Some people watching boxing, who have been around the block a few times and still see things like honesty and integrity as viable boxing concepts, just can?t sit back and suspend disbelief as bullshit reigns supreme. For me, personally, aggressively-shoveled bullshit provokes an equal and opposite reaction. It tweaks my gizzard that people are lied to and, frankly, in the case of Gennady Golovkin, that these people are so stubbornly unwilling to accept the possibility that they were played for suckers.
But such is the case with the cult of Gennady Golovkin and his die-hard apologist fans who, apparently, value the preservation of Triple G?s honor over the well-being of the sport. To them, even the slightest hint of a doubt regarding anything Golovkin is tantamount to the desecration of a holy artifact. And there can be no middle ground. This fierce, unreasonable defense mechanism makes for a piercing headache in those who don’t idol-worship and just want to sit back and watch boxing at its very best.
The slightest attempt to add perspective to the true nature of Golovkin?s rise to power is met with an aggressive?What about Mayweather? What about Cotto? What about Canelo? What about Pacquiao? What about, fucking, Joe Louis? No real answers, just fingers pointed?there are no answers to be had for them. They were told something that fed into whatever mental need they had and now desperately clutch at talking points and promotional materials to justify their faith. Their defense of Golovkin?s honor at all costs is their only objective. Ask for some sort of concrete proof to support their defense of the man?s absolute purity and, like any good cult members, they?ll just refer back to the cult?s own personal dogma?Everyone was afraid, so who could he fight?
The grab of the cult is so intense that the true blue Golovkonites seem more than willing to throw the whole goddamn sport under the bus to keep from having to actually look at where they may have been duped into believing a well-constructed fable.
Okay, Golovkin?s team deciding to fart around in Europe way longer than necessary while calling out the top middleweights from across the ocean was not intentional. Timing his arrival on the U.S. scene just as the division began killing itself off was not at all intentional. HBO low-balling Golovkin fights and essentially preventing any big fight talks from even starting was purely accidental. Hyping the holy shit out of a regional Montreal pug for a 15 to 1 PPV main event was not intentionally cynical at all. Golovkin is just one unfortunate SOB, the only fighter in the history of the sport with multiple world title belts and a TV deal who just can?t find anyone good to fight. And this is totally NOT the same hustle played out dozens and dozens of times throughout the history of boxing by savvy promoters looking to turn a good offensive fighter into someone they can hype as THE MOST FEARED MAN IN BOXING.
Okay, fine?this is all just one lousy, crummy coincidence?the one time where a fighter just magically and organically rose to the top of the sport through hard work and harder fists.
Please. Stop watching so many damn movies.
The question I ask of all the Golovkonites out there is this: When, exactly, do the free passes stop coming? Two, three years from now when Cotto still won?t fight him and the bodies of no-hopers begin to pile up? A related question may be: How long will Team Triple G be allowed to play both ends of the game, crying about not being able to find a decent challenge, yet unwilling to focus on anyone other than the one middleweight who won?t fight their guy?
Some may say that questioning Golovkin and the perpetual free pass he gets is born of a cynical world view. On the contrary. Guys like me want what Golovkin, himself, claims to want?good, competitive bouts by which he can affirm his legacy as one of today?s best fighters. Those fights are out there. But the Golovkinites? desperate efforts to defend their hero at all costs are enabling HBO and Golovkin?s management to pursue lesser fights and just focus on marketing them to the fiercely loyal and buzz-curious. At this rate, what incentive is there for them to actually look for a big fight that may represent substantial risk to their investment?
I?m a realist, though. I fully realize that most true Golovkonites have long stopped reading this article and are, instead, scribbling down some hate mail for me, just based on me having the nerve to question their sweetly devastating Kazakh powerhouse.
But, on the odd chance that some may be still reading?Stop with your bullshit comparisons to the all-time greats. Stop pretending like Golovkin is absolutely beyond reproach in all areas of business and fighting. Stop gang-raping those who dare to question his rise to prominence and the hype machine behind him. Stop being so dumb about your blind adulation.
Let us reasonable fight fans enjoy Golovkin as the highly-entertaining fighter (with prominent question marks) that he is without being forced to sip the funny-tasting Kool-Aid.
