Does Hopkins win enhance Calzaghe's legacy even more?

That were even debating this is testimony to how poorly Calzaghe was managed. He was a superb fighter with only a handful of top class victories.

 

Ditto all the way

 

Calzaghe's legacy doesn't need enchancing:
Top 10 ATG great in terms of legacy
Top 1 in terms of being the best P4P fighter in history.

 

Calzaghes legacy is already set, but the Hopkins win keeps looking better as Calzaghe handled Hopkins and had Hopkins looking to want to take time out.
It definately doesnt hurt Calzaghes legacy.

Hopkins is making history because of his age, but overall I think Calzaghe has some better wins. Hopkins doesnt have any wins as good as Eubank and undefeated Kessler which Calzaghe has, as well as the win over Hopkins

 

There was a reason Hopkins was spoiling so much, and it wasn't because he was giving it away. Calzaghe was putting him under a lot of pressure, which wore him out and forced him to do things he doesn't like doing.

Basically, Joe wasn't intimidated (even though Hopkins did cut down him workrate), and was able to land shots that opened up his offence later on.

I find people's view of that fight is coloured by the knockdown.

 

:deal many think Hopkins controlled the fight but calzaghe constant pressure pushed hopkins to desperation by faking it, Calzaghe controlled the fight indirectly

 

No.

If Calzaghe had hammered him/shut him out it'd be an even more incredible win but Calzaghe went close with him.

Are we giving Jermain Taylor these kind of props too? What about 'Sad' Chad?

 

Eubank was past his best and taking the fight short notice and had to cut down having prepared to fight at cruiserweight. Tarver is an equal win. He was also drained having had to lose a lot of weight post-Rocky Balboa 'acting' role.

Felix Trinidad was heavily favoured. He was NOT a blown up welter. He had destroyed two top talents in Reid and Vargas. He had decimated Joppy to force himself into the top few middleweights in the World. And B-Hop schooled him, and is still the only man to stop him. Better win than Kessler. He was highly ranked in the P4P lists.

I say this having been at the Kessler fight. Calzaghe remains the best fighter I've seen live, I saw him adjust, I recognised straight away (was it in the 8th?) when Joe hurt Kessler with that body shot. And I met Kessler in Thailand he was a gent'. There is no bias here.

Hopkins is the far greater fighter.

 

:deal Thank you!! I hate the way that argument is thrown about to try and put a question mark against the win. It's not true and discredits what was a great win.

Also, regarding Calzaghe-Hopkins, I'm a massive B-Hop fan but I thought Joe took a close, but clear decision. He was one of the few fighters who were able to maintain their aggression & punch output against Hopkins and his world class use of movement and angles was behind that. That was a key factor in the victory.

It really annoys me the way people say that fighters like Cleverly, or even before Saturday night Cloud, would be able to overwhelm Hopkins because of their "engine", like Calzaghe did. It's far too simplistic an argument and doesn't recognize the quality of both Hopkins and Calzaghe in saying it. Even if Hopkins isn't quite the fighter he was vs. Joe, he is still a top fighter at 175 and I don't see anyone bar Dawson having enough to beat even this version of him. To be honest, I don't want to see it, but a 3rd Dawson fight wouldn't necessarily be a foregone Chad victory neither IMO.

 

Sorry but that's a load of garbage.

 

This thread is pretty dire for the most part.

 

Pretty much the way I see it. It does enhance his legacy, but only because he didn't get full credit at the time. If people had given Joe the credit 5 years ago, there would be no need to be giving it retrospectively now.

 

Yes, so one win over a great fighter means that Joe is one of the greatest of all time. Which is what he has been called by many since he retired with his '0', some even before he retired. He is overrated. Absolutely brilliant and a great but not that great.

H2H, in a division not historically deep, he is arguably the best, apart from Roy Jones. Inredible fighter, very unorthodox style, smart, tough, quick blah blah blah Calzaghe was brilliant.

But beating one great fighter is not out of the ordinary throughout history. This win over B-Hop, a close, cagey fight, does not mean Joe is one of the ATGs.

**** me, Kuniaki Shibata must be the G.O.A.T. Gil Turner's gotta' be top ten now.

 

And, like it or not, Hopkins is the only true HOF-level fighter on Calzaghe's ledger. I love Joe but he's not greater than Hopkins.

 

Not by a long stretch.