Joe Calzaghe, overrated?

Ward cheated with headbutts and elbows..plus Kessler was ruined by Calzghe. Injury is a excuse. The same old man who keeped on winning and most likely was using PEDS. Joe wins and he wins..period.

 

There isn't a SMW or LHW in the history of the sport that could beat Calzghe at his best..The hate is strong in you.

 

I rate Joe highly but you went little bit too far now,nobody at the history in LHW?you sure serious?Joe could beat them all.but definetly won't favor Joe in every match.

Most recent examples are Kovalev and Jones jr before the move to HW.And there are many others..

 

I swear I don't hate him, I rooted for him in every fight he had. I just can't rank a guy that didn't fight the prime elite fighters as an atg. If he had punching power, I would. But his "knockout" of that contender guy is still as fresh in mind as the day i saw that bs.

 

Only someone who doesnt know the SMW division would think Calzaghe with his impressive resume is overated.

Consider even now that A Wards best win is a faded fighter beaten when prime by Calzaghe
Consider that Kovalevs best win is a fighter Calzaghe beat years previously.
Calzaghe still casts a shadow over the SMW division.

Problem with Calzaghe is that he was possibly too dominant like Hopkins was at MW, so people dont realise that the division was strong.
Then when a new era comes along and they struggle in tough fights people think the era is tough rather than the fighters are all more evenly matched without a dominant champ which has happened recently.
Also the division is more followed nowadays, consider Frochs fight with Groves was a similar level fight to Calzaghes against Starie and I think many would have favoured Starie to beat Groves.
Look at how years later Froch struggled with a faded G Johnson where Sheika beat a prime G Johnson to get a shot at Calzaghe and that tells a story of its own with the division

WBO, IBF, WBC, WBA SMW titles
46-0
24-0 world title fights

Eubank, Reid, Woodhall, Mitchell, Brewer, Lacy, Bika, Veit, Kessler who all held a SMW title, were all top 10 rated and world class SMWs
Then look at how fighters like Mkrtchyan are arguably more accomplished than Andre Dirrell, look at how fighters like Sheika were beating fighters like G Johnson, look at how fighters like Starie were beating fighters like undefeated C Woods.
Remember how fighters like McIntyre, Pudwill, Sobot were replacements for Echols, Tate, Salmaci and that S Collins had a change of mind about facing Calzaghe.

Very underated

 

That looks deep to me
Many think Jones and Toney are legends as do some for Eubank and Benn. Collins beat both of those fighters, then throw in Ottke with his fantastic SMW resume and all of the various other top champs and I think SMW has been tougher than MW and LHW for most of its existance overall

 

Outstanding Post:good

 

Name someone who would beat Calzaghe?

 

"how fighters like Mkrtchyan are arguably more accomplished than Andre Dirrell"

mhaahaha

 

Look. Calzaghe beat Bhop by 1 POINT.

1 POINT.

A much younger man, beat a much older man, By 1 POINT.

Calzaghe was an awesome high tempo fighter, with a solid chin and unbelievable timing/endurance. But he was no more than that.

I would favor the following fighters vs Calzaghe:

Kovalev

Baterbiev

Slighly younger Bhop

Prime Johnes

Prime Toney

and that is just off the top of my head. I think Ward would give him fits too.

 

"An awesome high-tempo fighter with a solid chin and unbelievable timing and endurance, but he was no more than that".

Well, that's a fairly impressive list of qualities there Peril.

 

At our level, yes. But to be the greatest, you simply need at least a bit of punching power. The main reason he could maintain his impressive work-rate is the fact that he threw his punches from the shoulder, not putting all of his power to it.

He may or may not have beat the prime legends. But he didn't fight them, and that matters quite a bit. Eubank was past it when he fought Joe. Roy was a shadow. Bhop was...ah, who knows, ****er is timeless. And that's it. The rest of his resume is unimpressive, and those "knockout" victories are a crime against this sport (not all of them, the latter ones mainly).

 

Being British myself you might expect me to feel the need to come to Joe Calzaghe's defense here, but I agree with your points. A lot of his early career "knockouts" are quite embarrassing to watch back given the pitter-patter nature of his offense and how little damage was actually being sustained to his opponents. Likewise, outside of Mikkel Kessler and Bernard Hopkins I don't really see any wins on Joe's win column that impress me too much. It's all rather underwhelming.

That being said, Joe did dominate his era of Super Middleweights and he retired on top despite taking some risks at the tail end of his career. There are a number of ways a prizefighter can achieve greatness in this sport in my estimation. Some fighters, like Ray Leonard, will amass a great record against truly great competition. These fighters boast noteworthy "signature wins". Sometimes though the competition simply isn't out there, and instead you have fighters who dominate for extended periods of time against solid contenders and low level opposition - Ricardo Lopez, for example.

Calzaghe doesn't have weighty top tier wins to his name but he does have longevity and dominance, and on that basis he has to be considered a great fighter in my estimation, and one that would be have been competitive with most 168lbs fighters in history.

 

Good post :good I would agree with you if Joe had more than one belt. You can be considered great if you had maintained control over a mediocre division, but you'd need to unify first. Look at Klitschko, he has no huge names on his record but he has 3 belts, ring title and that meaningless ibo trinket, not to mention having fought literally everyone in the division.
Joe however stuck to his WBO belt, and essentially did not fight any other top dogs in the division. We are not talking all time greats here, just regular belt holders. That can not possibly considered a dominant reign, as was proven by Froch when he beat to a pulp a guy that stuck to one belt and was considered "The Man" at 168 despite not fighting top names.

If you wish to be great, you have to unify. You can't have 3 other guys claim to be the #1 in the division for so many years, and not fight them.