boxers like Canelo choose to vacate a belt instead of fighting him, you have to put that into consideration when knocking the guy for his resume.

Someday GGG will get the credit he deserves. In the meantime, you haters can do your thing and try to tear him down. I'm just going to enjoy every second of his fights because I fully believe that i'm witnessing an all time great in GGG.

Ain't that right. It's been beaten to death on this forum. I'm pretty certain fans of GGG like myself already knows he does not have a sparkling resume.

Yeah, this shock news just in!

boxing_rocks wrote:Watch around 14:00 here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgv3qHIgrBY

Since when does any of the things stated in that stupendously moronic and fúckíng tedious video relate to anything that I have previously claimed?

I’m simply trying to be the voice of reason here… even though I’m a self-confessed Golovkin fan.

No human being has the right to label me as GGG “hater” simply because:

• I refuse to ignore some of the questionable claims of made by Team GGG, such as he’s “small”… that everyone is “too scared” to face him… and that he’s allowed to do things other fighters aren’t (such as refusing fights because the paydays are too small… demanding catch-weight stipulations against bigger opponents… being willing to lose weight for certain opponents, but not others… or for being immune from receiving criticism for facing welterweights)

• I refuse to grant him an honorary rite of passage to Hall-of-Famer “greatness” and I also decline to compare him to all-time-greats, such as Marvin Hagler or Bernard Hopkins, because he hasn’t earned such praise yet

• I refuse to buy into all the hype that he’s some sort of indestructible and invincible behemoth… that is immortal… that can fly… that can continue fighting until his sixties… that he can batter any heavyweight or welterweight on the planet with consummate ease… blah, blaaahhh… blaaahhh… blaaaahhh… blaaahhh…

• I refuse to make excuses for Gennady’s poor resume or my belief that his career has been badly managed and that he should have been commanding bigger paydays by now, whilst he also should have already engaged in several signature bouts (whereas he’s actually been involved in none)

Being fúckíng stupid and blindly loyal (to almost staggeringly absurd proportions) are not qualities to be proud of! Are you?

Gennady Golovkin clearly possesses the talent to become a “great” fighter… and he’s hugely enjoyable to watch, but his flat refusal to face anyone outside of his 160lb comfort zone, coupled with his mediocre resume, means that (unlike his fúckíng stupid hard-core fans), I refuse to rate him as some sort of omnipotent supernatural demigod that must be “protected” at all costs!

Did he just go full FUGMO?

Counter-puncher wrote:Did he just go full FUGMO?

Yes, he did. "Golovkin's fan".