Avoided or Avoiding

By Rhodri Cording: This is one of the most divisive topics relating to the sport we love and enjoy at present, just who is being avoided and who is doing the avoiding. I would like to present a few case studies of undefeated fighters that are still fighting to try and get to the bottom of this never ending talking point and give you my opinions of this matter.

Before I start, I must say that it is often not the fighters that are doing the avoiding. Promoters wouldn’t be doing their jobs properly if they were putting promising, inexperienced fighters in the ring with a level that was too high for them too early on.

I would also like to say that, for better or worse, boxing is a business for the promoters and a job for the boxers. The ‘risk to reward’ ratio needs to be right. Imagine if your boss said to you “you can have a really hard days work, be physically in pieces for a week later and I will pay you £100 for the day, or you can have a pretty easy days work, you will be fine the next day and I will pay you £200 for the day” which would you pick?

Gennady Golovkin aka GGG 30(27)-0-0

Let’s face it, GGGs opponents thus far have hardly been stellar opposition, his best win coming against former 2 weight world champion Daniel Geale. Daniel Geale had lost his last but one fight to the game but limited Darren Barker, losing his IBF strap in the process. The problem that GGG is facing is simple; he moves up in weight for the mega fights against the likes of Ward, Froch and Chavez Jr, or, he hopes for a fight at middleweight vs Saul Alvarez or Cotto – neither of which seem interested due to the ‘risk to reward’ ratio. Personally, I think GGG is too dangerous for either Cotto or Alvarez to fight and there is a dearth of talent at middleweight. His best bet would be moving up to super middleweight (he has more than enough power). Even if he didn’t get a massive fight at super middleweight to begin with, there is more of a talent pool and soon enough he would be involved with bigger earning fights.

Avoided or Avoiding rating – 6 – so far, for me, GGG has been incredible, but it is time he went up in weight to fight his career defining fights. The Jury is still out but if he stays at middleweight he could end up being the forgotten man of boxing.

Floyd Mayweather Jr 46(26)-0-0

This is the big one really. Is it really fair to consider a man who has fought Maidana, Cotto, Canelo, Moseley, Hatton, Marquez, Gatti, Judah, De La Hoya and Ortiz as a boxer who might avoid another fighter? Well, it might just be because there is one big name missing on that list and if the fight never happens, the debate will go on forever.

That man of course is a little Filipino singer/politician and boxer called Manny Pacquiao. Now, I must admit that my mind changes almost daily on this fight but I think as time has gone on and Mayweather is clearly showing his age and reaching the end of his illustrious, unprecedented career he has a different ‘reward to risk’ ratio to deal with. Should he risk his 0 against one of the most dangerous and devastating fighters of the last 10 years to finish as the undisputed king of his generation?

People talk about money and PPV but that is a load of rubbish. Mayweather and Pacman would make more money from a fight between them than they would fighting another 5 times against other fighters. Neither of them really need the money any more and Pacman already has losses on his record, so he is not afraid of losing against his biggest rival. It all boils down to Mayweather. Personally, I hope he takes the risk but at this point I doubt it and I don’t blame him to be honest, in his shoes how many would take that risk?.

Avoided or Avoiding rating – 8 – If he fights Pacman he should get a 10, until then he deserves massive respect for his career so far.

Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder 32(32)-0-0

When I first found out about Deontay Wilder, I immediately sat up and took notice. Here was a guy with not only a perfect win record, but a perfect knockout record! I was excited to say the least.

That was, of course, until I had seen who he had fought. He was fighting people in his 27th fight that young up-and-comers would be fighting in their 7th or 8th fight. If you took Dereck Chisora’s record and compared them to Wilders, there is a stark difference. In his 24 fights to Wilders 30, Del Boy has fought the likes of Tyson Fury, David Haye and Klitschko, even Pala and Johnson, are worlds away from the fighters Wilder has fought.

There is no denying that Wilder has the most padded record in living memory, but does he have the skills to really push on? I’m not so sure. His boxing skills are suspect, his defensive skills are untested, his footwork isn’t what it should be, he has been rocked and we have no idea how his stamina is. What he does have, and to an extent it can make up for a lot of shortcomings, is power and bundles of it. Ok, he has only been knocking out turkeys so far, but if he catches most heavyweights with his big shots they will go down. The question is, can he land them?

Avoided or Avoiding rating – 3 – We will see against Stiverne but if he wins that, I expect Golden boy to keep him as far away from Wlad as possible. Beating 30 bums doesn’t mean a thing.

There are, of course, other fighters that I could have written about – Kell Brook, Manny Pacquiao, Wladimir Klitschko etc but I thought I should keep it to three.

Thanks for reading and I hope to write more articles as inspiration finds its way to me.