Recently, I realised something that I can only call humourously depressing. It relates to a joining of two quotes across space and time that sheds light on the utter farce that is the middleweight division and its dealings with Gennady Golovkin, the universally regarded number one contender, to Miguel Cotto, the true, lineal middleweight champion. Abel Sanchez and Freddie Roach seem to suggest an incredibly close natural weight to their fighters, as does Golovkin's own Tale of the Tape. Why Freddie even made his mention, God only would know. Here's what I mean, points A-D:
Point A:
Abel Sanchez, to Hustle Boss, issued the third of July, 2013, after Golovkin's match with Matthew Macklin:
"We had a great camp. He didn't have to lose that much weight. He came at 167, when he first came in, two months before the fight."
Conceivably in fluctuation, but odd in being slightly heavier, Golovkin was unofficially weighed by HBO on fight night at 170, the same as Macklin.
Point B:
Gennady, in May of 2015, nearly two years later, against Willie Monroe Junior had another unofficial weight taken by HBO. 170, to Monroe Junior's 172. Same. No lower than 170 pounds in the ring. A very standard ten-pound rehydration.
Point C:
Here is where it gets amusing. What exactly did Freddie Roach say about Miguel Cotto's weight ahead of fighting Daniel Geale, just a month after the Golovkin/Monroe Junior match?
"It was a calculated weight. . .Miguel will climb to 166 pounds. He had a fabulous preparation. Geale showed that it cost a lot to make the agreed upon weight."
Point D:
What was Miguel Cotto's *official* weigh-in weight for Daniel Geale? Considering that his own trainer estimated he'd be coming in at 166 pounds when hydrated, and considering that his own negotiated catch-weight was 157 pounds, did he come in just at or just under 157, like Geale? No, instead, he came in just under the Light Middleweight division limit instead, at 153.6. And, for some reason, like normal, HBO did not get an unofficial rehydration weight for him, even though they got it for Geale.
What is the point of points A-D?
Cotto's dehydrating himself supposedly by coincidence more than he actually needed. Why would any fighter do that? What did Cotto say after the contest with Geale? Max Kellerman decided to ask the Middleweight champion of the world if he was a Middleweight. What Cotto said makes it almost certain that the weigh-in wasn't just a comfortable coincidence, in my view. He cites his offical weigh-in, 153.6, then asks Kellerman if he thinks he's really a Middleweight. Kellerman says it doesn't sound like it. Then Cotto says "I'm not." Does it strike anyone else as a coy weigh-in strategy for show? I know from the forum comments that it certainly isn't just me.
He's obscuring the fact that he's almost the same fighting weight as his number one contender and he didn't want to fight his number one contender. He fought one of that contender's victims as a voluntary, and after sitting on the title for a year. Then, he claimed he wasn't a member of his own weight class. His team are now, after making Golovkin wait and watch this act, supposed to fight Saul Alvarez, who is apparently, by his technical weigh-in weights, not a member of any official weight class, actively, either. Apparently, these guys and their teams would like a weight class that is between where Golovkin does and does not fight. How confusing for them!
Miguel, your trainer is claiming you were assumed to come in four pounds lighter than the definitive number one contender last weighed in. You are suspected by fans around the world to have come in lighter than you needed, to look like you didn't belong at the weight in which you are the champion, by choice. Champion, by choice, dehydrating extra, by choice. You have people accusing your number one contender of an unfair size advantage, astoundingly. As if it's not his business to call out the champion of his own division. So, if this is as deliberate as it seemed, it worked on some, I guess. But Golovkin is not Chavez Junior-sized and you are not a bloated or musclebound little man, nor are you not within reasonable Middleweight range on fight night with your non-bloated, non-musclebound physique. You are coming in to the weight class as naturally as Floyd Mayweather Junior comes in to Welterweight, it would seem.
If you'd have us believe as some of the fans now believe, that Golovkin is unfairly large for you to fight at your own chosen and full weight class, and much larger in the way a Chavez Junior would be, again, as for instance, then I would say this: Rehydrating to no more than 165 pounds, Sebastian Zbik fought the notorious weight-cutter, Chavez Junior, at a 15-pound weight disadvantage, which was somewhat predictable as a rehydration weight. A definitive non-puncher dealt with that disadvantage at your current weight class. Golovkin's whole history shows him to be a natural, unforced Middleweight fighter, you'll find. Everything corroborates this, that I am aware. You were likely as your own trainer claimed: Within four pounds of your number one contender's fight-night weight. If you have an issue with your own weight class and not who wants your belt, it's an issue Sebastian Zbik apparently didn't have. Please, stop this charade.
You hold the responsibility of defending The Middleweight Title against its proven best man. If you do not want to be a middleweight, simply stop being a middleweight and fight who you like. Lay your burden down. No one is forcing you to hold your title hostage. But let's stop playing games. Golovkin is your responsibility at the weight you are choosing to call yourself the champion. You are a middleweight. You are not René Magritte. Your treachery of images is not art. This is not a pipe. But it is a farce. You're a great athlete and a great star, but this is still a great farce. Please, go to the weight class you believe you belong in, or accept the weight class you insist on fighting in.
You're hurting your division. You're hurting your great reputation. You're hurting boxing. You say you have paid your dues to fight who you want. Without a title to defend, this is as true as it could ever be. You can fight whoever you want without that title, but you're blocking a man who has paid his dues in your division from fighting who he wants-whoever it takes to establish him as the real champion of his own division. He is openly a Middleweight and out of the closet as such. If it's about weight, we know it's negligible. If it's about height, it's nothing you haven't seen before. If it's about money, we know you'll make a star PPV payday with Alvarez as easy at any weight class with or without a title. If it's about legacy, you would not have opted for Geale instead of his former conqueror. This just looks like it's about grandstanding when you never wanted anything to do with the general consensus best man you can fight in this division so you don't have to vacate a title you earned. It also looks like a hysterical proximity.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Full Hustle Boss interview with Abel Sanchez for quote source:
Sources for Freddie Roach interview, quote about Cotto's assumed fight night weight:
http://www.boxingscene.com/roach-cotto-come-166-knock-geale-out--91934
(This was quoting an interview with El Vocero de Puerto Rico, but we're using Boxing Scene for assumed English readers, to follow to the Spanish language directly, click here: http://elvocero.com/miguel-va-a-noquear-a-geale-roach/)
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
BGB's Middleweight Rehydration Listing Page
Quotes About Power: Paulie Malignaggi on Miguel Cotto
Quotes About Power: Emanuel Steward On Miguel Cotto
George Foreman Impressed By Miguel Cotto's Punching Power: Quote Spotlight
