Joe Calzaghe and the reasons why he has such a divided fanbase

The reason he has such a diveded fan base is because he ruined American heroes Lacy and Jones and didn't require PEDs to dominate for many years.

Americans are upset that there is no blueprint.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm7qcmu7UvQ

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VSjzPJ-p-U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeuKP5UqTs4


:hi:

 

your question 'What's it like having all this hate inside you?' , if you could spell out what relevance it has to boxing forums, then I'll answer it.

till then it has zero relevance to boxing, and its up to you to make a valid reply to replace this obviously redundant one.

 

Lacy was not an American hero, and by Joe's own admission Roy was only a good fighter when they fought, not a great one.

 

Who were the 10 world champions you ask?

1) Chris Eubank 45-2-2 - Recently lost a close decision to Collins. Collins would not take the fight. By his own admission was very fit for this.

2) Robin Reid 26-1-1 had won and made 3 WBC defenses at the time was in his 20's.

3) Richie Woodhall 26-2 had made 2 WBC defenses

4) Charles Brewer 37-8 - Former IBF champ many felt he was robbed against Ottke 2 years earlier

5) Byron Mitchel 25-2-1 - Was 3 months removed from losing a split decision unification fight to Ottke in Germany

6) Jeff Lacy 21-0 - Came into the fight as IBF champion

7) Sakio Bika 20-1-2 - Coming off a questionable draw to Marcus Beyer in Germany for the WBC title, went on to win the WBC title. Should be noted Froch was offered this fight ahead of Bika but declined it because there was a rematch clause.

8) Mikkel Kessler 39-0 - Came into the fight as WBC & WBA champion after knocking out Beyer

9) Bernard Hopkins 48-4-1 - Was the lineal light heavyweight champion with an unbeaten record against south paws. Coming off wins against p4p top 10 rated fighters Tarver and Wright. Only reason the fight did not happen earlier is because Hopkins priced himself out as he was waiting for the bigger pay day in De La Hoya.

10) Roy Jones Junior 52-4-0 - Was well past his awesome best but still had a punch and some skills. Possibly the greatest fighter of all time in his day but he was also a steroid user.

All of these guys other than Jones were in their peak or near enough to it mate. Then you have guys like Veit and Sheika etc. who were world rated for over 5 years and beat world champions themselves but Calzaghe gets no credit for these type of wins.

 

They were not in their peak they were fromer champions.

Mitchell was the usual british stoppage that Joes career is littered with.

Jones was shot to hell as even Calzaghe pointed out many times prior.

Bhop fight couldve went either way and even J Taylor had beaten the mkan twice 3 years previously.
Bhop never "priced himself out" of anything. Joe was not not making money to cover 3 mil for a Hopkins fight back then, he was fighting in Ice Rinks and Hopkins himself was not a million dollar fighter in those days either. This is typical of Joes promoter - just like recently he told us how Froch "priced out" against Cleverley. Cant believe people run with this horse manure.

Finall;y Hopkins was not the lineal champ at this time.

 

What so are you saying these guys who were former champions with less than 30 fights who were under 30 in most cases were "shot"?

Lacy and Kessler came into the fight as champions and also yes I'm sorry to say to Mr.Boxrecfan over here but Hopkins was the Lineal champion going into his fight with Calzaghe.

Hopkins beat he guy who beat the guy and was considered lineal champion after beating Tarver who broke Jones' winning run. Anyone who has followed boxing for more than 2 minutes knows this.

Basically it's people like this with little to no knowledge of the sport who try to discredit Calzaghe.

 

I know who they were. Were they champs when he fought them is what I was trying to get at. Some of those guys were legit titleholders at the time he fought em. Not Eubank, not Bika, not Brewer, not Mitchell, not Reid. Not saying they were shot or what not.

 

Right but you understand it isn't Joe's fault that they weren't champions at the time. That title makes them no more or less risky. The fact is for a long time most guys in the division who had a title didn't want to fight him.

 

I loved it last night when Felix Sturm said Joe was his hero and fave boxer,Froch was asked for his view and said he would have liked to have seen Joe against great fighters today like himself & Andre Ward,he just can't bear to see Joe get the repect & adoration he receives,such a sad bitter insecure man.

 

Calzaghe is a legend of the ring, anyone who knows anything about boxing knows that.

 

if you did your research you would find that it wasn't a pack of lies likes 'they didn't want to fight him'

The problem was the wbo, whom at the time were unrecognised to the point where they discouraged any unification matches for their titlists so as to protect and enhance their lineage. You seem to be unaware of this, despite your earlier diatribe towards me that 'You don't really know anything about boxing'. It appears then that you think you know less than nothing about boxing.


furthermore it is Joes fault for picking ex champions who were on the point of retirement and weren't bothered with winning. He DIDNT need to pick them. he agreed to go along with it. repeatedly. That is directly Joes fault, and by dint of it happening so often you would be hard pressed to say it wasn't by design.

 

I don't really like to engage in the blame game. His fault, their fault, it usually matters not when assessing a guy's resume. However, I don't think it's as simple as no one wanted to fight him, the same as it isn't so simple as Calzaghe didn't want to fight such and such...... 9 time in 10 it's the business end that is to blame.

That being said, it really doesn't matter whether a guy had a title at a particular time or not. Mitchell isn't suddenly shot, nor a better fighter had he kept it, because he lost his title a fight or 2 ago. When you're talking about real champs, like Kessler, and even Lacy, you know it. But when you're talking fringe contenders and such, they are what they are.

 

he has pretty much a loyal, solid fan base.

the critics /haters arent his fans. doesnt mean they dont have a case.