The fact that they actually had people falling for this is a credit to their marketing skill I guess. It was inevitable. I'll elaborate:
Floyd and Ellerbe have moved Tank selectively to "build a star" instead of having him face real challenges. Lomachenko called Tank out incessantly a couple of years ago when they were in the same weight class. Floyd kept saying Tank wasn't in a rush to fight him, and Ellerbe said they're not interested in being the best... only interested in building the biggest star. Berchelt is avoided at 130. Tank won't fight him. If Ryan Garcia looks too good in his next fight, Tank wont' fight him either. Garcia is now trained by Eddy Reynoso (Canelo's trainer). Haney is also close to Floyd, so probably won't see that either. Tank *might* fight Teofimo Lopez if Floyd sees weakness in him. Floyd did SAY he wants Tank to have one more fight and then fight Lopez. However, I think he said that b/c he knows Lopez is gonna move up to 140 b/c he already said in 2019 that he'd move up by May of 2020 if Loma didn't fight him. Listen to Floyd and Ellerbe and you'll see that they won't put Tank in with someone who really going to challenge him.
5. "No more 130 fights. There is nothing there." In response to Reply # 0
So either he fights Haney or Lomenchenko at 135, where he has the WBA light champion belt. Or he moves his ass up to 140 and fight El Azteca or Lopez.
It’s that simple. And He really should be at 140 at this point. Floyd made the jump to 140 at the age of 27. Tank is 25. So fight either Haney or Lomo, and then move up. Or move your ass up now.
20 something fights in and he is still focking around with these weak fighters.
ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid
9. "Gary Russell Jr and Shakur Stevenson would both fight Tank" In response to Reply # 5 Mon Nov-02-20 08:00 AM by Boogie Stimuli
Tank's handlers aren't interested in either for 2 reasons. They could very well beat Tank and they don't bring a huge fanbase on the level of a beloved Mexican fighter like Leo Santa Cruz.
15. "RE: Been hearing for maybe 2 years now that Stevenson vs Davis" In response to Reply # 12 Wed Nov-04-20 02:08 PM by Boogie Stimuli
>is the long game. They want that fight when Shak is 26-27. >How you think it would shake out if they fought today?
That one's hard to call. Decision favors Shakur but stoppage favors Tank, of course. When Floyd and Ellerbe say Tank has skills that he hasn't had to show, they're telling the truth there. A good example is the Jesus Cuellar fight. Tank looked the sharpest I've ever seen him in that fight, but the opponent was low level. Tank's power would keep Shakur honest, but Shakur is a really safe fighter, probably owing to him being mentored by Andre Ward. Ward is BIG on not taking punishment (but so is Floyd). He also spars with Terence Crawford. Dude has an all-star big brother team. Stevenson would also have a height advantage even though he's slightly smaller, and he's great at fighting at distance. This is a far cry of Leo Santa Cruz lol. Tank would have to create a fight in the pocket (probably Stevenson's weakest spot currently). I just don't think Stevenson would give him many openings with them both being southpaws. Tank would have to be able to walk through Shakur's punches or completely slip his offense, which would be hard with Shakur being so accurate and rarely getting hit. In the end, if Tank isn't able to stop Shakur, I see fatigue working in Shakur's favor because it takes a lot of energy to jump in and out of the pocket, and Shakur can fight at distance all night. He does it routinely. Who knows though, Tank's pressure could tire him out. A lot of variables with two guys this talented. No mattter how it went, it would bring out the best in both of them.
Gary Russell Jr called Tank out well over a year ago and just called him out again after the Leo fight. Leo Santa Cruz was in the same weight class as Gary for YEARS and never would fight him. Gary has had meetings with DAZN and everything in his frustration. This guy was FED UP. He even went to the lengths of running up on Santa Cruz's father in an attempt to provoke Santa Cruz.
