Calzaghe or Pac?

Nice try. It won't work though.

I can ''spaz out'' Calzaghe style on you if you want me too? Only I'll be using irrefutable proof instead of ''slaps''. lol

His hand problems are very well documented. But hey, if known hater you says otherwise then I guess we should take it as gospel, right? lol

 

Proof is my middle name. lol. I rarely go into battle unless I'm tooled up to the nines.

 

OK. let me just go load my guns.

 

Yeah and you also have to take into consideration he was fighting with chronically ****ed hands for much of his career and rarely put full power into his shots from the mid to late stages of it. His KO ratio would've been even higher if his metacarpals hadn't given out on him. It's plain to see and hear he used to hit much harder before the injuries forced him to adapt his style to one based more on speed and throwing lighter flurries and lightning quick combos. He scored lost of stoppages in the amateurs too. In fact, he was known as a banger back then, hence why he stopped all but one of his victims on route to winning his ABA titles up at light-middle and middleweight respectively, that later of which he entered into carrying a hand injury.

And the vast majority of, if not all, of those ''British stoppages'' were one-way traffic and they were always going to end up as stoppage wins even if the referees had let them go on a few rounds longer.

Also, he fought a lot of opponent's with very good beards too. Pre ****ed hands: Eubank, Juan Carlos Gimenez, Reid (although his hand was injured from the 5th round onwards in the Reid fight). Post ****ed hands: Hopkins, Kessler, Bika, Sheika, and Lacy. All those guys were all extremely durable indeed (Eubank and Gimenez were carved out of pure granite, the later of whom was sent to the hospital with two suspected cracked ribs by the way - Joe used to hit hard to the body too back then). Even some of his domestic level opponents like Delaney and the Scott Stephen Wilson had good beards on them too. Bobby Joe Edwards was a crusierweight as well. And a lot of his earlier opponents he whacked out of there quickly had actually been drafted in to give him some rounds, as they done to other prospects, world title challengers, future British, European and future world champions too. Karl Barwise, Frank Minton, Trevor Ambrose, Darren Littlewood all either lasted the distance or took big punching future champions rounds, whereas Joe blasted through them like they were nothing.

 

He suffered a really bad wrist injury that threatened to curtail his career when he was a teenager. A specialist actually told him he'd never box again. The injury would plague him for his entire career by the way.

Here's a video where he elaborates on it a little.

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And here's a quote from his book where he talks about it.


''I'm not familiar with all the medical jargon but what became clear from the X-ray was that there was extensive tissue damage in what is known as the interosseous membrane, which holds the bones in proper position. Once this happens, it fails to stabilise the position of the bones and this will recur when force is applied, leading to further pain and injury. I went home and told my dad and he was as devastated as I was, but I refused to believe the doctor. I kept trying to put the pain out of my head and still went to the gym to train, strapping my wrist up heavily with bandages, but there was nothing I could do with it. I couldn't box. I couldn't even shadow-box. I would wince with the pain. Ultrasound and different treatments were carried out in the hospital over the following weeks and months but the problem wouldn't go away. Even now I can't press on my wrist or do press-ups properly. I have to do them on my knuckles. Eventually, I overcame the problem with willpower, shutting out the pain and putting so much strapping and tape on my hands inside big gloves that it looked like I was punching with cushions. But for the time being there was nothing to do but take a complete rest and put boxing to the back of my mind.


''In my heart I never considered quitting boxing. Of course, I was frustrated about the injuries and the way my career was going, but I was still champion and I needed to fight. even if only for financial reasons, there was no way I could walk away from the sport.

Here's a video of a 19-year-old Calzaghe expressing his concern over his hands and how he hopes they get better so he can go onto bigger and better things.

3:20 minute mark


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Here's another where he discusses how the problems with his hands had forced him to change his style. This should be obvious to anyone who's followed his career from the early days.

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Her's another where he talks about how he hadn't been able to do any sparring for the second defence of his title.

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Here's one where he talks about all the injury woes he was going through around that time.


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Still not convinced? lol

Big Frank taking about Joe wrapping his own hands.

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Hand injuries forcing the postponement of the Glen Johnson fight.

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Barry McGuigan and Steve Bunce taking about him having a second ridge of knuckles on his hand due to him breaking his metacarpals so many times.

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Footage of his broken hand after the Ashira fight.


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Footage of him with a broken wrist after the Manfredo fight.

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I have plenty more proof if you're still not convinced? lol. I haven't even dipped into all the newspaper articles documenting his hand problems yet. Go watch some of his early pro fights (the Eubank one for example) and listen to the sound of the punches compared to how they sounded in the later part of his career. The difference is night and day.

I can't believe I just had to do all that you ****. My dinner has gone cold now. lol.

I'm out of here for now. lol

 

Tell me about it. lol

 

''May have had bad hands''?? How much ****ing proof do you want? ****ing X-rays? Medical reports?? lol

He wrapped his own hands because he was terrified that if he let anyone else do it they'd **** it up (especially wrapping his fragile wrist) and it would be the end of his career. That's what happens when the person who trains you for the vast majority of your career is an aspiring Herbie Hancock and has absolutely ZERO boxing experience and even less training fighters. They were both incredibly naive to say the least.

Have you not seen the state of that shitty little gym he trained in up until he'd made the 10th defence of his title? It was a ****ing dive. It didn't even have a proper ring for ****'s sake. The flooring was so bad he couldn't even develop his footwork there. lol. The fact that he even won a world title let alone scaled the heights he did in the amateurs and the pros is ****ing remarkable given all the obstacles he had to overcome. Joe might have zero charisma but it's a ****ing remarkable story none the less.

OK, I'm really out of here now. lol