It would be a great fight. I think Kovalev body shots would slow down Calzaghe and take him out late. Calzaghe had a decent chin at 168, but it was not good enough to last at 175 vs a skilled big time puncher.
I don't know what that's in aid of - Calzaghe could punch hard, he was known as a puncher early in his career but had to tone it down due to how brittle his hands had become. He had a tendency to hand damage.
joe relied on crap cheat stoppages mover disinterested nobodies, that's what he was known for. when he faced anyone interested in fighting, there were no stoppages unless they were blatantly protecting joe.
after ko4clev unifies the LHW title, calzaghe would laugh saying sergey isn't worthy an opponent for his least important wbo title and then run away to fight another subdomestic.
No way would Calzaghe EVER get in the ring with someone like Kovalev. But just for arguments sake, if it did happen Kovalev would KO Calzaghe within 6 rounds, the Hopkins and Jones fights showed that Calzaghe doesn't have the chin to compete with the big boys at LHW.
Pointless threads - they just end up as jerk fests for individuals who have hard ons for Calzaghe, whether for or against. Anyone can win anything, or lose, in your personal fantasies. Reveals absolutely nothing.
Hopkins schooled Calzaghe I don't care about the official result I watched the fight and my eyes don't lie to me. Kovalev destroyed Hopkins yesterday if that was anyone else in that ring they would have never taken them shots Hopkins had the best chin I've ever seen to stay standing in the 12 the was amazing. Kovalev would have smashed Calzaghe to bits but we would have never known anyway because Calzaghe didn't have the guts to give Hopkins a rematch why on earth would anyone think he would have dared to step in the ring with kovalev
Kovalev by KO Joe had a very suspect chin and to think he was dropped by lighter punchers in his career and was even managed to be dropped by a shot RJJ and a feather fristed Hopkins ..Joe would never fight a guy like Kovalev
Calzaghe was dropped by RJJ's forearm. Watch the fight. Calzaghe had a world class chin. But he was Not a LHW. He was a natural SMW. Kovalev is a big LHW. It wouldn't go well for Calzaghe at 175. 168, however, would be another story
He should have never been in that position to be dropped by that version of Jones ! And what about Hopkins ? He was never known to be a puncher ..
Calzaghe was 36 ffs. It was his last fight. And Hopkins caught him off balance - in his second to last fight. He wasn't hurt. Actually, I can't think of a single Calzaghe fight where he actually looked hurt, except for Jones' forearm shot.
I'll be honest, I don't think Joe would have taken the fight. But if he had've done, and he'd have fought to his full capabilities, he definitely would have caused Kov a lot of problems with his speed. Joe went up to LHW in the last year of his career. But he could have moved up much sooner had he wished. He's 6ft with a natural walking around weight of 190-196 pounds. So you can do a fantasy match up with Joe at LHW in his 20's. In the era of same day weigh ins, with no SMW division, Joe would have spent his career as a LHW. It was extremely hard for him to make SMW, especially as he got older.
Don't think Calzaghe had the power to keep big LHWs off him. And Calzaghe was my favorite contemporary fighter. He was the perfect SMW. But borderline CWs like Kovalev would have been too much. Could be wrong.
Joe could have been a LHW. He spoke of moving up from the early 00's. It's just that he didn't get there until his final year, because he was content with what he was doing. He definitely could have gone up in his late 20's/early 30's.