like a 150 years of Boxing, from the Very Hardy Prizefighting Era of the late 1800s and the turn of the Century, moving into the late 1920s where Stylish Athletic & 1st Class Boxing Skill emerged - the 1980s/90s period of the British Fab 4. From Len Johnson to Benn, Watson and Eubank and in between, equates to Plenty of Great Fighters and Boxers over the course!
I disagree Toney moved up multiple weightclasses and was successful, did Calzaghe ever beat anyone as good as a prime Michael Nunn ? Or Mike McCallum who was still very good ? And if you're including RJJ for Calzaghe then I'll include Holyfield for Toney aswell, which I think is more impressive considering it was at Heavyweight and Toney was only the 2nd man to stop Holyfield. I prefer quality more than quantity.
I assess quality as well as quantity. As in, did Calzaghe ever lose to anyone of as low quality as Dave Tiberi or Drake Thadzi?
Calzaghe was more consistent and kept himself in better shape than Toney. I don't see what that has to do with level of talent though, I would say that falls under dedication more so than the talent argument. Toney had more talent than pretty much anyone at his best, yes there was some flat performances in there. But I would also argue Toney's highs were better than Calzaghe's highs. As I said did Calzaghe beat a prime fighter as good as Michael Nunn ? Especially in the manner in which Toney stopped Nunn.
He had a talent for dedication. A talent for work rate. A talent for imposing his type of fight on the opponent.
Yes but against mostly moderate or weak opposition, i would've rated Calzaghe higher had he achieved all that when Super Middleweight division had the Super Six Tournament, when the division was popular at that time. Not that I'm saying its all Calzaghe's fault although I do think he should've moved up to Light Heavyweight sooner, and travelled to America sooner to test himself more. But I think issue is with Calzaghe his era was in the middle and he missed out on two very good eras, he was too late for the likes Benn, Eubank, Watson, etc era. And he was too early for the Super Six Tournament with the likes of Froch, Ward, etc.
I dont think Ward does much of anything against Joe, Wards cheap fouls and inside spoiler tactics aint working here. Joes reach adv. , high workrate outpoints him from the outside. Joe the favorite here, his fight to lose
I grew up with Toney, had his Ring Mag centerfold on the wall of my bedroom. But I became less impressed when Toney did nothing for 2 minutes and 45 seconds of a round, performed a Walcott step back and threw a quick flurry and everyone hailed him as some fistic genius. (And if anyone scrolls back in the thread, I called a Toney/Calzaghe fight a pick'em.)
High workrate reduces defensive capabilities and creates counter opportunities. Many people believed Pacquaio was going to swarm Mayweather. What happened , Floyd massively reduced his punch output with intelligent footwork and counter punching. Ward would do the same. His feet were too good. His movement was too smart. Its a statistical fact based on the the back to back fight Calzaghe had with Roy and Hop. Against Roy , Joe threw a record high number of punches. Hopkins reduced that number even at the old age of 43. Ward was far better than that version of Hopkins and would take away Joe's biggest asset , his punches in bunches
This content is protected Someone voted by the members of this forum as ATG No.53 Boxer cannot be overrated. In a more recent poll, he might have entered the TOP 50 boxers of all time. Joe Calzaghe is not overrated
He beat every fighter he faced, retired 46-0, if anyone thinks that is a overrated World Champion then that is their view, however it is not a viewpoint i subscribe too.