Disagree to an extent. There are three "big" fights at 168. Ward, Junior and Froch. Ward and Junior are sitting on the sidelines right now with promotional problems. He couldn't make Ward and Junior if he wanted to. Froch is a great fight. No division is a wasteland when Mayweather, Cotto and Canelo are in or around it. I don't consider them "mediocre" fighters. Yet, GGG needs to be honest with himself that Cotto, Canelo and Mayweather want nothing to do with him.
GGG's building his reputation. It should be taken into consideration that for a non-Mexican, non-American, it takes longer to do that. He doesn't even speak English or Spanish. He's creating a little bit of aura about him. I can say for myself I tune in to see him knock people out. The same way (but to a lesser extent) people tuned in to see Tyson face people like Bonecrusher Smith. From what I understand ticket sales have been tremendous for his fight against Rubio, testament to his recent rise in popularity. This year was for doing that.
Next year he needs to step the game up. I don't disagree. If he gets by Rubio, he needs to seek the "big" fights. He needs to consider whether there are really any other "big" fights below 160 for him? Kid Chocolate was offered $1.4 million to face Korobov, which is twice as much as GGG has ever made for a fight. Can he get that kind of money below 160 without facing Canelo, Mayweather or Cotto? I don't think so. If they aren't fighting him, move up.
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