It started sometime early this year. HBO announced Andre Ward had signed a 3 fight contract with stipulations that he would be moving up and facing Sergey Kovalev in late 2016. Jim Lampley said something that stuck out to me.
While the rest of the boxing world was appreciating Andre Wards move after years of inconsistent activity, Lampley’s statement was “The fans can’t wait for it, Kovalev can’t wait for it, Ward will wait for the right time, that’s who he is.” Hashtag SHADE.
Lampley, through different events, would go on to continue criticizing Andre Ward’s selection of opponents and also seemed doubtful he would face Kovalev even though an agreement was signed. Meanwhile Lampley would praise Gennady Golovkin every chance he got even during broadcasts like the Terence Crawford vs.Viktor Postol fight which had zero relation to any middleweight showdown from the winner in the future. We get it Lamps, you’re a big fan of GGG.
From an unbiased view it has been pretty difficult being a Golovkin fan. I enjoy watching him, I think his boxing skills are underrated or shadowed by his immense power, but I don’t share the same assessment as Roy Jones Jr. He is NOT one of the greatest pound for pound fighters of all time. Max Kellerman recently stated that Kell Brook may be Golovkins best opponent to date. You would think ‘Well Max works for HBO so he is selling the fight’ yet Max has stated over and over again that Golovkin has not yet faced a viable opponent. The thought that a welterweight could be a middleweight’s best opponent to date should provoke a lot of thought as to why is Golovkin getting so much attention, how can he be considered one of the best?
Here is a solution: when you fight at middleweight and can’t get an opponent, you move up in weight; it’s that easy. You challenge yourself, you put your skills on the line and conquer another division. The greats conquered multiple divisions. Canelo Alvarez started his career at junior welterweight, yet all of his accomplishments, all of the Hall of Famers on his resume minimized or otherwise eliminated because he “ducked” GGG. Yet when GGG had an opportunity to move up and face literally any one at the Super middleweight division *Ahem Andre Ward* he decided to stick it out at middleweight and then go on to fight Brook.
Later this year we will watch Golovkin steamroll through an opponent Kell Brook that has campaigned two divisions below his. We will also see Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev face off to determine who the best boxer in the world is. I am more excited about the latter, and the boxing world is more excited about the latter, Jim Lampley possibly not so much.
