Kovalev vs Pascal

[BrutalBodyShots]

Very cool to see the mutual respect and appreciation between those two.

[Dickagon]

Black, I don't think the problem is him fighting at 160. The problem is him and his people act like he's the best fighter up to 175 when he's a middleweight. Since no big names want him at middleweight why not take the challenge? Other fighters have gone up a division or two for better oppurtunities. It's nothing but excuses from them when it comes to making it happen.

[the ollie reed fan club]

(03-17-2015 03:01 PM)gravytrain Wrote:  Black, I don't think the problem is him fighting at 160. The problem is him and his people act like he's the best fighter up to 175 when he's a middleweight. Since no big names want him at middleweight why not take the challenge? Other fighters have gone up a division or two for better oppurtunities. It's nothing but excuses from them when it comes to making it happen.

I don't think I've ever heard Golovkin say he is the best all the way up to 175. Yeah I do understand he wouldn't mind cherry picking a couple of guys at 168 and that is the problem. However the dude isn't young so i can't bash him for that, especially as he does want to fight the very best in his chosen division of 160 but they don't want to fight him. I find him one of the more respectful dude's on the scene so I'm confused as to why you find his 'arrogance' so irritating, but each to their own I guess.

I do find his one size fits all post fight 'I give them Mexican show' kinda funny though.

[Dickagon]

Just how his people talk about Ward then whenever Ward says "alright, let's fight then" Golovkin said Ward was trying to make a name off of him. it'd be huge win for him and his people make nothing but excuses why it cant happen

[TheFonz]

I didn't know Kovalev killed a guy in the ring.

[lloyd mayflower]

Yeah he was asked about it before the Cleverly fight I remember. The guy was a bitnof a dick about it since Kov clearly didnt want to really discuss it

[blackbelt2003]

Every single fighter says he can kick the asses of all the guys in his division, the next one up and the next one up from that.


However, I prefer them not to bother. I prefer them to stay at their best division and carve out a genuine legacy. A Bernard Hopkins career is much tougher to build than an Abner Mares one.




Black

[and the NEW]

(03-18-2015 03:23 PM)blackbelt2003 Wrote:  Every single fighter says he can kick the asses of all the guys in his division, the next one up and the next one up from that.


However, I prefer them not to bother. I prefer them to stay at their best division and carve out a genuine legacy. A Bernard Hopkins career is much tougher to build than an Abner Mares one.

Black

Not a relevant comparison whatsoever. You are coming an all-time great to a decent contemporary fighter.

Is a BHOP career much tougher to build than a Henry Armstrong one?

Fighters used to jump weight divisions all the time to seek out the best opposition available. Mickey Walker, Harry Greb, Ezzard Charles, Gene Tunney, Henry Armstrong, Ray Robinson, Ray Leonard etc etc etc. How has it become so "old school" to reign over one division for a record number of defences?

[the ollie reed fan club]

(03-18-2015 08:36 PM)and the NEW Wrote:  Not a relevant comparison whatsoever. You are coming an all-time great to a decent contemporary fighter.

Is a BHOP career much tougher to build than a Henry Armstrong one?

Fighters used to jump weight divisions all the time to seek out the best opposition available. Mickey Walker, Harry Greb, Ezzard Charles, Gene Tunney, Henry Armstrong, Ray Robinson etc etc etc. How has it become so "old school" to reign over one division for a record number of defences?

I didn't see Black say 'old school' in that post, more that it might possibly be cooler for a dude to stay in one division and rule with an iron fist. I personally think there is waaaay more jumping around today than yesteryear, mainly due to the extra divisions being added. I reckon it would be badass for G to stay at 160 for the next 5 years and say to everyone at that weight, bring it on.

[and the NEW]

(03-18-2015 10:08 PM)the ollie reed fan club Wrote:  I didn't see Black say 'old school' in that post, more that it might possibly be cooler for a dude to stay in one division and rule with an iron fist. I personally think there is waaaay more jumping around today than yesteryear, mainly due to the extra divisions being added. I reckon it would be badass for G to stay at 160 for the next 5 years and say to everyone at that weight, bring it on.

Yeah, the 'old school' part wasn't in reference to Black's quote, only to a theme that seems to be emerging recently where people seem to think older generations stayed in one division whereas current fighters jump around. Old fighters jumped as much, if not more, than current fighters. They would have non-title fights in other divisions all the time even if they were champions. So when people start crucifying Peterson and Garcia, it is quite odd. Have a look at Ray Robinson, other than winning the welterweight title and defending it, every single one of his tens and tens of fights in-between was at the contemporary jr middle or middle limits - that was not an anomaly back then.

Fair call on what you would prefer to see though. I prefer the best fighting the best around them, as long as the weight (dis)advantage isn't ridiculous. I agree with gravy, the weight of GGG in comparison to Ward isn't too much. That fight would define GGG's legacy like nothing he could do at middle and he can always bump back down after the fight. That said, if your division has stiff (HOF worthy) competition, then jumping weights is just lazy.