agreed. v good fight to make. ask me 18 months ago and i have it a toss up but now i have to favor LSC. frampton just hasn't impressed me too much lately

Max: "Why did you drop your hands and let him hit you"
GGG: "Max, today...I give chance."

...

Scary watching people actually give up against him. Rubio, Geale, Monroe Jr and Wade all gave up against GGG. Must be so demoralizing to fight him only to see that your best stuff did absolutely nothing to him.

This is what crushing defeat looks like:



That's the posture and voice of a man that had been incorrectly lead to believe he was at the top of his game and built a reality for himself in which that was true. Until last night, he was allowed to live in the reality, but GGG woke him up from his dream in as painful a way as possible.

Yea, you see what happened to Murray for being brave, I think these guys realize that they will never be the same if they give 100% of their body to the beating. Once they realize they can't really hurt him, they're kind of screwed. Though in Geale's case, he likely couldn't take much more, he was wobbly and wasn't going to last against the rush.

Casual boxing fan here. Is there anything left for GGG at 160 if Canelo won't fight him? Is he the kind of guy who can move weight classes or is he just going to destroy this division until he retires?

Here's what I think right now is the likeliest scenario:

-Canelo makes a move to duck GGG in the fall
-GGG asserts his position as #1 and refuses to step aside
-Canelo balks and the WBC strips him, elevating GGG and giving him 3/4 Middleweight belts
-GGG moves up to 168 to fight Gilberto Ramirez

Things really hinge upon step 2: will GGG continue to take step-aside money or will he finally demand the title shot. His camp has said unequivocally that there is no more stepping aside, that Canelo must fight him in the fall, but this is boxing, and the correct fights are the exception, not the rule.

If he moves to 168, and if he beats GRam, and if Ward loses to Kovalev, we may get GGG/Ward at 168, and that would be fine as well.

It's interesting to see where his opponents went after beating them. Here are the 16 opponents he knocked out in his title defenses and where they went afterwards (before these fights, he fought a bunch of tomatoes in Germany).

Starting from his first title fight:

Milton Nunez (Active) - He had one loss to his name and was only 22 when he got KOed by GGG. Has gone 11-13 since then.

Nilson Julio Tapia (Retired) - Fought once more and won by decision before retiring at 25.

Kassim Ouma (Active) - Took two and half years off after getting knocked out in the 10th round. Has fought only three times since losing to GGG, going 2-1 in those fights.

Lajuan Simon (Retired) - Took two years off before fighting J'Leon Love and losing by knockout. He has since retired.

Makoto Fuchigami (Active) - Has gone 3-4 since getting knocked out by GGG in 2012.

Grzegorz Proksa (Retired) - Went 1-2 before retiring at 29.

Gabriel Rosado (Active) - Has gone 1-3 since losing to GGG. Drew against Curtis Stevens in "Big Knockout Boxing" in 2015.

Nohuhiro Ishida (Retired) - Actually moved all the way up to Heavyweight after losing to GGG. Went 3-2 against unknown fighters in Japan before hanging them up.

Matthew Macklin (Active) - No longer ranked in the top 10, but still active and performing fairly well. He has gone 6-1 since fighting GGG, though mostly against outmatched competition.

Curtis Stevens (Active) - Went 2-1 in 2014 after losing to GGG in 2013. Then, he fought Gabriel Rosado in an abortion of a BKB match in May 2015 that resulted in a majority draw. Will fight Brazilian middleweight prospect Patrick Teixeira in 2 weeks.

Osumanu Adama (Active?) - Went 2-0 against two Ghanaian tomato cans since his loss to GGG. Hasn't fought since April 2015. It is unknown if he will fight again.

Daniel Geale (Active) - Has gone 1-1 since getting KOed by GGG. He beat journeyman Jarrod Fletcher by unanimous decision before getting knocked out by Cotto.

Marco Antonio Rubio (Active) - Has fought only once since losing to GGG in October 2014, losing to Anthony Dirrell by unanimous decision

Martin Murray (Active) - Has gone 3-1 since getting KOed by GGG. His three wins were against unknown tomato cans while his loss was an uninspiring split decision loss against Arthur Abraham.

Willie Monroe Jr (Active?) - Has not fought since losing to GGG in May 2015.

David Lemieux (Active) - Fights Glen Tapia in 2 weeks

Dominic Wade (Active) - TBD

------------------

The first 8 fighters on the list were either massively weakened or outright retired due to the beating they suffered at the hands of GGG. Adama and Monroe Jr. haven't fought in the last year. So, who's to say whether or not they come back? Active fighters like Macklin, Murray, and Geale have done well against journeyman but haven't held their own against any viable contenders. Stevens has slowed up dramatically as well. Wade doesn't appear to have much of a future in boxing and we'll see what happens with Lemieux.

good work bob

As a side note, who is Gilberto Ramirez? First I've heard of him.

Was just thinking about this last night.

steve kim

Damn Bob, serious analysis, nice

A young fighter out of Mexico. He's 24 and, because he's Mexican, already has 34 pro fights (34-0, 24 KOs).

He hasn't had a particularly spectacular career yet (given that he's only 24) but he is coming off a UD shutout of Arthur Abraham to become the WBO Super Middleweight champ.

He's basically Mexico's #1 up-and-comer now that Canelo is fully "here". He's got decent power and speed. He's not on GGG's level, and would be a dog to him, but he does have 4 inches in height and 5 inches in reach on GGG, which creates the next test for Gennady: "Yeah, he's strong, but can he win when you put him at a physical disadvantage".

I think the answer to that is "LOL Yes", but it would be a very sellable fight and one that would push GGG in the right direction.

Well, Jacobs in the WBA reg. champion, so yeah, he should be the mandatory, but this is actually a very correct way to handle this.

Basically, if Canelo says 'yes', then we get a unification bout. If not, GGG faces another mandatory.

Joshua v Breazeale June 25th

Charles Martin would beat Breazeale .... enough said

It's a fairly marketable fight. American, ex Olympian, as tall as Joshua, can bang a bit. Stiverne would have been the most interesting opponent but he carries risk and is a dreadful talker for a PPV event.

I'd be quite looking forward to it if it wasn't for PPV. Groves v Murray confirmed as chief support as well.

The Groves fight is far more interesting to me but I wouldn't give Hearn the steam off my piss, let alone any money.

Breazeale gets dropped by Mansour:



He looks easy to hit, AJ KO for sure. Good fight to get him more exposure to the US market

Groves v Murray is the better fight by some distance iyam

Breazeale will be out in 2. Groves/Murray def better fight.

Thanks for the comments on the analysis y'all. Boxrec ftw

Do you's think it will be long before Joshua will be headlining a show in Vegas? Or how long will he stay fighting in England? If he fights Wilder surely it will be a Vegas blockbuster?

Or a string of defences that'll make Kell Brook look like a man that takes on all-comers in comparison?

He's making so much money over here though it's hard to see Matchroom wanting to take him out to Vegas. Haye and Fury are stadium fights so yea maybe just Wilder where they could do the US thing.

I noticed the first bit of negative press about Joshua in the tabloids at the weekend since he's been a pro. Tabloids making out he's treated the mother of his kid like dirt and allowed them to live in a dump basically.

I was surprised to read that Joshua still lives with his mum in the same council flat.

Dunno, I think Joshua will have a set of balls which will enable him to dictate to Eddie rather than the other way about. Brook otoh doesn't seem to have much of a clue when it comes to stuff like that.