Joe Calzaghe's WBO Defences

thats why i feel hatton gets more respect than calzaghe , its because hatton wanted to fight the best...joe didnt

 

The way I look at it is i'd rather be 32-3 at the end of my career and have fought the best like Froch will have done than 46-0 like Calzaghe and people questioning my record and asking if I dodged anyone and why I didn't fight so and so.

 

I dont think Joe was ever 100% comfortble around the media this affected his ability to get the big fights as he was an excellent fighter but with a low profile.

Big risk to fght with little to gain.

 

Joe had a great skillset, but the man is very overrated when it comes to comparing records.

He was wasted under ******.

He should of fought Pavlik, Dawson & Froch, and then retired.

 

I dont think Calzaghe gives a toss, he fought and beat the best guys in the division over a long period of time.

Im sure a few other fights could have been made but only a few and the era also didnt help.

Big up Joe for his achievements in boxing. (Outstanding)

 

I always go back to Joe being a good fighter who on most occasions took on average world level fighters, only towards the end did we see that Joe was capable of hanging with some of the finer fighters around his weight class.

If one were to soley look at the 168 division then yes, Ottke, Johnson were only real fighters he didnt face but again it goes back to how boxing especially below heavyweight has been diluted in terms of talent pools within each division.

We have seen of recent that a great fighter forgoes disparities in weight of 5, 10 pounds and still gets results i.e Marquez and Pac. A. Margarito whilst past his very best is still 5 foot 11 and naturally around 160-165 pounds fight night yet struggled with 5 foot 6 150 pounds fight night Pacquaio who in turn lost lost his fight against 5 foot7 145 pounds fight night Marquez.

Same with Ortiz who struggled in major fights at 140 yet looked top notch against Berto at 147.

This shows you that weight division separating men of anything less than 12-14 pounds are farcical and only highlight the glaring obvious that good fighters can hide in weight classes without really testing themselves.

If for example boxing were to organise itself say-

210 + Super-Heavy
175-210 Heavy
160-175 Light-Heavy

147-160 Middleweight (This division should be the odd number, its the middle division?)

135-147 Welterweight
126-135 Lightweight
126 and below Featherweight



If boxing was actually about competition and to seek who the best really were, the Joe who normally weighed in around 180 fight night would have had to compete in the Light-Heavy division which would have meant fighters like a prime Roy Jones and James Toney were around and many more.


Forget the fact that boxing should be organised as I recommend it, Joe could still have went to the 175 Div alot sooner to seek a top level fighter.

A good fighter not all time great.

Another way to look at it, what of Pac or Marquez were to stay at lower divisions, they would have less losses or what if Pac never faced Marquez, chose only a few top fighters say fighting Hatton, Cotto and Margs and then took a bunch of lower level world operators...we would think he couldn't lose because his dominance would be so much.

 

For me it's all relative to talent. Hatton achieved his full potential and more. Calzaghe was 10 times more gifted and talented, but perhaps that doesn't correlate with his résumé. A lot of that is because he was a victim of his times though. He can't help when he was born.

 

Calzaghe vs Toney is a hard fight to pick, IMO.

Toney's major flaws were his flat footedness and apparent lazyness in the ring, Calzaghe's footwork would cause him problems.

But on the flipside, Calzaghe ate right hand counters for breakfast from infinitely inferior fighters to JT.

 

Agree on the most part but Ottke was not awful...people really need to watch fights without listening to what other think before even seeing the reality for themselves.

Ottke was a cagey defensive fighter, but a good fighter..who got a few gift decisions in his time, but this isnt the first fight to benefit from this.

 

I think both Hopkins and Calzaghe would beat Toney. Not particularly hard ones to dissect, IMO.

 

If Joe had taken on the likes of Hopkins sooner, Jones prime, or Pavlik when he was rated highly, or James Toney, or G. Johnson, or A. Tarver etc etc etc...you can bet he would have lost alot of those fights but im also sure he would have won a few.

Again he was a good fighter not great.

But then Roy Jones Jnr competition whilst far better than Joe was still weak compared to what he could have done in his prime.

R. Bowe did it too, took on two low level fights after beating Holyfield...in Ferguson and Dokes.

So whilst Im on Calazaghe case, again lots of good and great fighters have done it and continue to do so.

 

I'm sorry, mate. But for me Ottke WAS awful, especially compared to someone like Calzaghe. He means nothing to me, just a paper titlest. I'm fed up of people trashing Calzaghe for not facing him, like it was this ATG shark and Joe was afraid to swim in them shark invested waters. Like it was some sort of career defining fight.

Darius is the one who gets unfairly shitted on and you need to be praising.

Of course this is only the humble opinion of slip&counter and not the whole Brit Forum.

 

Joe's footwork really would be the standout in a Toney-Calzaghe fight I would imagine. :good

On the point of Joe eating right hands - Joe has a good chin and excellent recuperative powers on his side so he could afford to take a few, obviously when they start landing with regularity it becomes a problem but I'd take Joe's movement and handspeed to be the keys to beat Toney over the distance.

 

I think he was a good fighter, lost to Reid though and that ref was awful. Again I go back to Calzaghe being a good fighter, and was easily good enough to beat Ottke but he didnt go over there>

Haye didnt have to fight Wlad....he could easily have fought Povetkin, Chagave, Adamek...in fact he could be WBA champ for the next 2 years,.

Dont you think Joe got away with a very padded record despite how good he was and dont you agree that if he was in a more organised sport and fought the best available fighters each and every time he would have lost a few?

 

Dont think Joe had a great chin, average, and he was defensively average what he had was lots of speed, lots tenacity and lots stamina and was able to throw a huge volume of punches which is incredibly hard to deal with despite them being alot of arm punches, or pitta patta punches.

He did have good power but it went as the talent of the opponents went up.


He is one the UK greatest fighters but on the international stage he was good fighter on the world stage and not an all time great., technique wise he was poor.