John David Jackson, when talking about a possible fight between Golovkin and Canelo, mentioned Marvelous Marvin Hagler?
There are more what-ifs in boxing than oil in Saudi Arabia. Fight fans love to fantasize about dream fights, where pound-for-pound fighters from different eras get it on. How would Tyson Fury do against Muhammad Ali? How about Roberto Duran vs. Benny Leonard? What about Adonis Stevenson vs. Bob Foster, or a fight between Floyd Mayweather vs. Emile Griffith?
What about Gennady Golovkin vs. Marvin Hagler?
In an ?On the Ropes? radio interview, Jenna J asked John David Jackson, the trainer of Sergey Kovalev, what he thought about the possible bout between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez.
After discussing the upcoming fight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, which doesn?t concern us here, and the possibility of another fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, which concerns us even less, John David Jackson, when talking about Golovkin vs. Canelo, mentioned Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
?I hate to say this,? said Jackson, ?but there?s more hype to Golovkin than people realize. He?s good but he hasn?t fought the best in his division, but that?s not his fault, I?m not blaming him for that. But when you hear guys say that he?s better than Hagler, no, he wouldn?t have beat anyone like that.?
That anyone would dare suggest that today?s fighters are not as good as the fighters of the past is a sacrilege to some. Others simply shrug their shoulders and carry on.
?When people say Golovkin would beat Marvin Hagler, they?re either smoking something or drinking something or they?re just not with boxing at all. He?s good now in his era, but unfortunately for him in his era there?s not too many top middleweights, so he can run it. If he can fight these guys and meet them all, he would probably come out the winner.?
It?s hard to tell whether John David Jackson is a fan or a realist, but I?m leaning toward the latter.
?It?s gonna take one hell of a boxer to outbox Golovkin and be able to maneuver him around the ring and neutralize his power and beat him,? he said, ?but I don?t see anybody that can do that right now at his weight. If there was a middleweight Roy Jones when Roy was younger, or a guy like James Toney, they would have taken him to school because Golovkin is strong but you don?t see the skill level that he has to show because he mainly outpowers most of the fighters that he goes against.?
Roy Jones and James Toney were something else. It?s easy to forget how fantastic they were, especially when both fighters have done their damnedest to besmirch their reputations.
?If Golovkin and Alvarez fight, I don?t think it will be a slugfest,? continued Jackson. ?I don?t think Alvarez will stand toe-to-toe with him, I think he will try to outbox him and maneuver him around the ring. That would be a very interesting fight, if it happens it would be great. I doubt that it will happen for a lot of reasons, and I?ll go and record and say it, right now Alvarez is the cash cow for Golden Boy, and why would they want to stop the cash cow from making cash for them? Right now the fight makes no sense for those reasons.?
