Had a nice response all typed out and ready to post, and my computer crashed. It's gone. Will revisit later after after a few random expressions of anger.
:rofl don't worry, i feel your pain. it did that to one of my posts the other week. just don't take a hammer to your computer otherwise there will be no posts at all. breathe in. breathe out...
I blatantly proved you wrong, and you come back with this. You need to own up to the fact that your countrymen are deluded morons. Am I really being trolled when these miscreants post 3 page responses of Calzaghe lover bull**** to posters OTHER than me? Think about that for as long as it takes you. It's sad to see a man who can't accept that his countrymen are simply unintelligent proles.
Calzaghe Lacie's Hagler by one or two less rounds.. Get real. We're talking prime for prime here. Not shopworn Calzaghe at 35 that still beat ATG Hopkins
Ok. Let's try this again........... I know Ward-Bute didn't happen due to Ward. I didn't mind his stance at the time because the fight was on the path to happening, would have happened down the road had Bute taken care of his end, and felt that Ward and Froch had earned a lighter touch coming off the S6. I mind it now because we didn't get the fight. But it did serve to give Froch a bit of a rebirth in a way that no other fight could have, save a win over Ward in a rematch. I don't think Ward is an ATG. I think he could be on the path, but lots of guys stay on the path for a while and then get knocked off. I'd say he is clearly further along than Calzaghe was at the same point in his career, with a much higher strength of resume. (Joe's did get stronger as he went on.) A younger Hopkins was a different animal altogether. I don't think he would have had nearly the diffculty in keeping up with Calzaghe's pressure back in the day. Would have been a close fight, but I just think Hopkins superior technical skills, defense and ability to control the geography in the ring would have led to a different outcome. It's all supposition though. Calzaghe won fair and square when they fought. As for the reason the fight never came off earlier, wasn't it that it was merely a part of a multi fight deal that Hopkins turned down. Calzaghe wasn't what he went on to become, he wasn't a big deal at the time. He was just a potential opponent to Hopkins. Should he have taken the deal? Possibly. It would have been better than a few of the opponents he fought before landing the DLH fight, which was his holy grail. In 2008, Dawson would have been a top, young talented fighter on Calzaghe's ledger. And a LHW to boot. Exactly the thing his resume seems to be lacking in strength. I wouldn't call it unfinished business though. Honestly, I don't think Joe was much of anything to Jones at the time, who had the boxing world by the balls at the time and could pick his opponents(for better or worse) because he was the cash cow. It doesn't seem Calzaghe pursued it with much conviction. Jones himself said he dismissed the idea of a Calzaghe fight because he had dialed down his opposition. Don't know much about the Taylor situation. Tell me about it.
Hopkins ducked calzaghe ???? :rofl:rofl What are you on man it must be good stuff lol. Heck Nard offered to fight the rematch in WALES!!! in front of Calzaghe's faithful fans. Wouldn't that have been a fitting tribute to his fans to fight & beat a living legend in front of them???? Nard even joked He can have Enzo as ref if he wants. What did Calzaghe do?? Shot his fans the finger & RETIRED!!!!!!!! Why did Slappy do this?? Because he knew he'd got a gift first time around & he knew Nard was 'nt going to leave it to the judges this time. Calzaghe ducked Hopkins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There's a lot more Calzaghe hate threads than ones showing support, of course this leaves you open to be mocked.
I don't see it as a gift, more a close fight, going either way. I'd have loved to have seen the rematch if I'm honest and its only Joe's fault that didn't happen. I don't see Nard stopping Joe at any rate though, and I don't see him taking a close decision in Cardiff either.
Calzaghe did NOT!!! legitimately beat Hopkins He was handed a gift decision he did not deserve Best part is Calzaghe knows that himself that's why he retired rather than please his fans & rematch Nard in Wales
well at least it worked this time. :good Ward should have fought Bute straight after the super six to settle the 168 top dog. draining Dawson down in weight instead was sheer madness from the start. everyone was on here claiming that it made it pointless when one (Dawson) wasn't going to be at his best. it should have been Bute and no one else. why would Ward have Bute fight Froch with a view to fight him at a later date when he picked Froch to win? that doesn't make any sense. he knew the problems that Bute's style would pose him, so got Froch to do his dirty work. all the credit was there for Ward if he had beaten Bute but he turned it down. Froch had just come out of the super six off a loss... he took Bute on straight away like a real champ. Ward had come off a win. it should have been him that took the fight. when he turned Bute down, Bute was looking for one of the top guys, so in came Carl. the reason for Bute not getting the big fights beforehand was due to everybody being in the super six and being tied up. as soon as that was over Bute was then able to get the more meaningful fights. he took the Froch fight as soon as he was free. Ward turned it down, then was asked why he did so. he them came back with some utter bull**** (we've seen far too much bull**** and contradicting from Ward) about how he couldn't because he'd signed to fight Froch... the reason why Bute went down that avenue was down to Ward refusing him the fight and claiming he needed to beat someone like Froch to earn the fight. the money was there between the two. it made all the sense in the world to everyone apart from Ward. madness. plain and simple... he ducked the fight. yes, it did give Froch the chance to get back in the game. but that still doesn't excuse Ward ducking. on paper, Ward has a stronger resume than Calzaghe had at the same point in time in their careers. but closer inspection reveals just how Ward got those wins. illegal. crooked doesn't even cover the way he fights. and the refs that he uses to accompany him in the ring? they're crooked as well. at least Joe didn't have anything controversial hanging over his wins. did you see the messed up score cards for the close win over Bika? now i'm not saying Ward didn't