Calzaghe WBO reign, "a decade of dross"

There were a few decent fights but yeah, broadly speaking it was terrible until Lacy.

From memory the weirdest thing was Calzaghe’s insistence that the WBO super middleweight title was something he needed to value above everything else, when in fact it was largely seen as some second rate trinket. He should have moved weight and gone after bigger fights, which is what nearly everyone around him did at the time.

 

I don’t think it was seen as second rate at all , most of his reign as champion he was ranked one or two in the division by the ring magazine and other reputable rankings.

 

when it was first on the scene yes early nineties . Calzaghe was seen as the top dog of the division for most of his reign.

 

Calzaghe became world champion in 1997. His Ring rankings:

97: 4
98: 2
99: 2
00: 2
01: 2
02: 1
03: 1
04: 1
05: 1
06: Champion

So whilst you're technically correct to say he was ranked one or two, it also took him nine years from becoming world champion to being considered Ring champion. That to me indicates his opponents just weren't good enough.

For example, going into 2005, the Ring top ten rankings were Joe Calzaghe, Sven Ottke, Anthony Mundine, Antwun Echols, Danny Green, Byron Mitchell, Markus Beyer, Charles Brewer, Mads Larsen, Robin Reid. Now Joe had fought Mitchell (eighteen months earlier), Brewer (nearly three years earlier) and Reid (nearly six years earlier.) So who did he fight? The Mario Veit rematch and Evans Ashira who had really been a career light middle.

Incredibly frustrating.

 

If you are going to pick apart someone's record, using fighters who were actually ranked in the same division as them would be a good start.

None of those fighters were in the top 10 at SMW during Calzaghe's reign.

 

It's inaccurate to suggest that the WBO title Calzaghe held had lesser status than other belts. The WBC champs during the era included Catley, Lucas, Thobela, and Hilton. The fighter makes the belt; not the other way round.

 

Super middle was seen as a weak division though. Between Eubank and Lacy, a period of nine years, Calzaghe refused to move division. Net result? Loads of fights, the best of which was probably a close win against Robin Reid.

 

Undeniably weak resume from a "world champ" who held the belt for 10 years odd.

Just read his book for a peek into his mindset. Very arrogant on camera, but a mental midget who needed his Dad to threaten to leave him if he didn't fight Lacey.

RJJ
Toney
Ward
Everybody else @ SMW

 

Yeah, he fought a lot of bums.
Kessler's his best win at 168.
& I don't think Ward's got a better win than that.
Calzaghe's win over Hopkins at 175 is good too, although it's a disputably decision in my opinion.

 

Ward has a great resume and barely lost rounds in fairness. Battered Kessler, battered Froch, battered Dawson. He also did well in the sense of what his opponents did. Froch and Dawson aren’t useless by a long stretch but Lacy was exposed. I know Calzaghe supporters say Joe broke him. I tend to just think he was badly overrated.

Calzaghe is ultimately incredibly frustrating because I think in his prime if the fights against the bigger names happened he would have won. But they just didn’t seem to happen.

 

This is such a weak argument that is used to try and belittle someone’s career that I also see discussed with MMA fighters.

GSP was criticised for not going up to middleweight to fight Anderson Silva, Jon Jones has been criticised for not going up to heavyweight to face Stipe Miocic.

There’s a reason the sports have weight divisions, and the onus always seems to be on the lighter fighter to go up in weight where they will have an immediate disadvantage.

There are some fighters who want to remain champion or in Calzaghe’s case remain unbeaten and fight in the weight division that suits their body best, and there are those who see themselves as prizefighters and want to earn the most money possible by jumping up and down weight divisions. Neither approach is wrong, it depends why you got in the sport.

I’m sure Joe is content counting his money and looking at his belts and the memories of all that he accomplished.

 

I’m not sure about the last bit. Not sure Joe comes across as being that happy.