Calzaghe left a massive void when he retired. The SMW division in particular.

Calzaghe left a massive void when he retired. The SMW division in particular.

The SMW division is looking very weak, yet people who dont know the history of division and were taken in by advertising of the Super 6 competition dont realise.
At present the division is fun to watch, as the fighters who are now the world class of the division all seem to fight at a similar level making good close fights, ie Froch and Kessler was close both times and Froch and Ward, I felt was close with Ward only a couple of points up.
Now Ward is the current champ and his best win is an unwell, double vision suffering, past best, rusty Kessler, that Calzaghe beat when prime, at the end of his career, in his last fight at SMW, and thats Wards best win!
It is also the best win of the current number 1 Froch, who was also beaten by that same past best fighter!

Bika now well past his best wins the WBC SMW title, when he was handled in his prime by old end of career past best Calzaghe almost 7 years ago.
When Bika was rusty and had done less than 2 rounds in 2 years he was able to push current champ Ward and winning the 12th round in a close fight to many.

Bika in my opinion wasnt even one of Calzaghes top 10 wins with Kessler, Eubank, Lacy, Hopkins, Mitchell, Reid, Woodhall, Jones, Veit 2, Brewer being better wins and fighters with greater resumes than Bika!

Calzaghe was too good for his own good and its now that he hasnt fought at SMW for over 5 years, fighters that he beat years ago when past best, still remain as the world class fighters of today and fight at an even level that he dominated.

Calzaghe left a massive void when he retired and makes the division look better now that he has retired because if he was still active he would still be head and shoulders above the others with clueless fans saying there is no one to fight at SMW and that it is a weak division

 

The fact that his name is still brought up time and time again when he's been absent from the ring for the past 5 years tells its own story.

 

Agreed, and the fighters he beat years ago are winning titles when past best

 

Personally I think the division now is a hell of a lot better than when Calzaghe was fighting. Ward KO's calzaghe too btw.

 

the funny thing about Bika is I'm not sure he isn't better now then he was when he fought Calzaghe. He certainly has better footwork then he did back then.

 

I agree totaly cause although ward is incapable of knocking out the vast majority of his opponents he would easily ko the best smw ever

 

Yeah he only KO'd the light heavy champ. And calzaghe got sat on his ass numerous times. Calzaghe was too easy to counter with his slap bull****, and Ward is one of the best counter punchers in the game. Please, stfu and fall back. Ward's resume is already greater than Calzaghe and he is nowhere near done.

 

If Joe was around today theres no doubt he would be a champion and would beat Froch, Kessler again, Stieglitz, Groves, and Bute. But the Ward fight is 50/50

People love to discredit Ward because he fights in Oakland, but his performances speak volumes.
Furthermore, Calzaghe's title defences were Hopkins like, many of them wouldnt be relevant today.
The ONLY reason why Calzaghe left a significant "void" is because we dont know how good he truly is because he never fought anyone better than a 40 year old Hopkins (controversial decision) and a past prime Eubank.

 

Its good to see Bika become champ, he gave Ward a beating, gave Calzaghe some rough headbutts, also pushed Bute. But history should remember Ward was the original WBC champ, they upgraded him to Emeritus champ, and thus gave the vacant WBC title to Bika-Periban. Nowadays with this Super, regular, interim, Emeritus, Diamond, Silver etc bull**** it has become easier to become champion.

Had Ward kept his WBC title then Bika would still be a tough gatekeeper, Ward had no one to fight so maybe it was a smart move on his part because now Degale, Groves, Oosthuizen or any other decent contender can challenge for Bika's title to set up a Ward Clash.

This division has generally gone tougher, with a blend of seasoned veterans in Kessler, Bika. Elite fighters in Ward, Froch, and young upcoming fighters in Degale, Groves, Oosthuizen, Rodriguez. Even the bums/fringe contenders have become tougher in Stieglitz, Abraham, Magee, Dirrell, Periban... Compared the Calzaghe's era where the elite fighters were Calzaghe, Ottke, and Jeff Lazy.

 

Your right..ward has massive ko power and should be regarded as somewhat of a ko specialist.

 

Theres no doubt in my mind that if Calzaghe was still fighting today, he would still remain the main man at 168 in his 40s and still be unbeaten. Ward would have given him a decent fight for 7 or 8 rounds before badly gassing, and froch would have been widely UD'd.

The super6 and the emergence of an American at 168 seems to have given exposure to the division stateside and spoonfed the gullable American public into believing that the division has relevance today, when the cold hard truth is that this is now the most feeble 168 division in its entire history.

 

Wassup soldier :happy

I too am pleased that Bika has won a belt, he's tough as nails and will fight anyone. I thought the scorecards for his fight v Ward were an absolute ****ing disgrace. If that that exact fight took place in a neutral country, with neutral judges, with those judges having no idea who either fighter was roll::roflatsch) then I think Ward suffers his 2nd loss as a pro :deal

 

Calzaghe always wanted to fight an American with a big name on a big stage and he got that fight against a young undefeated Jeff Lacy. Lacy's subsequent downfall caused that win to be less and less relevant and therefore Calzaghe was no longer interested in fighting promising young American stars and concentrated on fighting old legends. He is bashed for it now, but lets face it, at the time it was Chad Dawson who was this young promising star and had Calzaghe fought him and won, today most people would rate that win similar to the win over Lacy.

 

****ing delusional lol wow

 

Afternoon Gay Lord :roflatschwned