Why wasn't Calzaghe given more credit for his wins against RJJ and Hopkins?

Because he planned to retire after 2008 - he'd told the BBC that before he fought Kessler: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7064179.stm - and wanted to go out on a big money fight, and his first fight with Hopkins being ugly-as-hell and damn near unwatchable meant a rematch wasn't going to draw as well, certainly not as well as a fight with Jones could.

 

I'd say the previous victory of Roy's, a UD over Anthony Hanshaw (finalist in the original super middle tourney on Showtime, where he drew with Jean Paul Mendy) was more creditable than a UD over a fat, blown-up, shot, rusty & ruined Tito. Hanshaw, like Mendy, was B level, and he was arguably more competitive with Jones than was Trinidad (at least, he visited the canvas just once, as opposed to Jones twice dropping Trinidad and visibly buzzing him several more times...he also did less showboating with Hanshaw) - so I'm not sure where people got the notion they were going to see vintage Captain Hook against Joe. Hard to imagine Calzaghe vs. Hanshaw would've been even half as competitive.

 

Great post.

Thanks for the upload.

I once spoke to Robin on social media and he said that he thought that it was an insult.

So the question is:

Was the offer put forward knowing/hoping that it would be turned down?

That's what happened with the fake call outs to Roy in the early 00's.

It was nothing short of embarrassing.

"Hey Roy, come and fight Joe on Showtime"

"Hey Roy, come to Wales and fight Joe for his WBO, SMW belt"

It was cringeworthy, but enough to fool the Sun reading casuals into believing that they really wanted to fight Roy.

 

nobody on your islands could beat ward or kovalev.

 

Who are you directing this at?

Bernard was past prime in both fights, but obviously more so against Sergey. Also, he was in survival mode, and Sergey didn't put his foot on the gas pedal until the very last round.

 

and he did not rematch ried but found time to rematch that euro trash can mads larson lol

 

Hopkins and Calzaghe all but signed to fight in 2002/03 before Hopkins suddenly decided he wanted more money and priced himself out of the deal. Calzaghe wasnt the only victim of Hopkins pricing himself out of fight because a rematch with Jones failed to materialize during this time period, so too a fight against James Toney: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/3023766.stm

Hopkins, in his physical prime years, was no less happy being the dominant champion of a weak division than Calzaghe was during his, and the criticisms levelled against Calzaghe for avoidance of legitimate challenges for much his Super Middleweight career could equally be levelled against Hopkins during his Middleweight years.

 

Anecdotal, but I didn't get that impression at all in my brief encounter with him — that he was a true gentleman with a warm handshake in person weighs more heavily in my personal estimation than the, ahem, promotional opportunity he shared with Joe Calzaghe.


Naazim Richardson, on the other hand...

 

Eh, that is untrue. Conteh would school both @ 175lbs.

 

Mario Veit.

 

lol that's right who did he not fight mads larson

 

Don't get me wrong; I've always been a fan of Hopkins, and had the privilege of speaking with him when he was a radio show guest for @Rumsfeld - but the guy has a big chip on his shoulder (that he grits his teeth & smiles through when it serves him) ...I never bought the "I'll never lose to a white boy" comments as just him playing a racially inflammatory heel character to sell tickets. It had the smack of truth, and I think he was really upset to end up losing to Kovalev & Smith in the manner he did at the end of his career. I think part of him wishes he would've just capped things off with the losses to JT, controversial as they were.