Giving credit to the other guy
It's not fair to always make it about the fighter favored to win and disregard the fact that the reason why it was close was because the other guy fought just as well.
Last week there were a couple of interesting developments that changed the pound-for-pound landscape in the "Sweet Science."
First was the shocking loss inflicted on Roman Gonzales (46-1, 38 KOs) by the obscure Srisaket Sur Rungvisai (43-4, 39 KOs).
Unfortunately, with that first career setback came the lost opportunity for Gonzales to equal the 49-0 record held by Rocky Marciano and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Cruel it may seem for "Chocolatito" whom many feel deserved to win the fight, but that defeat also meant the loss of the top spot in the rankings.
Next was the narrow victory earned by Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) over Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs). It was another closely fought contest, one that had many wondering if Golovkin is ripe for the picking.
GGG. Make no mistake about it, the bout was fairly close with each fighter having his moments.
Jacobs landed jabs and right crosses at a brisk pace but it was Golovkin who pressed the action.
Jacobs was knocked down in the fourth round, but he showed remarkable recuperative powers and gave as good as he got until the final bell.
NO KO. For a fight predicted almost exclusively to end in a stoppage, it surprisingly went the full route with the judges scoring it 115-112 twice and 114-113 for GGG. Coming into the fight Jacobs clearly planned on boxing Golovkin and in the first few rounds he constantly shifted stances hoping to confuse the latter and possibly open up angles for scoring opportunities.
"The Miracle Man" also purposely missed the mandatory same day weigh-in, blowing his chance to win the IBF belt, but it allowed him to come in heavier and bigger on fight night. This probably was a factor in how the fight played itself out. GGG looked smaller than Jacobs, and the latter was able to withstand the former's brand of punishment. Jacobs was clearly the best that GGG fought and I would hesitate to say that Golovkin might be slipping. That would be a disservice to Jacobs who fought well and made it very competitive.
It's not fair to always make it about the fighter favored to win and disregard the fact that the reason why it was close was because the other guy fought just as well.
With Chocolatito 's loss and GGG's close victory, the two trade places in our pound for pound rankings. Check out my column on Wednesday for our quarterly update.
VERBATIM. "“Who wouldn't want that fight?” the legendary coach said. “I mean, It's a big fight. We'd have to maybe cut weight, meet in the middle somewhere. Something like that." - Freddie Roach on Georges St Pierre fighting Conor Mcgregor (MMAFighting.com)
LAST ROUND. It's on my kumare, Nini Gonzales-Gaite who celebrates her birthday this week. Cheers!
Who wouldn’t want that fight? “I mean, It’s a big fight. We’d have to maybe cut weight, meet in the middle somewhere. Something like that. FREDDIE ROACH on Georges St Pierre fighting Conor Mcgregor (MMAFighting.com)