Calzaghe...munching on a bowl of sour grapes

You don't like their selection criteria?

 

they will once he has cleaned up super middle.
then he will move up to light heavy and ko another over hyped savior of american boxing.

 

you reap what you sew so its his own fault that he's not respected for taking the easy route.

he still has some fight in him and theres more work out there for him to continue building his legacy. but he'd rather quit now so hey...

 

It's quite funny how you get any number of posts on ESB any day saying 'there are too many belts, it would be better if there were one champion in each division' and 'boxing is in trouble, not enough people watching'.

But as soon as Joe Calzaghe says the same thing in piles everyone to disagree...

 

The Ring is a magazine. He's their champion. Ergo, he is a magazine champ.

 

I don't think anyone would disagree with the sentiment if it were Lewis or Jones or whoever saying it, but Calslappy is in a glass house here holding a handful of housebricks. It's pathetic the way he clung to that WBO strap and claiming he was the real champion whilst doing nothing to prove it - and now he's criticising the system that allowed him to spout such ****

Shame he only said 'too many belts, too many champions', if he'd added 'too many weights' into that then everyone could have really gone to town on him.

 

People are just pointing out the irony of the statement. According to Calzaghe, he wasn't a real champ until his mid 30's.

 

Yes. Not sure what the point is, but you're absolutely correct.

 

Right. And he thinks that boxing would be a lot better off if there was one champion per division and a system for ensuring that that champion faced the most deserving contenders. That's not remotely ironic.

 

Tell us? What are you a team of fools?

Here .. from a different thread.


Re: Tommy Hearns Vs. Joe Calzaghe... Quote:
Originally Posted by sthomas

This content is protected

Calzaghe is ridiculously underrated by the detractors here. He would tear Hearns to ribbons with his work rate and stop him late.


Calz. chin is proven against Eubanks, Lacy (he can't punch ****), Kessler, Hopkins, and Jones.


Alternative version of what may have been proven

Eubanks

Joe has a decent beard. Not amazing. Not extraordinary. At 25, younger and fresher, he won the WBO title against Eubanks. I think it should have went the other way. A draw would even have been palatable. Eubanks landed the clean and effective punches and by far the majority of the power shots. Joe was active and got off to a great beginning and overall showed he deserved to be in the ring. Joe took a lot of hard punches and showed a good beard. On the negative side, Joe showed us that an elite level fighter could likely hit him all day long with lead right hands (see Hopkins, Bernard, 43 years 3 months & Jones, Roy, 39 years 10 months, video footage round 1 for further indications this malady persists even to this day). Joe took a lot of clean power shots to his pie hole just not enough in combination. The younger man pushed the pace. Yet, he was the last man momentarily stunned / hurt and holding in the last seconds of the 12th. Eubanks was exhausted half way through so speculation of a fifteen round fight might not provide any clarity either. But, Calzaghe had never even gone 12 until this fight so who's to say that Eubanks wouldn't have caught Joe in the 13th in their back and forth coming off the 12th as (younger) Joe had to be wearying as well.

After a credible performance, though he did not deserve the title nor the points win over the non-peak Eubanks, he fought on over eight years against a near dozen and a half fighters who, depending upon your inclination, are either the most credible opponents to be found at SMW during those years or perhaps more accurately a minutely better than pedestrian list of B-level fighters of near zero boxing importance. Even so, Joe managed to get dropped by the superbly talented Mitchell and Salem as well.

What was proven against Eubanks is that Calzaghe is easy to hit by elite fighters (even past-peak ones). Eubanks, while an elite fighter, will never be confused with having James Toney skills. Any line that includes Chris Eubanks has James Toney (& Roy Jones & Bernard Hopkins) standing many paces forward at the front of the line. At every weight.

Joe proved he could easily walk into shots but was only hurt/stunned in the 12th. He made it through Eubanks and the pre-engraved title had been delivered to his house a mere week before the fight.

Going through the collection of stiffs (top competition to the genuflecting) he faced after that has been done infinitum. He never met an elite fighter over the next eleven years (and never a single elite fighter at their peak in his career) unless he showed up at someone else's fight.

