In reality Joe was further removed from his prime than B-Hop was when they fought. It isn't just age you have to consider when discussing prime.
Calzaghe was a very good fighter, but a tad overrated because of his undefeated record The Kessler and Hopkins wins were superb Also it's easy to not rate the Lacy win in hindsight, but Joe was the underdog and he beat the sh1t out of him! JC had a lot of padding to his record and stayedat home too much, but the end of his career was very good! I don't rate him as the best SMW ever He would lose to Jones (peak) and Ward, likely Toney as well. Very good fighter
UD's Ward every day of the week, no chance Ward keeps up with him and he cant turn it around with one shot as Joe's chin was great and he don't carry one punch power anyway..Chin, work rate, speed, adaptability, gritty mother****er when needed, its quite clear h2h Joes the best to lace them up at 168 ever !
would make an easy trivia question - which boxers fans claim a win over a 43 year old was great? There is only one answer out of all the boxers in history! noone else would have fans gormless enough to claim that. Chad Dawson would die of cringe if his fans claimed that for him.. I tihnk now I see why - the fans HAVE to keep claiming it in an attempt to drown out the derision the claim attracts.
He was a good fighter with a very tricky skill set. Factors for calzaghe Great 12 round stamina Great punch variety Great volume Good speed Good chin Had that "2nd gear" when needed. Not elite atg imo but a very solid world champion level fighter.
The truly funny thing about this comment is you are actually Joe's biggest fan. Most people's fanaticism on here slants in a positive direction towards a certain fighter but your fanaticism is negative in nature. But we both know why this is the case... https://puu.sh/EtCqX/5172bcf645.png
Calzaghe was a class act. Cashed out in the last few fights aswel with some big scalps. (Eubank, Kessler were also big wins earlier on) Also left the sport with his health intact. Handsome bast**d too, what more does the man need to do
Joe won because he had superior workrate and stamina - attributes associated to a fighter in their prime. Hop lost because he was old and couldn't keep up. Calzaghe was obviously and clearly a lot closer to his prime than Hop was. Absurd to try and claim otherwise. Calzaghe even said back then that he felt better and stronger after the move up to light heavy. At 168 he was starving himself for years.
B-Hop never, ever had a high workrate, to expect him to match Calzaghe for volume at any point in his career is absurd, that was never his style. Calzaghe was the one who's body was failing, he could barely spar towards the end of his career whereas Hopkins went on to not only beat, but dominate younger men like Pavlik & Pascal. Hopkins was older, Calzaghe was more shopworn and damaged.
lol. Hopkins was extremely dynamic and explosive in his mid 30's. He fought with full body movement and threw the kitchen like at the likes of Glen Johnson. He was a flat footed pot shotter and shadow of himself when he fought Calzaghe. Calzaghe looked like Calzaghe. Just one fight later , he threw record high number of punches against Jones Jr. He was a new man after the making the move to 175. Fit as a fiddle and still in his prime. Hand injuries aren't related to prime. He had hand issues throughout his career.
Not elite, lol ? Have you seen what he did to Eubank ? Never witnessed anyone else do that to him. Not even Thompson who fought him twice afterwards, 2 weight classes above. Expecting HerolGee to tell us Eubank was shot by then in 3-2-1-...
whats it to do with shot, he was winless for years, and two divisions away why was he given a title shot in the first place? more like knowing you'd miss the obvious then that you;ve never seen a winless fighter 2 divisions out having a title shot gifted to him so joe could have a title on a plate.
Eubank went two divisions up after losing to Joe and almost stopped Thompson in both fights. Ask Thompson if he thought Eubank was shot the 2 times he fought him.