By Tim Fletcher: WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford says he doesn’t know if IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) is the real deal or not at this point, because he’s not been fighting guys that are hitting him back and trying to win.
Crawford notes that Golovkin has punching power, and he thinks he’s got good boxing skills. However, Crawford doesn’t know if he’s a legitimate talent or not because he’s been fighting too many guys that he was able to steamroll over without any problems.
The best guy that Golovkin has faced thus far is David Lemieux, a fighter that was beaten previously by Joachim Alcine and Marco Antonio Rubio. Neither of those fighters are considered huge talents.
“Until he [Golovkin] fights someone who is going to fight back, it’s hard to say [how good Golovkin is], but you know that guy can punch real hard and he’s got some skills. Who’s to say he’s not real,” Crawford said.
It’s too bad that Golovkin doesn’t have the experience to tell fans how good he is. If Golovkin accepted Andre Ward’s recent challenge to face him at super middleweight, then I think the boxing world would know whether Golovkin is the real deal or not. It would be a fight that would tell the fans whether Golovkin deserves to be seen as a top talent or not.
We’re going to find out soon how good Golovkin is if he can face the winner or the loser of the Miguel Cotto – Saul Canelo Alvarez fight. If neither of those fighters choose to face Golovkin, then it’ll take a fight between Golovkin and the winner of the Peter Quillin vs. Daniel Jacobs or the winner of the Andy Lee vs. Billy Joe Saunders to tell is how good he is.
Jacobs and Quillin are managed by Al Haymon, which means that we may never see Golovkin vs. either of them. Lee has already been knocked out by journeyman Brian Vera and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Beating Lee might not be able to tell the boxing world how good Golovkin is, especially with the way that Lee has had to rally in his last three fights against Peter Quillin, Matt Korobov and John Jackson. Lee beat Korobov and Jackson, but was held to a draw against Quillin.
If Crawford was a little bit bigger, he and Golovkin would be an interesting fight, but Crawford is just too slender. Even if Crawford fought the perfect fight, Golovkin would walk through his shots to nail him with a big punch that would stop him in his tracks. Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum would likely never give the green light for a fight between Crawford and Golovkin.
Arum doesn’t like the idea of Manny Pacquiao fighting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, because he thinks it would be too much of a size and power difference between the two fighters.
Crawford, 5’8 ½”, 156lbs, is actually bigger and heavier than Pacquiao, but he would still be giving away roughly 14 pounds to the 170lb Golovkin if that fight took place, and it would obviously be too much of a weight and power difference for Crawford to have a fighting chance of winning.
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