BoxRec

In terms of hype, Legacy, Audience and background.

I'm assuming it's up there. But, it would be better if Canelo was an established MW already. But I'll take it.

I am excited about this as I was with the Hearns-Hagler-Leonard-Duran Match ups in the 80s.

Two of my favorite guys going at it.

Impractical Poster wrote:I'm assuming it's up there. But, it would be better if Canelo was an established MW already. But I'll take it.

He held the WBC, Ring and Lineal titles. beat the man to beat at middleweight, although it was at 155 lb

Big world wide. Probably top five ever. Definitely top ten.

Only things that could upstage it in general in boxing this year would be an AJ v Wlad rematch or AJ v Wilder.

Ruthless-RKO wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:I'm assuming it's up there. But, it would be better if Canelo was an established MW already. But I'll take it.

He held the WBC, Ring and Lineal titles. beat the man to beat at middleweight, although it was at 155 lb

Apart from last weekend’s sparring session against the weight-drained Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, I don’t think that Canelo has ever faced a legitimate middleweight that spent the vast majority of their career at 160lbs, has he?

Around top 8 ever

Hagler leonard
Hagler hearns
Hopkins oscar
Hopkins tito
???

verlichte wrote:

Ruthless-RKO wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:I'm assuming it's up there. But, it would be better if Canelo was an established MW already. But I'll take it.

He held the WBC, Ring and Lineal titles. beat the man to beat at middleweight, although it was at 155 lb

Apart from last weekend’s sparring session against the weight-drained Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, I don’t think that Canelo has ever faced a legitimate middleweight that spent the vast majority of their career at 160lbs, has he?

Nope he hasn't, even Cotto wasn't, he just wanted to become his nations first 4 weight champion

It's a big match up but nowhere near as big as BJS vs Eubank Jr

Jip wrote:Around top 8 ever

Hagler leonard
Hagler hearns
Hopkins oscar
Hopkins tito
???

Hagler Leonard was at super middle was it not

Jones jr Hopkins although it was quite early in their careers so wasn't maybe as big at the time

Jip wrote:Around top 8 ever

Hagler leonard
Hagler hearns
Hopkins oscar
Hopkins tito
???

Duran/Barkley
Fullmer/Basilio

Ossyrules wrote:

Jip wrote:Around top 8 ever

Hagler leonard
Hagler hearns
Hopkins oscar
Hopkins tito
???

Hagler Leonard was at super middle was it not

Jones jr Hopkins although it was quite early in their careers so wasn't maybe as big at the time

No and this is much bigger than Jones/Hopkins. That was an undercard fight.

Ossyrules wrote:

Jip wrote:Around top 8 ever

Hagler leonard
Hagler hearns
Hopkins oscar
Hopkins tito
???

Hagler Leonard was at super middle was it not

Was for WBC middleweight title

Ah yeah course it was, I've got confused with the weights of the latter end of ray Leonard's career

Re jones vs Hopkins I'm not championing that as bigger than ggg vs canelo, just trying to think of other top middleweight fights

Ossyrules wrote:Hagler Leonard was at super middle was it not

Nope.

Ossyrules wrote:Jones jr Hopkins although it was quite early in their careers so wasn't maybe as big at the time

Yes.

Ossyrules wrote:Ah yeah course it was, I've got confused with the weights of the latter end of ray Leonard's career

Re jones vs Hopkins I'm not championing that as bigger than ggg vs canelo, just trying to think of other top middleweight fights

It wasn't a top fight at the time, much less historically.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:Ah yeah course it was, I've got confused with the weights of the latter end of ray Leonard's career

Re jones vs Hopkins I'm not championing that as bigger than ggg vs canelo, just trying to think of other top middleweight fights

It wasn't a top fight at the time, much less historically.

Agree - but not about the much less historically bit

Legacy will largely depend on how good a fight it is.

BitPlayer wrote:Legacy will largely depend on how good a fight it is.

. . . and business wise the ppv buys will be just a fraction of the global story. A large chunk of the planet by geography and population will be tuned in.

It may be the biggest MW boxing match in history.

I think Gennady Golovkin vs Chris Eubank will be a bigger fight... If Eubank gets a chance to destroy Billy Joe Saunders first... That will be big too.

But GGG-Canelo will be the biggest Middleweight Fight so far.. I was turned off by May-Pac... I was turned off by Pacquiao's grinning and con artistry... I pretty much knew May-Pac was going to stink when Pac said he was more concerned about the Mosley and Margarito fights because he thought they were tougher to beat.. Pacquiao didn't like Floyd.. Didn't do a damned thing.. Then he says he thinks he won the fight.. There were millions of casual fans worldwide who bought the fight because it was hyped up for 7 years as the biggest thing ever.. They all said "FK Boxing!!!"

But GGG-Canelo will be a great fight... GGG-Eubank will be a great fight... Spence-Brook will be a great fight... And we just had one of the greatest Heavyweight fights of all time... There are other great match-ups like Lomachenko-Garcia, Beterbiev-Kovalev, Joshua-Ortiz, and Breidis-Usyk..

Boxing will be in an entirely different place 2 years from now -- if the sport doesn't screw these fights up some how.

Ruthless-RKO wrote:In terms of hype, Legacy, Audience and background.

Hype would be the best since Jones vs Toney?

Legacy? Probably one of the best signature fights for either man, with the winner being guaranteed a spot in Canton.

Audience? Huge. Mexico might shut down for the fight.

I wish we saw it a year sooner.

The biggest since Hagler-Leonard (1987!)
Maybe even bigger because before that fight hardly anyone seriously believed Leonard could win. After the fight an awful lot of people, myself included, thought he hadn't.

You can't compare these fighters to the mercurial Ray Leonard. So this won't be Hagler v Leonard ll. It will be more like Hagler v Hagler. And that is good enough for anybody.

pound per pound wrote:

Ruthless-RKO wrote:In terms of hype, Legacy, Audience and background.

Hype would be the best since Jones vs Toney?

Legacy? Probably one of the best signature fights for either man, with the winner being guaranteed a spot in Canton.

Audience? Huge. Mexico might shut down for the fight.

I wish we saw it a year sooner.

Jones vs. Toney was super middleweight

Although it was not only an undercard fight but also just plain boring, I do think that if what you're doing is adding the sum total of the greatness of the two fighters in the ring, then I do think Hopkins-Jones is in retrospect the biggest middleweight fight of my lifetime, and by a considerable margin. But by the other criteria like hype and just plain potential to be a great fight, this could be the best thing since Hagler-Hearns.

Hagler and hearns were greater than Jones & Hopkins too. Though they are all legends.