By J Caldwell: Is it just me, or does anyone else with half a boxing brain see a possible match-up between Gennady Golovkin (or, “GGG”), the current IBF, WBA and WBO middleweight titleholder and the now “somewhat” retired Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (with too many accolades to name) as a complete waste of time?
Other than the fact the two fighters have “0s” to their name, the actual fight itself wouldn’t be an intriguing matchup. Perhaps the buildup to the fight should be “Someone’s 0 has to go”…been there done that! Better yet, the buildup, at least from a boxing realist point of reference, could be this: “Hello my name is ‘GGG’ and I could use a nice payday.”
By in large, the actual fight itself between Golovkin, a solid middleweight and Mayweather, a blown-up lightweight doesn’t appear to be a good one for many reasons, but mainly for the following: 1) Way too many issues to deal with haggling over catchweights, including Floyd coming up, Golovkin coming down, dehydration, rehydration concerns, etc.; 2) Golovkin’s weak resume lacking quality opposition; and more importantly 3) Mayweather’s penchant for being overly cautious in the ring, especially against aggressive boxer-punchers who like to bang. Put simply, a boxing match-up between boxing’s former and current kings (if it ever were to happen) would be a bit too technical, thus making the fight a slight turnoff to the casual fan.
Again, speaking from a boxing’s cynic point of view, Golovkin’s boxer-power-punching style doesn’t seem to ring as an unbeatable style. What it truly means, in layman’s terms at least, is that the guy can really punch. And if you buy into the old boxing adage that “punchers are born and not raise” then you also have to buy the logic that Golovkin will continue to KO guys until he’s properly “match-uped” with someone who can at least punch with him (i.e., Miguel Cotto, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin, or even an Errol Spence) or god forbid he’s put in there with a legit middleweight guy who can actually out-think him in the ring (namely, Bernard Hopkins and Andre Ward). Make no mistake about it, it’s going to take one hell of fighter to beat the native Kazakhstan fighter, but up to this point, Golovkin hasn’t fought anyone near the talent level of the aforementioned guys. Let’s think like a die-hard for a moment: Golovkin, the great fighter that he is, doesn’t’ have the greatest CV, which reads like “who’s who” of virtual nobodies.
Thus, it goes without say what Golovkin has to do to win over a more loyal American fan base: 1) Beat at least two of the top guys in the business; 2) Go on a campaign calling out everyone from lite middleweight to lite heavy; and 3) Leave Mayweather in retirement, a fight between he and TBE would do absolutely nothing for the sport of boxing, other than give him [“GGG”] a nice payday; and, of course, increase Mayweather’s car collection.
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