https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoZ9eBUjqgg
By Matthew Plumridge: Boxing might not be great at many things – but one thing it does do better than any other sport is the ability to hype. Never has a sport been so good at making us think that so many will end up being amongst the chosen few.

To prove this, you only have to consider the current set of undisputed champions; Seth Mitchell at Heavyweight; Julio Cesar Chavez Jr at Middle; and the upcoming battle of the unbeatable Welterweights in Andre Berto and Adrien Broner. For what it is worth, my moneys’ on AB.

Boxing has had plenty of guys that are considered sure things. Fighters that have been considered just too damn good to ever be out fought in the square ring, have ultimately all had their “no mas” moment. For every Floyd Mayweather or Rocky Marciano there are at least a few dozen more Mike Tyson’s or George Foreman’s.

This weekend sees the Briton Martin Murray next up to test the latest sensation of a generation, the unbreakable Gennady Golovkin – and nobody gives him a hope. And why should they? This pumped up Brit only scraped a draw in his first World title tilt when fighting the long-time Middleweight Champion Felix Sturm in the Germans’ own back yard (where the old adage goes that you have to knock out the champ to get a draw) and followed that effort up by failing to get the better of the pound for pound fighting legend Sergio Martinez in front of 90,000 rabid Argentinians, securing only two knockdowns of Maravilla en-route to the narrowest of point’s losses.

As for GGG he just cannot be touched. After a glittering amateur career (for some reason the records show he lost 5 fights, though am guessing this must just be untrue) he has so far overcome the crème de la crème of the middleweight scene; his notable and defining victories coming over future hall of famers Matthew Macklin, Daniel Geale and Marc Antonio Rubio.

Okay, so I’m being a little contrary here; but this is the point. Boxing has the best hype in the business. A never ending habit of elevating the good to great – and then pointing and laughing at the arrogance of the champ when the house falls down around him. Maybe Golovkin is one of the chosen few – and part of me really hopes he is – but if after thirty six years’ viewing you can only count 2 real greats in your own time, it makes it hard to believe this is going to be the case. Far more likely he becomes the growing list of “whatever happened to” questions than being the next Floyd Mayweather Jr.

This isn’t to suggest that Golovkin won’t have a great run or be a great champ – he likely will – but if he is going to fall apart eventually and he isn’t quite as good as we hope, then tests don’t come much tougher than Murray. And given the odds on offer, I for one are happy to be bold where others are fearful – no matter what they hype.