I wonder why Joe Calzaghe was never offered millions for his return to boxing?

I remember reading Joe could have become DM's mando at one point if he moved up, not sure it that was true, but I think Joe could have beat him.. Joe was much faster, had a good chin and could punch from way more angles than Dariusz could. I would have favored Joe there as well.

 

Greatest of the last 30 years is a stretch IMO, but I surely am impressed with his abilities and think he was truly a great fighter.. He also has am underrated win against Hopkins that stacks up well against many fighters' greatest single wins.

 

His US PPV debut was a catastrophic flop.

It sold 225k buys, meaning it made $13m, of which Joe's purse alone chewed up a guaranteed $10m.

So I don't wonder why Joe Calzaghe was never offered millions for his return to boxing.

 

I'm not sure it's underrated, have you seen that fight? I had Joe Calslappy winning but they both didn't really do much that fight. Extremely overrated win.

 

Right. There's probably something in German to describe a good "win" but a bad (read: boring) "victory".

 

I watched it twice.. I originally though it could have gone either way.. It was ugly no doubt as Bernard "Ugly" Hopkins is great at that.. but after years I watched it again and had Calzaghe winning nearly every round after the 3rd.. Some of the rounds were close too, and Joe stole them with late flurries..

I wrote Hopkins off after that fight because I thought he looked old and shot.. It turns out that wasn't the case.. Calzaghe made him look old and shot, even though he had several years at the top level still in him

 

Nobody, and mean nobody active during Calzaghe era could compete with him on any real level. Many could last 12 rounds, but getting pummeled for 12 is worse than getting caught and stopped.

After what he did to an absolute peak kessler, who wss truly like a beast of a robot. Everyone around 168 and 175 were praying for him to retire. And even then fighters like froch and I think abraslow, mirandachinny waited years and after being busted with coke to pretend they wanted a piece of him.

How I wish he were going through his career with ggg, kovalev and barrera. Maybe even ward. Many great fights.

 

It was Zod who posted up the link. I think it was from 2003. Apparently, the WBO would have made him the mandatory challenger at LHW, because he'd made so many defences of his own SMW title. So it would have been Dariusz/Gonzalez in 2003, or Erdei in 2004. I don't know how it would have worked out though, because the WBO got lots of criticism for their fighters not making many mandatory defences. I've heard many posters say that Dariusz hardly fought mandatories. I also once read a thread on a different forum, where a member apparently had proof that out of all Joe's defences of his WBO title, only a handful of them were mandatories. I remember seeing the stats that were posted. I think there's an awful lot of things that happen behind the scenes, that most of us aren't aware of.

 

Which fight was that?

I remember reading his U.S. debut against Rick Thornberry had flopped. But that was from his performance, not from a financial standpoint. I've still got the copy of Boxing Monthly that it was featured in.

 

I'm having a party at the weekend.

Any chance of you selling me any of the drugs that you've been taking?

:nut

 

Not to dog Dariusz, but there are several fighters on his resume during his reign that had no chance.. Even more so than Roy, who's LHW was superior.. I remember posting a while back the top 10 LHWs color coordinated.. Roy beat more of them.

 

PPV debut. Calzaghe vs. Jones.

Lacy was his debut on American television (Showtime) - and Bika, Manfredo, Kessler and Hopkins were all on HBO WCB.

 

Loudon, I tried to edit my above post but my phone won't let me.. I was given several years of rankings or kind of stole them (Thanks IB) and put colors to the ones Jones beat, DM beat and the ones they both beat... It is clear Roy dominated the top 10 on a much more consistent basis. Anyway, don't want to hijack the thread. just clearing up my point.

 

http://m.bbc.com/sport/wales/24354169

http://www.badlefthook.com/2012/9/9/3305393/andre-wards-next-fight-trainer-team-calls-out-joe-calzaghe-comeback-boxing-news

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2201017/Joe-Calzaghe-called-Andre-Ward-team.html

 

Yeah but that is Ward calling him out for the personal value to him (adding to his legacy).

My point was that no promoter or TV network is dangling large sums of money to lure him into the ring again, because he wasn't exactly a big draw in the US when given the chance.