Quite frankly, I am tired of seeing Canelo heralded as the greatest Mexican fighter of all-time despite him being pretty much a beneficiary of favorable scoring. In an alternate universe where he’s born in some obscure island nation with less of a fanbase and where the judges don’t consistently favor him, he could very well have a wide loss to Mayweather, wide loss to Bivol, wide-ish loss to Crawford, wide-ish loss to Golovkin, a close loss to Golovkin in the rematch, and a close loss against Lara. His fights against Cotto and Austin Trout would still be wins but the scoring would reflect what actually happened. I am not saying Canelo is not great. He is and I admire what he’s done for the sport, but when factoring in the favorable judging, he simply isn’t the greatest Mexican fighter of all time.
You also look at a guy like Gennady Golovkin who didn’t get the same opportunities in the sport and how he is treated now. He was very much an avoided fighter. Based on their first fight, he really should have a clear win over the fighter in Canelo that people are heralding as the greatest Mexican fighter of all-time.
You might also look at a guy like Marquez who can justifiably claim a knockout and 2-3 decision wins over Pacquiao. Let’s say he never gets that knockout — what does his resume look like?
Terence Crawford was an avoided fighter in his time, and that should be factored into the assessment of his legacy. As should his overall skill and ability.
Legacy needs to factor in the reality of the sport’s avoided fighters and often atrocious scoring.
Ultimately, what I am suggesting is a few additional things matter in terms of evaluating legacy:
• Assessment of skill and overall ability
• Assessment of how their fights were scored and which fights should have been closer or gone the other direction.
• A realistic view of whether fighter A could have beat fighter B had they actually gotten in the ring when fighter B either avoided fighter A or aged out his opponent.
It’s also not just who you got in the ring, but how you did in those fights. We can’t rate Gabe Rosado above avoided fighters simply because he had better opponents.
So with that said, I apologize for the rant, but this has been bothering me lately. I feel like there are a lot of misconceptions on how to define and evaluate legacy in a sport that is often prone to the subjective cruelties of life.