Which was a better masterclass. Calzaghe vs Lacy or Toney vs Barkley

Calzaghe vs Lacy was quite a schooling. But, Toney gave Barkley a BEATING.

 

Toney beating Barkley was not only a complete schooling but it was a nasty beat down. Plus I would consider Barkley a better fighter than Lacy.

 

This.

 

Yep that's the difference.

 

Toney Honestly I do not think Lacey can be compared to Barkley in terms of greatness.

 

Toney definitely for me

 

Barkley was on the edge of being shot at that point so it was something of a heavy bag session for James.

Lacy was the massively hyped up-and-comer and Calzaghe just ruined him mentally and physically.

I'll take Joe's performance.

 

People forget this, but Lacy was the favorite at the time, and he was viewed as a head to head monster.

 

Yes, but he turned out to be all hype, no substance. Don't think he had any significant wins after Calzaghe. And, quite frankly, he didn't have any before Calzaghe either.

 

That's because Calzaghe was defending the lowly regarded WBO belt in Wales for years and he wasn't that well known globally.

So casual fans probably didn't know how good Calzaghe actually was.

Lacy was American he had the look physically and got overhyped because of it.

In reality Lacy was going life and death with the likes of Omar Sheika over 12 rounds prior to the Calzaghe fight. Which should've been a bit a red flag that Lacy's H2H capabilities didn't warrant the hype.

 

The trouble is most had not seen Joe's fights like you said. Not many were digging into their wallet and sending away for his fights. And as for Barkley---he had a lot of tough bouts on those early espn bouts. He could not go 3 fights without a real tough fight with his defensive abilities.

Come to think of it--Iran and "left hook Lacy" would have been an entertaining bout itself.

 

I agree 100%. Lacy was definitely the favorite going into the fight with Calzaghe while everyone thought Toney was going to beat the breaks off of Barkley and he did.

 

James Toney for sure. A bit unrelated but I also love how in later interviews Toney said his win was revenge for Tommy Hearns, his idol.

 

On paper Barkley is the better win resume wise cos he beat Hearns .. but performance wise & in terms of SMW history I'd still say Calzaghe.. because Iran suffered a detached retina not long before this fight (Nunn fight) & was fluctuating up & down in weight a lot too so wasn't in the best condition.. in 90 he was a MW, 92 a LHW & in 93 against Toney was at SMW.. then went back to LHW.

I'd also add Barkley's stint at 168 was pretty unremarkable.. no disrespect but he beat Darrin Van Horn & that's about it.. somehow Barkley managed to have Hearns' number but the rest of his career was pretty unremarkable.. but in terms of SMW i don't value Barkley as a standout win for anyone. Yes we all know the Lacy story & that he never did anything after Calzaghe but he was still a young 21-0 rival 168lb champion who literally had the prime beat out of him.