win, because i had him taking the fight, but they were so wide that it was clear that no matter what happened, Bika wouldn't have had his hand raised. it was horrible. Ward even had the cheek to call Bika a dirty fighter. atsch Hopkins' stamina was still world class when he took Joe on. it wasn't until later in the fight that he started to wain, but Joe was winning rounds leading up to that point anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered if he was able to go the full 12 without gassing. Joe had found his rhythm to Hopkins and was the more successful of the two. and it was the last 2 rounds that Hopkins gassed in. the way some people go on you'd thing Hopkins gassed at the half way mark. a stronger Joe would be a painful experience for Hopkins. standing and trading would be foolish. he'd come off 3rd best, let alone 2nd best. all Hopkins can do is use the very same tactics as he did. a prime Joe wouldn't even have half the problems as he did. if Joe needed to adapt and make a couple of adjustments, then he would. Hopkins would have better stamina. Joe would have his power, his full speed and his all round strength. no doubt in my mind that Joe takes it. if you take Hopkins, then i'm cool with that. we all don't have the same opinions. :good Joe was a lot more regarded later on, true, but who was Hopkins really? he had that win over Trinidad that put his name out there, but whet else did he do that made him the man to take who he wanted? Calzaghe was a huge risk, but the reward was big for Hopkins also. the De La Hoya win has no merit for me. Oscar lost clearly to Sturm, but they ripped him off, then they proceeded to look at each other for round after tedious round until the body shot brought the **** fest to an end. it was painful to watch. didn't Hopkins only make $1.5 million for that fight as well? if true, then Hopkins would have made double that against Joe. yes, it was part of a 3 fight deal with Showtime that Hopkins supposedly didn't like. but Wa55en and Joe wanted this fight so bad, that i'm sure they could have negotiated a stand alone fight. Showtime would have went for this i think. but Bernard wasn't interested. wild horses wouldn't have got him in there with Calzaghe i don't think. Fisher, Hopkins' trainer, knew how good Calzaghe was by making a comment about him being the fastest and most dangerous opponent that Bernard would have fought since the Roy Jones fight. also, you cannot overlook the fact that Hopkins, when they did eventually fight, brought in the A team for training camp that consisted of Roach AND Nazeem. Bernard hadn't done that before, nor since, his fight with Joe. he knew exactly how good Joe was. if i'm honest, i don't think he wanted to fight Joe when he did do. because if he wanted to continue with his career and make more money, he'd need to call out Joe because he was one of the very top guys out there. not doing so would have resulted in people calling him a genuine coward. especially after he ducked the first fight. the evidence of Bernard bringing in the A team when he'd never done that before for anyone else, points to him not believing in himself to get a win over Joe. :deal Taylor was asked after making a defence of his Middleweight championship (can't remember who) about a fight with Joe, and what it would take to see the pair in the ring together. he then came out with the $10 million price tag. it was all over here and boxing mags. i can't remember if he said this in his after fight interview as well, i'd have to check. but he did say it. :good
Hopkins did duck Calzaghe. :deal this is a known fact. why would Joe want his last fight to be against Hopkins and his antics again? no one wanted to see a second fight. not even the most hardcore Calzaghe fans. Joe would have beat him again but easier. he knew what to expect if they did fight again. but no one wanted it. Hopkins had his chance but he lost. "i'll never lose to a white boy" well, he did lose. :deal i had the fight closer than most, so no, Joe didn't get a gift decision in Bernards own country.
Did Ward pick Froch? I did think the cards over Bika were a lil wide, but nothing to get overly alarmed about. IIRC I felt he actually did take the vast majority of the rounds, despite most of them being close and competitive. AS for the "illegal stuff".......meh. Other than the headbutts with Kessler, I don't see the illegality of his tactics, although it is esthetically displeasing and boring to watch. Lots of fighters have done, do, and will do it. (On an aside, because I don't want this to be a tit for tat between Ward and Calzaghe, I'm really not a fan of Ward. He's obviously good, but I don't like his personality. But, Calzaghe has been accused of hitting guys with non-regulation parts of his glove with his "slaps". I don't put much into it either, but it has been put out there. Anyway, there's a tat for your tit.) As for Hopkins, he was the unified MW champ, making his name at the pinnacle of the sport, fighting contenders of varying degrees of talent(some his defenses sucked also). He was in a position to go for the big money fights. DLH was just that. But it was no more than a good win in my book. Point is, he didn't need Calzaghe who was an unknown at the time, and the figures quoted are wrong I'm pretty sure. I think they were talking 5 or 6 mil total for 3 fights or something like that, 1 of which was to be Calzaghe. Bernard said no to the whole deal as opposed to just Calzaghe. It's a mischaracterization to call that a duck of one man. They were lining up to fight Calzaghe later in his career, after he had established himself on the world stage and as a money generator. It can't go both ways..... they can't have ducked him because they were afraid to fight him, only to fight him after he had beaten some actual tough competition. It's all about the business is my point. There's always 2 sides to the coin when it comes to business. It's not all .....Calzaghe was ducked, Calzaghe did everything he could, but no one of note would fight him....until suddenly they all did. I think you'll find that when Calzaghe decided to step up (and he clearly did), he got those big fights. I think there'd be a lot fewer arguments(not what I would classify this as, to be sure) about Calzaghe if things weren't so black and white for both sides of the argument. He's better than some say, not as good as others say. Some things he bears responsibility for happening and not happening, some he doesn't. Both sides really seem to believe what they really want to believe. That's my take anyway.