They were strange knockdowns, the Hopkins one didn't seem a hard punch and Joe's legs looked old and weak the way he just sat on the seat of his pants (though completely clear-eyed), the Jones one was actually the WRIST that landed in a scuffing manner The Byron Mitchell knockdown was a much harder, faster punch in which Joe flopped down like a sack of spuds and was clearly shaken with eyes looking out of it for a second or so
Reid was in his pomp when he fought Calzaghe and was past his sell by date by the time Froch got to him, so not surprising he considers Froch the better of the two because he was finished / couldn't perform like he used when he was in with Froch compared to when he could actually pull the trigger against Joe
Kessler said. “I was feeling very good, (but) I had a hand injury three weeks before the fight in sparring. The problem was they didn’t know what was wrong. I had it X-rayed and nothing showed up
Also, Calzaghe had a genuinely fractured hand that night on Reid's head in the third or fourth that showed on xray after, and could only hit the floor-to-ceiling ball in training because it was sore going in
I think Calzaghe was going through a very difficult break up at the time too, lots of things were going against him going into that fight but Enzo got him in there and he just about got the job done.
There was that period where he hadn't sparred for a few years (!!) and went to Luton to spar Mon-Fri and came back with that great performance against Sheika (who was predicted to beat him) Then there were five years of pulling out of as many fights as he fought, with Johnny Nelson stepping in to save promotions many many times Just imagine if Enzo hadn't forced him not to pull out of the Lacy fight, he'd be seen as the biggest joke in boxing history, I feel Lacy's team wouldn't of bothered with him again and Joe would've carried on going on the lash in Cardiff hitting bouncers
Always thought the Mitchell fight was Calzaghe's version of Froch Groves I. You're right that he was really buzzed when he went down, and the ref stopped it, (whilst I still think Calzahe would have won) with Joe not really landing anything at the time of the stoppage.
But didn't Byron say 'I've never been hit so hard so often.' I don't think Pascal was as good as Mitchell. And neither were as good as a Tony Thornton or Lindell Holmes, looking how they performed against the elite (Frank Tate and James Toney respectively - Tate was only behind Tyson and Chavez in KO mag's lb4lb list before Nunn beat him), when Eubank Sr was doing the business.
Eubanks plan always was to try to unify against the very best American-based lb4lbers 31:10-32:20 This content is protected 3:50-4:30 (ITV pre-fight L.Holmes) This content is protected
See your point on all of this but don't totally agree. Bika wasn't considered a threat to Calzaghe coming off the Lacy win, but he was a solid world class fighter who went on to hold a belt. He gave Calzaghe a better fight than Lacy did. If he had been part of a run involving Salem, Veit, Mkrtchyan and Ashira then a win over him wouldn't hold much water. But as a filler in a run including Lacy, Kessler and Hopkins (I forgot about Manfredo, probably because that win is forgettable) then he's a credible victory IMO. Bit harsh on Froch I think. If memory serves me correctly, Taylor didn't want to accept the purse bid or fight in England. Froch took the short end of the stick to fight him in the states and it was his dramatic win in that fight that generated the interest for him to complete in the super 6. After his loss to Ward, he didn't take a tune up against a journeyman, but got straight back in against Bute, the consensus #2 in the division who was favoured to beat him. Some think Bute was always overrated but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I hear what you're saying about boxing in the UK not having the profile or hype it does now (though the likes of Hamed, Lewis, Benn, Eubank etc... did okay out of it).. I just think for too long in his reign, Calzaghe was content to plod along, without really chasing greatness. Nine years without a unification is not a great record and it is very disappointing that with two fighters like him and Ottke reigning for so long at the same time they never got it on. He could also have looked at light heavy earlier and possibly looked to hook up with a U.S. promoter. But better late than never.
I think from 1998 to 2005, boxing was a bit ****ing dead with the exception of a couple of Naz's ring entrances and the Lewis-Tyson event. Roy Jones was pulling awful numbers on non-PPV HBO, a fraction of what Naz and Lennox were. Ricky Hatton beating Tszyu was the turning point. Bika we didn't know would go on to be a decent dangerous fighter. Calzaghe could've won every round against Ottke in Germany and got a draw. American promoters and HBO weren't interested in him until he beat Lacy. They thought he was some joke.
Well possibly my man. It just boils down to at what point do you think '**** it I need to start taking some big risks here'. Like I said, better late than never.
But his promoter was the fish-eyed mutineer himself, he advertised Hatton-Calzaghe double bills to sell tickets to both Welsh and Mancs, only the one in Newcastle actually came off though because of Joe pulling out of so many, and if there were 500 tickets remaining then Nelson could sell 450 of those to the Sheffield lot for stepping in to replace Joe on the bill
Yes, their circumstances were a lot different. Carl was very fortunate that he had the S6 and that the division contained good fighters. Joe didn’t have that. But that’s why he should have moved up to LHW much earlier.