Lacy, Kessler, Hopkins He cherrypicked a bit for sure, but he was good. Frustrates a lot of people that he was never beaten.
Have you forgotten that in between the Reid and Hopkins fight that he fought Woodhall, Sheika, Starie, Brewer, Bika, Veit twice, Lacy, Mitchell, Kessler, won WBO WBC WBA IBF Ring titles and that he had Collins, Tate, Salmaci, Echols did not fight him (so Sobot, Pudwill and McIntyre were subs and Thornberry was supposed to be a showcase to build the fight with Collins who was due to have been fighting to promote the fight). You mention him fighting Hopkins but fail to say it was Hopkins who decided against fighting Calzaghe previously. When you say Ottke leftovers - they had 6 common opponents in title fights and each fought 3 before the other. You say Hopkins was faded but not so faded to become a LHW champ years after Calzaghe beat him
No, just pointing out another one of his ducks. If Chad Dawson was in his 40s and on the downslide, Slappy Joe lackasacky would have definitely fought him. Same way he fought old Hopkins and old Jones jr.
He fought Woodhall after he lost to Beyer, why not before and unify? But Woodhall was decent. Sheika had already been exposed by Tony Booth, not a win that adds to his resume at all. Starie like Woodhall was decent, he showed he was world class vs Ottke. Solid win like Woodhall but nothing more than that. Brewer, again why fight him after he lost to Ottke which I alluded to in my original post. Brewer had also been KO'd by Echols the year before. Not a stand out win but again decent as he was a former champion, but why did they allow Ottke to fight him first? This is why some mistakenly at the time rated Ottke over Calzaghe. Ottke was making the more significant fights when they mattered, while Calzaghe picked over his victims like a scavenger. Bika at the time was a nobody, but with hindsight Bika was actually far better than his record suggested when he fought Calzaghe. I'll admit this is an underrated win for Calzaghe. Derided at the time but now a decent win. Veit again nothing special, though Calzaghe first victory was impressive, blasting him out like that. Mitchell like Brewer, Ottke's leftovers. Ottke again the one making the fights when they mattered and unifying the WBA and IBF belts while Calzaghe was a step behind. Lacy and Kessler fights again happened to late in his career, if he had been making these type of fights sooner I would of remained a fan and so would of probably been more popular. He waited too long to step up, he fought solid guys but lacked the big wins to make him stand out. Now it wasn't always his fault, Ottke ducked him, Hopkins clearly didn't want the fight around 2002 as Hopkins probably saw him as too much risk for too little reward, not just financially but legacy wise. As for the leftovers comments while you maybe right but the ones the mattered, meaning those guys with titles in Brewer and Mitchell, Calzaghe fought after Ottke. If Calzaghe had unified with Brewer in 98 and Mitchell in 03 instead of allowing Ottke to get those fights first, he would be looked in a far more favourable light back then, being a unified champion. Hopkins was faded, still good and still a good win for Calzaghe, in fact I think it's his single best victory. Hopkins may have been old but he was still world class and probably would of beaten everyone on Calzaghe's resume at that point. But not everyone sees it that way and sees it as Calzaghe as picking on an older faded opponent, which obviously is ludicrous because he tried to make the Hopkins fight when Hopkins was close to prime in 2002.
Oh come in here and reading about is legend laid a foundation for hate in my case.Who was that dominant force from across the pond the rest of the planet apparently feared I wondered. Inspiring the loving of Brits like no one had done since queen Guinevere! Seing him slap did the rest.
Because he was a chronic illegal slapper who barely threw and landed punches with the legal part of his gloves / fist (the knuckles)? Because he struck and fought like a little sissy, instead of like a man with true / real honor? I don't respect fighters who chronically strike with their palms in a boxing ring under boxing rules on a regular basis when the rule is to strike with the knuckle part of the fist. And the fact that he could barely even crack an egg to save his life, make things even worse for this little sissy. Any man, who is not even ashamed to be slapping like a feminine little girl in an actual combat sport and is not ashamed to regularly punch whilst significantly reducing his power on purpose, is in my book, a coward, not worthy of being called a real fighter. In fact, such a person does not even deserve respect at a personal level. Such a person is beyond pathetic and their existence altogether is wrong for society, when it comes to setting a good example on hand to hand combat.