So, Joe never got to have his chin checked (for any Eubank microfractures) and rechecked to allow for it to be proven anything.

Eight and a half years later ..

Then came Lacy

Did the Lacy/Calzaghe fight tell us much about Joe's chin? Or, did it tell us a lot about Jeff's boxing skill? [It did tell us that Joe (like Hopkins vis-a-vis Taylor) couldn't bask in the glow of a winning streak as champ without finally succumbing to the necessity of fighting the most logical opponent (Jeff Lacy) no matter how close each was to the end of their respective careers.] Jeff is/was a powerful guy who knocked out a bunch of guys (seventeen), a group not dissimilar from Joe's post-Eubanks list of B-level fighters of near zero boxing importance. Jeff sure didn't KO Joe, so Joe must have a great chin. Of course, Sheika went the distance too. So would other famous guys like Tsypko, Manfredo, and Epifanio Mendoza. JT most recently. Just how many clean punches (or otherwise) did Jeff Lacy land to demonstrate Joe Calzaghe has an extraordinary chin? Wasn't that performance more apply described as "hit before you can be hit"? Joe's "greatest" win was the ultimate boxing career etching in stone of his "I will slap this man a thousand times until his nose bleeds and he has a headache" offensive prowess.

Kessler?

Sure, Joe's chin was reaffirmed as decent. Joe has a decent chin. Joe took several good shots from Kessler and kept on ticking. Kessler has a bunch of KOs (thirty-one) so Joe must have a great chin. Except MK's KO list is an even worse collection of fighters overall than Joe's post-Eubanks list of fighters of near zero boxing importance. Didn't come close to KOing Mundine as well.


Hopkins

The forty-three year old is one of the greatest old boxers in a long time. Anyone think that because Joe got a points win over Bernard in 2008 that this demonstrates an extraordinary chin? Hop hasn't been finding KOs all that easy to obtain in the 21st century. But he did provide substantiation that while the 43 year old couldn't land right hands at will (and not as easily as the 31 year old Eubanks did in '97 to Calzaghe) he would have schooled Joe prime-for-prime like the only the only foreign kid playing pick up hockey at a Canadian ice rink. Hopkins is no Eubanks. A prime Hopkins does everything better than Eubanks. Winning an ugly split-decision points win over the 43 year old didn't prove anything about Joe's chin versus an elite fighter in their prime.

Jones

Someone still can't see the right hand. Someone is real lucky they never got to fight an elite fighter in their prime. Guess who?


Hearns

6'1" 78 inch reach. Fought the best of his generation in their prime. Fought fifteen rounders in his career. An elite. A tremendous puncher. Nah, what could he have for Joe?

If you're an elite in your prime you don't need to worry about getting worn down late in the fight by Joe Calzaghe. You stop him because he isn't enough of an elite athlete to get out of the way of right hands.


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As for a score .. I had it like 6-5-1 Eubanks and I'd accept anything from 8-4, 7-4-1, or 5-5-2.

Joe won the 1st (10-8)), and something like the 2nd and 4th. Maybe another one or two after that at the most.

Got that? Points would take a bit more consideration .. it was eleven years ago.

 

**** off *****. He didn't win that fight. Quit letting other Brits tell you who won fights.

 

Overhyped savior?

Chad Dawson is a proven top 3 lt heavy. Are you having a hard time with that?

Poor baby!

I wonder what you'd say if Dawson beats Kessler.........

 

Crespo is gonna turn out to be a waste of time.

Lets just move on.

 

Yes it is. Calzaghe's career was mostly built off the current system that allows people to grab paper titles and defend against average talent. That's how Calzaghe built up his record and his name. Under the system that he proposes, he probably would be in a worse position than he is now. That is in fact ironic. I'm glad he didn't mention that there are too many weight classes. The oversaturation of weight classes is another flaw of boxing that has benefited Calzaghe.

 

Agreed .. got plans in an hour anyway.