Is Gennady Golovkin Hall Of Fame-Bound, Or Is He Overrated?

I've been a die-hard boxing fan for almost 40 years and one thing I've learned over the years is that in every era in boxing, there have been several good fighters, but very few GREAT ones. Many boxing boxing pundits consider the 2015 Fighter of the Year and current Middleweight king Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31 KO's) to be a great fighter, already comparing him to legendary Middleweights like Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon and Bernard Hopkins. My question is simply this: Is Triple G Hall of Fame bound, or is he overrated?

Now before I begin, let me discuss something that needs to be addressed. I've been in "writing exile" for the past 2 years. What that means is that I still followed boxing and other sports, but I just didn't have the desire to write about them anymore. But recently, I've regained my desire to write again, and I do believe I can offer a different perspective on a few sports topics, so I decided to give this a go once again. So let me apologize in advance if I'm a little rusty, but I'll get better with each article I write.

Now that I got that out of the way, lets get into this topic, shall we?

There's s lot to like about Gennady Golovkin, better known as Triple G. He's got power in both hands, he's a great body puncher, he has an underrated left jab and he has decent hand speed. When you go back and look at most great fighters of the past, most of them have had great amateur careers and GGG is no different. Golovkin had an outstanding amateur career, winning the World Amateur Boxing Championship in 2003 (with victories over Andy Lee and Lucian Bute and he won the final match vs Oleg Mahskin), and he won a silver medal in the Summer Olympics in 2004. After losing in the 2005 World Amateur tournament to Mohamed Hikal, he finished his amateur career with a record of 345-5.

Triple G turned pro in 2006 and in his 19th fight, he received his first World Title shot, as he faced Milton Nunez for the vacant WBA Middleweight title. Triple wasted no time, as he annihilated Nunez in the first round, winning the crown. A year later, he took on Lajuan Simon for the vacant IBO Middleweight strap and just as he did vs Nunez, he did away with Simon in the very first round, winning another World title.

GGG went on to win the Interim WBC crown, destroying Marco Antonio Rubio in 2 rounds and last October, he added the IBF Middleweight title to his collection, as he dismantled David Lemieux via an 8th round TKO. Simply put, Canelo Alvarez might be considered THE Middleweight champion because he beat the man who beat the man, but most boxing experts know who the best Middleweight in the world is, and that's Triple G.

So why am I asking whether or not Golovkin is Hall of Fame bound or is he a bit overrated? Well here's why. First off, considering how the IBHOF is turning into a popularity contest in some regards, it wouldn't surprise me if GGG isn't already penciled into the IBHOF.  He's undefeated, he's knocked out his last 21 opponents and he has a lot of title defenses, so I get that. Here's where I have a problem with the GGG supporters: People fall in love with all the knockouts but they're missing one point: He still hasn't fought and beat a top 10, elite fighter. I believe when it comes to boxing, it's not about how many people you beat, its about WHO you beat. Matthew Macklin, Daniel Geale and David Lemieux are all former title holders and decent fighters, but not elite or even top 10 caliber boxers.

Let me be clear about this: I LIKE Triple G. I think he's an outstanding offensive fighter and I love watching him box, but when folks start comparing him to legendary Middleweight champs like Hagler, Hopkins and Monzon, I find that to be laughable. Now to be fair to Triple G, he's destroyed everyone they put in front of him and I'm not taking anything away from what he's accomplished up to this point, but until I see him fight and beat an ELITE fighter, I won't be convinced that he's a great fighter. To explain my point further, I didn't consider Hagler to be an all-time great until he beat Hearns in 1985.

What I'm saying is this: I do believe Triple G has all the tools to someday be great and maybe someday he'll be the top guy in the sport, but I still need to see more. A lot more. Let's see how he fares vs Canelo if he fights him later this year or if Erislandy Lara moves up from Jr. Middleweight and challenges him someday.