do you rate joe calzaghe alongside the greats?

If he was black and American then yes.

Because he is Welsh and White then no...

 

In terms of being an action packed fighter I`d say he rates alongside the likes of Pryor, but people like Duran who came forward and used high volume punching were better than Calzaghe, someone like Chavez who came forwards buut was hard to hit like Joe except P4P was a more destructive fighter, I`d say Joe sits in amounst those fighters somewherre but hisd opposition doesn`t stand up to the likes of Ray Leonard Pernell Whitaker or Alexis Arguello so there will always be a question mark about just how good Calzaghe was, he was certainly more tactical minded than most other fighters during the 90`s where fighters mostly just relied on athleticism, the following decade boxing started evolving much more, fighters like Floyd and Manny reached their primes and would have destroyed fighters during the 90`s.

 

I really liked Joe..used to watch all his fights back in the day. Met him a while back and he was rude p rick. So dissapointed!

 

thats not really true is it? its the opposite, they get adulated, but not all of them, whereas being the opposite means you are treated as a collective...just like you did just then!

I am not sure why people try to pretend its the other way, based on joe winning 4 or 5 recognised title fights. Lots of Brits made 4 title defences, plenty made more, and almost all of them won a recognised title much earlier than joe and we never call those 100 or so boxers "greats"...if we did alter rules for all brits not just joe, then almost every Brit would be a great.

Def world class though, no question, I dont think him fleeing the division once he got real titles, or his domestic abuse, should be counted against his ability in holding major titles briefly.

At the same time, we shouldnt forget guys like Honeyghan and Barry Mcguigan did more in one 40 minute fight than joe did in 11 years, and they were lesser HoF or not even that.

 

i watched all joes fights that were televised and was even in cardiff for his pro debut
he was matched appalingly by warren and in some real stinkers

he was in hindsight perhaps britains best boxer or should i say the boxer that opponents would find hardest to beat.

he should have been matched hard v better known fighters instead warren played it cheap and payed cheap for his opposition and so got low rate contenders.

as a fighter he spoiled the spoliers
outbrawled the brawlers
outboxed the boxers
punched with the punchers

he was a complete hybrid fighter with many different styles/none of them complete but the fact that he could fight all these different styles and had fast hands and an energiser bunny for an engine and could fight 12 rounds at full throttle meant he was very hard to beat.

stylewise he was ugly in 80% of fights but when he wanted to like in kessler fight he could show just what a technician he was

usyk is basically a bigger straighter punching version of joe at cruiser

it is a very hard style to adapt to as your opponent is just in your face non stop but at the same time are not face first fighters shooting out non stop keeping
you off balance and having to try and keep pace with them.

if only he faced 10 different opponents with better pedigree rather that the will mcintyres then he would be regarded much better but the truth is his resume is weak overall to rank him alongside chavez /duran catergory ATG fighters

h2h though joe was a beast.

 

Not a pretty fighter to watch but monstrously effective.

Horribly underrated by US fans for his workmanlike style and lack of one-punch KO power. His (albeit narrow) victory over Hopkins looks a hell of a lot better years later than it did at the time.

In my opinion he's not in the ATG Jones Jr type level in terms of talent, but he beats 99.99% of contenders in history at 168 - including many ostensibly "better" than him.

And I think he beats Froch comfortably, maybe getting rocked once or twice but taking the fight somewhere in the 120-108 - 118-10 range

 

Easily amonsgt the top 5 SMW of all time, so yes.

 

mark ant,

You never cease to amaze me.

 

No. When another guy is doing the same record of title defenses the same time you are, both are hurt. As much as I liked Joe, I feel he just didn't do enough or have the number of big wins.

 

No

 

This.

 

Or if he were a Eastern Europen, he would be consisered next level greatness..... just ask Loma.

 

He could be mentioned with some of great coke fiends in boxing history.

Maybe not Tapia, Lockridge or DeJesus level..but possibly Michael Dokes or Sweet Pea tier.

I'm interested to see how far guys like Fury and David Benavidez will go in this facet of the game.

Actually have we already got an all-time cokehead rankings?? And if not could we get one cooking.

 

Yes, he was a great fighter and yes I often enjoyed his fights. His speed and general athleticism were otherworldly, but what made him special more than anything else was his huge will to win and ability to adapt to opponents and amp up the volume to a point where they could no longer hang with them. He's the only SMW of recent years whom I'd strongly favour to beat Andre Ward, and I can't say that about anyone else at that weight class without reaching into the depths of the past. Maybe not even then.

Here's (IMO) one of Calzaghe's most exciting fights. Was just watching this the other day in fact.

This content is protected