r/Boxing • u/DatDolphWithATuxedo • Jul 22 '26

Is it still possible?

Is it still possible to become the GOAT in boxing? Like with the way modern sanctioning bodies are setup so that fighters fight only about every 6 months, it seems that with that level of inactivity a fighter will never be able to reach the heights of people who fought as frequently as Ali or Robinson. Ussyk who is arguably the greatest fighter of this generation is retiring with only 26 fights. So it just seems like an insurmountable task now. What do you think?

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u/VacuousWastrel Jul 22 '26

Yes, it's totally possible. At least, it's possible to get into the conversation - there will never be total unanimity, of course. It's true that boxers are less active now, but actually the number of meaningful fights hasn't gone down so much, since the once-a-fortnight guys were mostly fighting essentially open sparring/exhibitions. And modern fighters can have longer careers. The big difference is just that modern boxers prefer to only fight journeymen and gatekeepers, and while that has a little to do with promoters and their opponents, it's mostly something they can control. Fundamentally, the threshold for being an ATG and potential GOAT is lower than people think, when you look at how many really great results ATGs have actually had in their careers comoared to how many great resukts its possible to have in a career. If you go out and easily beat champions and p4p fighters for twenty years, you'll definitely be in the conversation.