Went to the fight on saturday and bar the Flanagan fight thats probably the last Crolla fight I will do. The fact is he would be fighting in leisure centres still if it wasnt for the city side of his support, yet now hes won a world title typical all the rags want to come out and support him and turn it into a united thing. Its bollocks and its boxing. What a way to alienate a load of people who have supported you through your career.
I don't know it's still difficult to judge Golovkin. His best win is over Lemieux who is at best exciting. His resume is packed with B- level fighters and until he goes in with an A it's impossible to tell how good he is. His defence is the weakest part of his game. He gets hit with the type of shots he will want to avoid against Canelo. If he was a more elusive kind of fighter, he'd be more of a problem for Canelo, but he isn't and Canelo probably has the power to trouble him.
That said, i think Mayweather could have stopped Canelo if he really put his foot down, and Golovkin is accurate and carries a much bigger dig. He cuts the ring off well, although i don't think he will necessarily have to go looking for Canelo, there might well be a point where Canelo ends up on the back foot, and once Golvkin switches into stalker mode, he normally ends the fight.
I do think people under estimate Canelo's ability. He is wrongly seen as a less technical fighter than he really is. That's partly because he's been matched against a couple of guys who are designed to make you look bad in Lara and Trout and the fights have ended up being close. It wasn't the power that caught up with Khan on Saturday night, it was the timing. Canelo threw that same shot about half a dozen times, getting closer and closer each time. It was Khan's failure to spot it that caused the problem. Credit to Canelo for spotting the opening and for noticing that the opening was frequently there for him.
So far, Canelo has mixed in better company. Even a weary Cotto is better than anything Golovkin has been in with, and by some distance. As is Lara and Trout. Even Kirkland and Angulo present more danger than anything Golovkin has faced (with the exception of Lemieux). He has impressively beaten a lot of solid fighters, but he still shy of a break out victory in my opinion. His keenness to face smaller men (his promoter was talking about a potential Khan fight) is something that bothers me given he is a fairly big Middleweight. He's had very limited opposition at Middleweight for he last 2 years or so, and i'm surprised he hasn't sought better challenges up at 168. Most truly great fighters move out of their weight class for greater challenges. As good as he has been, there's still something there telling me to not get too carried away by him. He's largely been in with solid, out-gunnable guys who will try and trade with him. He's not been in with anybody who has a speed advantage, or who has an elusiveness about him. People pick holes in Canelo, but he does at least have a variety of opposition. Golovkin has been fed a steady stream of cannon fodder, with the sole aim of creating an aura - which has worked.
Canelo will be his first real test, and looking at Canelo's history with the scorecards, Golovkin will need a KO to get anything. He's not winning on points, so providing Canelo can deal with his power, Golovkin isn't winning the fight.
What you mention about Mayweather being able to stop him if he went for it, could well be if he went all out but(I'm assuming you mean around the 7th round mark) the reason he didn't was Mayweather was smart enough to spot that rather than seeing it as Canelo fading he was actually allowing Mayweather some success so he got close in enough to land his own shots which he eventually did but then Mayweather got his wheels on again(much easier to spot a fighters intentions with the slow mo replays than it is in real time) making it harder for Canelo to get set and land. Khan tried to use a similar game plan but I feel Canelo was doing as he wanted from the 3rd round on, lots of body shots landed over 50% power punches landed, he was landing more and more frequently and Khan less and less.
I'd agree we don't really know how good GGG can be against Elite competition(he's certainly very good with impressive power) we do know that Canelo wont be fazed because he's been in with the very best. I think it's unfair to want him to move up to 168 when he already sees 160 as too much of a step up from where he came from. Not every fighter can move up 3-4 weight classes without paying a price, you'd probably say what about Pacman(probably the most successful at it in recent years but that's a rare thing) I'd say he did pay the price eventually, never been quite the same since Marquez sparked him out(maybe that's a combination of age too but it played a part). Mayweather fought a lot of heavier opponents at catch weights too so there isn't that many examples to choose from even among the very best IMO in recent years. He's still young too despite his vast experience there's time for him to move up as he gets older he will naturally be heavier(most fighters do it this way if you think about it), maybe that's the way he wants to do things rather than listen to people who really just want to see him lose.
Agree about some of the score cards(well it was one judge wasn't it) being a disgrace anyone who didn't give the first two rounds to Khan has to be blind, I thought Canelo changed it in the 3rd personally and pinched that round by the end of it(rest of the rounds clearly Canelos though) but wouldn't be surprised if people saw the 3rd round as a draw or perhaps having Khan scrape it by a nail... he wasn't ahead though either 3-3 or 4-2 Canelo. Also about the knockout he set that up by feinting to move to his left pawing with his left hand holding Khans attention for a second, then he immediately brought the right over to land the KO blow, he completely caught Khan out with this, brilliant execution landed perfectly once again.
He doesn't deserve the hate he gets, every time he steps in the ring win or lose he gives fans exciting fights, that's something even the Khan haters can't deny.I will never understand why people slag of Khan. He kick started amateur boxing when he won the Silver medal. He has had no problem fighting overseas and as an underdog. Brook on the other hand, is older and fought outside the UK only twice. Khan has taken on America's based opposition in the USA 10 times. Stopped Malignaggi, Judah, Salita and Molina. Brook is another Junior Witter, doesn't really want to travel and while Khan is risking it against Canelo, Brook is fighting Frankie Gavin and Bizier.
