By Elton Jackson: Are fans concerned about match ups that are good for boxing, or matching up Floyd Mayweather Jr. with a fighter that they think can give him his first loss? Over the last few days there has been lots of discussion on the Mayweather vs Alvarez match up. Many fight fans are upset with Floyd for choosing Canelo.
Some have complained about the catch weight and others think Canelo is not good enough to beat Floyd. Some feel that Floyd has been “cherry picking” his opponents throughout his career, and others feel that he should face the best in different weight classes. There have been fighters such as: Sergio Martinez current #1 rank middleweight, last fight 159 1/2 pounds, Gennady Golovkin current #3 rank middleweight, last fight 159 1/2 pounds, Manny Pacquiao current rank # 5 welterweight, last fight 147 pounds, and I have even seen request from fans that say Mayweather should face Andre Ward current rank # 1 super middleweight, last fight 168.
I believe the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight should have happened by now; but, boxing is a business and when terms can’t be agreed upon there cannot be a fight. I would love to see a deal made for this fight to end all of the talk, but we all know Floyd likes to face winners, so we will see how Pacquiao does in his next few fights? With that said, some statements and request made from fans are just not well thought out for the sport of boxing.
Canelo is a light middleweight which is closer to middleweight than Floyd. Yes, Floyd holds a belt in the weight class but he generally treads those waters when he is looking for a challenge, due to the absence of challenge in his own weight class, welterweight. Floyd has never fought at middleweight, so why are people asking him to face middleweights? In some fight fans eyes Canelo is considered great; why has he not been requested to face some of the opponents in higher weight classes that Floyd is asked to face?
Great fighters tend to move up in weight to find a challenge, so requesting bigger fighters to come down to face Floyd makes no sense, if the fighters are considered a great in their weight class. I say this meaning Canelo is a very good fighter, but in my eyes he has not reached a level of greatness yet. However, the attributes he brings to a fight will present a challenge for Mayweather in September.
If these other fighters are as great as the fans claim them to be, why won’t any of them step up in weight to face Andre Ward, who is a highly skilled and undefeated boxer. Ward has faced a great deal of competitors in his own weight class and defeated them all. Andre Ward is running out of opponents to face in his weight class, and eventually will have to move up in weight to find a challenge. After Sergio Martinez has recovered from his surgery, he should be facing Ward.
If people believe Sergio should have a tune-up before facing Ward due to the surgery, then he should be facing Golovkin. Golovikn even has the ability to come up in weight to face Sakio Bika, which would be an amazing fight for the sport; or he could face Daniel Geale or Peter Quillin. Manny Pacquiao vs. Robert Guerrero, Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Adrien Broner, Lucas Matthysse vs. Adrien Broner, Timothy Bradley vs. Danny Garcia, Ruslan Provodnikov vs. Lucas Matthysse (fireworks), Keith Thurman vs. Robert Guerrero, Andre Berto vs. Manny Pacquiao.
These are all sensible request and fights I would love to see! Are there any realistic (one weight class difference or not) match ups that you would like to see? We are the boxing fans, so we should make some request that can really happen!
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