I am sure Thurman will achieve at least the same level as he did when he beat Porter and Garcia. Is that enough to beat Spence? We will see but I think it would be enough to beat Crawford.
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I am sure Thurman will achieve at least the same level as he did when he beat Porter and Garcia. Is that enough to beat Spence? We will see but I think it would be enough to beat Crawford.
No way. The thing about Thurman is we aren't talking about some kind invincible (so far) phenom who proved to be miles ahead of the competition. Porter put him through the mill in a close fight. An aging Guerrero also did better than a lot of people thought he would coming up in weight. Everyone was waiting for Garcia to be exposed after his gift decision in Puerto Rico and the fight against Peterson. I'm not saying Thurman didn't accomplish anything. He did against some decent fighters. Talking strictly win/loss, as fighters tend to do now a days, and it all seems so clear. Remember how the fights were fought and surrounding circumstances and that's where the big picture gets a little murky.
Thurman gets flak because its not like he was untouchable and then got in a horrific motorcycle accident or anything. He was winning and had an injury waited.. healed up...waited.. got married and now he's waiting.. When he was winning he was looking for a pacman that was past his expiration date not a Spence (who, if I'm being honest, is still climbing and shouldn't be ushered past everyone in line.) or a Crawford or other threats. Even now that he's out you don't get the sense hes working hard, improving, refining his game, etc. He just shows up every 3 weeks or so to give a lispy commentary of the state of the division or what have you... just stopping short of talking about himself in the third person.
Its a sign of the times though. Companies like PBC cant pay their fighters to fight 3 times a year unless they're throwaway fights against nobodies for no money. So the fighters are content to sit around for 9 months to a year in between fights and pop in on broadcasts to keep themselves in the public eye so when they actually fight more people come to see them rather than the few who just haven't forgotten them. PBC and RocNation tried to make this the norm. Pay fighters obscene amounts of money for calculated risk fights (preferably someone with a name but diminished skill that can be dominated for effect)every once in a while and then try to make these things huge events. Meanwhile the fighters of course are all to happy to take more money for less work and then retire 26-0 or 27-1 or something like that. They're not fighting on the regular or chasing undisputed glory and fighting for legacies. Once the only balance for corrupt promoters, crooked sanctioning bodies, and crooked judges....Most determined fighters have sold out for the check and realize they get paid the same win or lose and that staying undefeated is only good for inflating your pay check through star power (Thanks Floyd). So challenges have lost their appeal due to their affect on the fighters/ promoters bottom line. Arum is still playing the game old school having his fighters fight 3 times a year etc so hes blowing through his stock faster than the others. Golden boy seems to have caught on and is a hybrid. Canelo, the golden goose fights once a year and you fill in the rest with lower tier attractions fighting more often.
Canelo fighting twice a year is a joke.
Fans are generally harsh on fighters. What fighter has genuinely wanted to fight the best their whole career. Certainly none of the elites and the non-elites only want to so they can make as much money as possible.
If Im Thurman Im thinking if I stay undefeated and Spence or Crawford also do for another couple of years theres a chance the 3 have fights in seriously big money fights. Right now they probably only make a fraction of that.
Do I like it? No! But its the same in most business', if you have a product that you think is worth a certain amount and you are being offered a fraction for it you probably wouldnt accept the offer, even if the offer is a large amount.
Multiple people. But a simple way to find people doing similar things is to look in similar situations. In 1996(13 years earlier than 2009 mind you) Oscar fought twice, also in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2008 Yes this is not every year, a couple times in between Oscar fought more than 2 times 1997,1999 the other times less 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007. So clearly if Floyd was fighting 2 teams a year since 2009 he was following Oscars lead.
But, Floyd wasn't fighting 2 times a year since 2009. In his career he fought twice in 1996, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2014, 2015. He did it more before 2009 than after.
Or you could consider since the timeframes are similar perhaps there is a different common factor when Oscar and Floyd were fighting times a year, and there is, Too Rank. Let's look at Manny Pacquiao to consider this, twice in 1998, 2002, 2004(that 1998-2004 timeframe again hmmm) 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016. It seems like if anyone has fought 2 times a year since 2009 it would be Manny, not Floyd.
But maybe it isn't TR, maybe it is boxing at the time, let's look at Shane Mosley. Twice in 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2015. Consistent 2 times a year fighter right there.
But rather than get to the truth it's probably easier to just incorrectly say Floyd fought twice a year since 2009.
I like GGG, but if somebody fucks up, you have to say it how it is. If he doesn't beg, how come he isn't fighting 4 times a year like HE Says he likes to?
He's fighting WHEN GBP and Canelo want and WHERE they want. He didn't try to arrange a fight while he was waiting for them, because they said they wouldn't like it.
He turned himself into the "B" side!