Here's one from February of this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4afNzLyJMA ^You'll notice in that one that a reporter tells Gary that he spoke with Tank's trainer who said they won't fight Gary because "he doesn't bring any money."
So repeat the same setup PBC used for the Mikey vs Spence fight. They'll say "Oh Mikey called him out, so it's not a big guy picking on a little guy." The difference there was Spence couldn't deliver a KO.
But the story was similar. "Wow! Nobody dominates Mikey like that! Amazing!" Of course that would happen in his very first fight at Welterweight against a big Welterweight. Who jumps up in weight to face a weight-drained champion without an acclimation fight? Roberto fucking Duran didn't even do that.
Now it's the same with Leo. "Wow! Leo's never been stopped! Amazing!" He's also never fought a guy at 130 who's so big that he struggles to even make the weight class above 130 AND is a big puncher. I said as soon as the fight was made that Leo would get KO'd. Kinda feel like I'm in bizarro world with people taking this fight seriously lol.
I think the fact that they've done this twice now is starting to prove that this is just a narrative they create to "build a star" as Ellerbe says.
And I won't even post the litany of clips where Floyd, Ellerbe, and Tank say it's on their time about fighting Lomachenko when Loma called Tank out (you can find them on Youtube and Twitter). They wanted no parts of Loma, and that will forever taint Tank's legacy in the eyes of boxing fans who followed all that.
So anyway, to put in all in perspective, PBC is trying to "build a star" with Tank. They saved Leo for him by not urging Leo to fight Russell jr. They did this because he brings the big Mexican fanbase for PPV. This is the same formula Floyd used (Tank even wore the same walk-out clothes Floyd wore against De La Hoya, big red green and white sombrero and jacket). Russell Jr got screwed. He been wanting to fight both those guys. I used to wanna ride with PBC, but for as well as they take care of their fighters, there's a lot of messed up stuff going on over there too.
11. "Just for shits and giggles, let me add this...." In response to Reply # 10
The funny thing is both Mikey and Leo had unification bouts right there in their own weight classes. Mikey had Lomachenko at 135 and Leo had Russell Jr at 126. Leo and Gary were BOTH AT PBC, so that kills this notion that fighters need to go to PBC if they want those fights. That guarantees nothing. Foks gotta stop coming for Bud Crawford. Especially when Wilder fought Fury twice and still have a 3rd fight in their contract.
13. "But Floyd didn’t do the same thing." In response to Reply # 10
His 24th fight he fought Emanuel Augustus. No big fan base. And he wasn’t mexican. After that Corrales. Chico was known but no big fan base. Plus he wasn’t mexican.
He did fight Castillo after that, and then he fought Ndyou ( African), Decorley, and Mitchell at WW....then Judah at WW.
He didn’t really start focusing on Mexicans with big fan bases or big money situations until after the Oscar fighter, which made him the new golden goose.
Mayweather really fucked Up fights with all that bullshit politicking, and the fans didn’t get to see those prime fights at the height or their anticipation.
I really hate that he is in the promotion business. We all know how it is going to go.
ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid
14. "Talking about his PPV profile." In response to Reply # 13
Perhaps I should've said he raised his profile . Once he broke the PPV record with De La Hoya (25M) after a couple of moderately successful PPV's with non-Mexican fighters (under 400k), he knew the formula. I mean, consider that Shane Mosley is a first ballot hall of famer. Floyd's PPV with him only slightly outsold the one with Victor Ortiz lol (1.4M and 1.2M). That says alot imo. I can totally see Floyd telling Tank "Why waste your time with... black fighters... or Ukranian fighters... who pose a threat... when you can fight... Mexican fighters... from lower weight classes... and make the same money?" lol.
>Mayweather really fucked Up fights with all that bullshit >politicking, and the fans didn’t get to see those prime >fights at the height or their anticipation. > >I really hate that he is in the promotion business. We all >know how it is going to go.
I agree with this completely. I think people should think more about why Floyd never became undisputed in any weight class.
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