I refuse to cosign the notion that a man whose fight r?sum? leaves much to be desired is the second best boxer in the world?
It appears that our blood lust has a way of leaving our brains deprived. Crassly speaking that is how things tend to work out when our carnal urges peak. I blame the heavyweights. No matter the prodigious skill of boxing?s greatest little men, the mainstream public?those fly-by-night fans, who grace the sport with a windfall when the hype and the fighters are paired just right only know blood, and that blood, that pain, has traditionally been the prolific work of the heavyweight division.
However, we all know the heavyweight division has been overwhelmed by a proverbial drought for well over a decade, leaving fans famished; and with such severe hunger comes delusions. In the midst of such delusions may come masterful opportunists who stoke the violent hopes and even reap untold fortunes by not becoming the executor we all crave, but by becoming the most elusive target in boxing?he whose execution we long to see. It has carried him through 48 professional bouts, unscathed and unbeaten, all the while having not come close to putting an opponent on their backside, (at least one who bothered to pay attention) since 2009?cashing in on all the venomous hopes for his down fall.
Enter Gennady Golovkin??The Most Dangerous Man In The Sport.? Can we try to come up with new phraseology? The man the sport has come to know as GGG is all the rage if your source for boxing news is Yahoo! Sports. Naturally, the network he fights on, HBO has pushed him as the second coming of Mike Tyson and why not? That?s their job. I concede Golovkin is good. He?s powerful, ambitious, and packs a devastating punch. Best of all, his punch is not all he depends on. But, who in the mainstream cares for all those incidentals anyway?we want blood! Fine, GGG brings the pain?but against who?
I?m all for hype. After all P.T. Barnum said it best, ?without promotion something terrible happens?nothing!? This is ITALICPrize Fighting and when all is said and done bills must be paid, thus great fights must be made and if we are to have great fights, then great fighters must not only be cultivated. However, these things ought not happen at the expense of integrity. Grant it, I know such a word carries a rather loose meaning in the business of boxing, yet it still matters. Therefore, the loud whispers that have cleverly elevated Gennady Golovkin to the rank of Second Best Fighter on the planet must be corrected, for he most certainly is not. I?ll concede that he is worthy of our attention, I?ll even accept the recycled phraseology, but I utterly refuse to cosign the notion that a man whose fight r?sum? leaves much to be desired is the second best boxer in the world.
?Well, nobody wants to fight him?high risk, low reward?? his supporters like to claim. Nevertheless, you simply can?t wish a fighter into contention?they must earn it no matter how much they are perceived to be due. Until further notice that number two spot belongs to none other than Andre ?S.O.G.? Ward. He actually earned it?you need only look to his record. He?s cleaned out his entire division.
