Boxing: Money Vs. McGregor or Alvarez vs. GGG

Hey Manly,

Be Bold!

link:


Sly and Canelo!

I'm rootin' for Canelo!

GGG reminds me of Calzaghe in a way - you nailed it with unimpressive resume - although Calzaghe retired undefeated who did he beat?  An aged Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr when they were shot?   (and correct me if I'm wrong - I think Hopkins dropped him in the first round)

If he faced Hopkins or Jones Jr in their prime - I think the outcome would have been different.

Should be interesting though......

i think Jones Jr gets disrespected in the argument of 'greatest' ever for the fact he held on for too long and bounced up and down (and up dramatically) in weight class.   later years didn't he hold one of the heavyweight belts that really wasn't important or was it cruiserweight?


anyhow - he was tremendous while Hopkins was a crafty (dirty??) technician (no doubt a legend too).

there's all of these 'catch weights' nowadays.


my dream match as a kid was Oscar De La Hoya (another favorite of mine) vs. Roy Jones Jr at a catchweight where they both met in the middle.


De La Hoya had around 6 losses but he never ducked anybody - and he's another I think gets disrespected when people talk about 'the greatest ever'.   warrior.

Yeah, he beat John Ruiz to win a heavyweight belt.  John Ruiz was a decent heavyweight, not the biggest so it suited Roy Jones Jnr, but he's beaten the likes of Holyfield, Rahman, Tucker and Golota, so it was no gimme by any stretch of the imagination.  Don't remember much about the fight except I was in a nightclub in Tottenham in North London, and to my surprise they were showing the fight, no volume though, I was glued to it with about 2 other guys who were also watching it on a small screen in the corner.  Don't think anyone else really cared, amazing achievement though, to win every belt from Middleweight right through to Heavyweight.  I think someone did the same achievement back in the dark ages, but certainly Jones Jr is the first to do that in the modern era, may never be done again.

 

He was alright, he was a mandatory for Lennox Lewis at one point, but Lewis decided he wanted to fight Michael Grant instead as John Ruiz wasn't really a name at the time.  So Lewis had to vacate one of his belts, which set up a Holyfield-Ruiz trilogy, which ended 1 win each and a draw. 

There are rumours that Lewis ducked him because he was afraid or something, but I can't imagine that is true, he would have knocked his head off... surely?  Think Ruiz's management team said Lewis was afraid. 

Not really Lewis' fault, Tyson and Bowe ducked him in the 90s.  Let's just suppose that Lewis did fight Tyson circa 96/97 and Bowe a bit earlier, and let's just suppose Lewis wins both fighta, people would still say stuff like "Bowe was shot from Holyfield" or "Bowe stopped taking it seriously" or that "Tyson was past his prime", so he can't win really no matter what.

I think it is great publicity for MMA no matter what.  Take me for example, never really into it, caught glimpses of it, but always saw it as two guys grappling on the floor too much.  But then I thought I better watch McGregor fight before I completely write him off, and his fights are actually really good to watch.  Watched the two Nate Diaz fights and some highlights of other fights, what I like is he fights standing up, in fact there was one point where he floored Nate Diaz in the rematch (I think) and he point blank refused to go to the floor, he gestured to Diaz to get up.  I think if I was Diaz, I would have taken a lot longer to regroup in the knowledge that McGregor isn't prepared to come to the floor and start pounding me.   But I guess he needed to get up to turn the fight round.  I think I would have also got any McGregor MMA opponent to prepare by sparring against a bunch of Southpaw boxers, not worry about the kicks so much, just working on block and countering that left hook or weave and countering the left hook.  Really it is about concentration as much as it is about muscle memory.  Take out his biggest weapons (the left hook and straight left) and you are almost on the home straight.... maybe... well maybe that is what most of them prepared for... it takes time!

So yeah, what I'm saying is, there are probably a lot of boxing fans who have really enjoyed watching his MMA fights and will get into that way.  MMA (and Conor McGregor) are in a no-lose situation here.

Boxing on the other hand, it is a different story, if it is a bad fight, it is bad for boxing, if it goes 12 rounds it is bad for boxing, if McGregor wins, it is bad for boxing, in fact I wouldn't say that is bad for boxing as much I would say that scenario would be an absolute PR disaster for boxing like nothing ever seen before!  From the top right through to grass roots.  Who would want to either watch boxing or take up boxing when you've just seen one of the all time greats get smashed up by an MMA fighter at his own sport?  Even if McGregor went on to lose his next 10 fights to boxers, people would still always remember him beating Mayweather.  Maybe I'm the voice of doom, but I'm not sure if boxing would ever fully recover from that.

I can't really see any scenarios where this can be good for boxing.  I bet GGG v Canelo doesn't sell well either, but hopefully they can put on a really exciting show... for the sport... it needs it right now.

But I'm sure other people have different opinions.