Quote Originally Posted by Beanflicker View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Rantcatrat View Post
@ruthless rocco - with all due respect, you're being a little harsh, my friend. I frankly disagree with you. Duran started his career at 130 and fought legitimately up to 168. Duran never claimed to be the best ever either. Floyd's line of clothing is TBE. Enough said. For boxing fans to want him to move up to 160 to fight the most-feared fighter at 160 is not too much to ask at all, especially when he claims he is the best ever and fans have to pay $75 to watch him fight. It actually is an entirely reasonable request.

Second, it's not as far as off as you make it out to be. GGG weighed in at 165 on his thirty day weigh in for his next fight. He has offered to come down to 154 or a catch weight between 154 and 160 for a fight with Floyd. Floyd is the current champion in the junior middleweight division, only one division below.

Ortiz weighed in the night of at 164 for his fight against Floyd. Canelo weighed in the night of at 165. They rumble at 157 or 160 and you would probably see a five pound difference in the night of weight of GGG compared with Ortiz or Canelo.
I think the difference is that Duran ate his way up to those higher weights and fought there out of necessity when he got older.

In reality, Floyd is a small WW. And because I know people will disagree with that and quote heights and weights to me, let me explain: for most people this is obvious, but for those who might not know weight cutting has come a long way, and a guy who weighs 147 at the weigh in does not walk around at 147 and doesn't not fight at 147. A guy who fights at 147 will usually weigh 157 or more on fight day.

For reference, when Mayweather fought Sharmba Mitchell, Floyd was 147 at the weigh in and 148 on fight day. In contrast, Mitchell was 145 at the weigh in and 155 on fight night. Against Baldomir, Floyd was 146 weigh in, 149 fight night. Baldomir was 147 weigh in, 162 fight night. In the first Maidana fight, Mayweather was 146 weigh in and 148 on fight night. Maidana was 146 1/2 at weigh in and 165 on fight night. That's a nearly 20lb differential. Floyd's fight time weight of 146-151 is more comparable to the fight time weight of a junior WW or even a large LW.

So if Floyd is being outweighed by so much at WW, why do we expect him to go to 160 and fight an absolute killer, at 38 years old no less. A guy who's never entered a ring weighing more than 151lbs doesn't belong in a weigh class with guys who weigh in at 160 and come to the ring at 170 plus.

That aside, I don't even see why people feel the need for him to move up. It's not like he's cleared the division... the WW division is probably the hottest in boxing right now. There are a lot of young guys I'd love to see him fight. In fact, I'll go on record and say that I think Shawn Porter would beat the shit out of Floyd.
Why wouldn't we feel the need for him to move up? He's best lineal champion at 147 and 154. As a fan of boxing, wouldn't you want to see if he can become the lineal champion at 160 too? Why the heck not? Can any boxing fan say with a straight face that they wouldn't want to see Floyd face GGG or didn't want to see him face Sergio Martinez?

By the way, no one needs to move up. I don't think GGG needs to move up to 168 to face Froch or Ward. He makes 160 comfortably. But, as a boxing fan, don't we want him to, especially if he clears out the middleweight division first? In fact, once he clears out the division, wouldn't it more fun as a boxing fan if he moved up to challenge himself?

Also, Floyd doesn't need to fight anyone. He's at the top of the sport and the networks and athletic commissions let him do what they want because he brings in so much money. I 100% understand from a business perspective why he wouldn't take challenges. Why would Floyd face GGG when he can he face Maidana? GGG is a much harder fight and the money now might not be that different. But show me a boxing fan that wouldn't prefer to see him face GGG.