What you mention about Mayweather being able to stop him if he went for it, could well be if he went all out but(I'm assuming you mean around the 7th round mark) the reason he didn't was Mayweather was smart enough to spot that rather than seeing it as Canelo fading he was actually allowing Mayweather some success so he got close in enough to land his own shots which he eventually did but then Mayweather got his wheels on again(much easier to spot a fighters intentions with the slow mo replays than it is in real time) making it harder for Canelo to get set and land. Khan tried to use a similar game plan but I feel Canelo was doing as he wanted from the 3rd round on, lots of body shots landed over 50% power punches landed(also he had his jab working for him from around that time too), he was landing more and more frequently and Khan less and less.
I'd agree we don't really know how good GGG can be against Elite competition(he's certainly very good with impressive power) we do know that Canelo wont be fazed because he's been in with the very best. I think it's unfair to want him to move up to 168 when he already sees 160 as too much of a step up from where he came from. Not every fighter can move up 3-4 weight classes without paying a price, you'd probably say what about Pacman(probably the most successful at it in recent years but that's a rare thing) I'd say he did pay the price eventually, never been quite the same since Marquez sparked him out(maybe that's a combination of age too but it played a part). Mayweather fought a lot of heavier opponents at catch weights too so there isn't that many examples to choose from even among the very best IMO in recent years. He's still young too despite his vast experience there's time for him to move up as he gets older he will naturally be heavier(most fighters do it this way if you think about it), maybe that's the way he wants to do things rather than listen to people who really just want to see him lose.
Agree about some of the score cards(well it was one judge wasn't it) being a disgrace anyone who didn't give the first two rounds to Khan has to be blind, I thought Canelo changed it in the 3rd personally and pinched that round by the end of it(rest of the rounds clearly Canelos though) but wouldn't be surprised if people saw the 3rd round as a draw or perhaps having Khan scrape it by a nail... he wasn't ahead though either 3-3 or 4-2 Canelo. Also about the knockout he set that up by feinting to move to his left pawing with his left hand holding Khans attention for a second, then he immediately brought the right over to land the KO blow, he completely caught Khan out with this, brilliant execution landed perfectly once again.
Marcus Morrison is a blue didn't know that when watching him sat night but he looked another good prospect did well to get him out early
Went to the fight on saturday and bar the Flanagan fight thats probably the last Crolla fight I will do. The fact is he would be fighting in leisure centres still if it wasnt for the city side of his support, yet now hes won a world title typical all the rags want to come out and support him and turn it into a united thing. Its bollocks and its boxing. What a way to alienate a load of people who have supported you through your career.
Canelo had the power to hurt him obviously he felt that was the case otherwise his whole game plan wouldn't have been to take away Canelo's best chance of winning, he loves fighters that come at him and Mayweather made sure to not do that instead he was always on the move making Canelo chase the fight plus he did tag Mayweather in the 7th to make him think twice about going for a stoppage IMO(not saying he couldn't have because this is Mayweather but he did have a little taste of that power and backed off after it looked like Canelo was in retreat).Agreed with everything except I do genuinely believe that if Mayweather wasn't so averse to taking a risk, he could have stopped him. There was a point round about the 8th Floyd looked to be visibly hurting him and Canelo was looking really sorry for himself. To his credit he stuck with it.
Can't be doing with football chanting at boxing, nearly always ends messy. Leave that shit for the match. Don't think we'll be seeing Warrington & Crolla on the same bill anytime soon.
Saw Warrington and Crolla on the same bill, think it might have been the Murray fight, United legged Leeds out of the arena was carnage. I cant be arsed with it all. Took my missus for the first time on saturday as I thought it would be a pretty chilled one, still went off 8 or 9 times.
I was also at the Velodrome that night and the atmosphere inside and out was very moody, it was a summers evening iirc and I think a lot of lads had probably been in beer gardens all day.Once took an ex to see Hatton fight Jason Rowland at the Velodrome, Farnell was on the same card fighting Takaloo. Arnie walked to the ring holding roy keane's top, soon started kickin off around us, never took her again. Pretty sure Takaloo sparked Farnell in the first, so the top wasn't that lucky.
Agreed with everything except I do genuinely believe that if Mayweather wasn't so averse to taking a risk, he could have stopped him. There was a point round about the 8th Floyd looked to be visibly hurting him and Canelo was looking really sorry for himself. To his credit he stuck with it.
My favourite fighter to watch bar none. He took loads more risks at 130, 135 and 140. I think he only became more risk averse as he was often giving away size advantages at a point where he was slightly regressing physically (not that you could tell)Therein lies the beauty in floyd...
Best risk management inside the ring you're ever likely to see.. Most would of smelt blood and gone for the finish, however, what stands him alone is his ability to eradicate anomalies... It isnt pretty or exciting enough for some, personally I think he's a genius!!!
Could see Terry Flanagan against Crolla soon, and i hope plenty of blues go and support himCan't be doing with football chanting at boxing, nearly always ends messy. Leave that shit for the match. Don't think we'll be seeing Warrington & Crolla on the same bill anytime soon.