Ottke would never have happened, he wasn't going down in weight to fight B-Hop, RJJ would have not been interested, Joe wasn't 'box office'. DM, possibly.
He was a Frank Warren boxer all his career barring his very last fight. That should tell you all you need to know.
He could have made him self mandatory for Otkke's title by being a WBC ranked fighter. He could have gone to the USA earlier to build up some hype for a RJJ or BHOP fight and I am sure DM would have fought him at 175 at any stage.
he hits hard enough that a questionable chin like roy could go on a 36 minute lunch break during there match and still not get knocked off his feet. really he had 36 minutes to pound on the punching bag that was roy jones jr and was never even close to getting him outta there, now thats bad.
Where there is a will there is a way. It is easy to assert facts and make excuses. If JC wanted the big fights he could have sacrificed something perhaps taking 70:30 of the purse or going to Germany/ America. That is what hungry fighter do. That is what Haye did when He went to Paris to become lineeal, WBC, WBA and Ring magazine CW champ in his 21st fight.
Well if that's your argument, I blame Ottke. He should have been wanting a fight with Calzaghe, and should have went out of his way to make it happen just as much as you think Joe should have.
In his younger days, he had decent power. He was never a powerful puncher exactly, but had decent pop. Not featherfisted by any stretch of the imagination. Last few years? Cheerleader pom-pom punches. I dunno whether that's because his hands are damaged or whether he has just lost a bit of his power with age, but I was wide-eyed with disbelief at the amount of clean shots he landed to Roy Jones's head in that fight, and never even had Jones on the brink of a KD, never mind a KO. We saw what Tarver and Johnson done to him with single shots. Same with Jeff Lacy. So so so many clean shots, and no stoppage. Clear-cut evidence of a lack of firepower.
RJJ. Calzaghe was almost unheard of when he defeated Eubank in Oct 1997 in his very first big fight. RJJ had already finished with the 168 lb division more than two years earlier and had fought three fights against big names at 175 (Griffin x 2, McCallum) and was facing Hill the following Spring. He would have had no inclination to face the largely unknown Calzaghe. As for Calzaghe, he had just won his title at 168 and wanted to defend it rather than move up to take on the best fighter in the world at a higher weight division. The fight only looks possible from the hindsight of someone unfamiliar with what was happening at the time. Did Hagler get pissed on for NEVER moving up ? Did Monzon ? Did Hopkins move up and face Roy, when he had even more incentive than Calzaghe, having lost to Roy at middlewt ? DM ? Again, DM was fighting at 175. Calzaghe was fighting at 168. He fought whoever was there, just like Bernard fought whoever was available at 160, regardless of the sometimes poor quality of the opposition. Both men chased records for title defences and didn't move up until they had reached those records. BHOP ? Bernard is a big name now, but prior to his victory over Tito in 2001, he was not nearly as highly regarded. He was self-managed and was a better boxer than a businessman. After Tito, Calzaghe did enter into negotiations to fight Bernard. A verbal agreement was in place for a fight in the US, but Bernard suddenly asked for double what had been agreed upon. The deal fell apart. Heres what the vice-president of Showtime said about it: This content is protected So Joe didnt duck Bernard. Bernard pulled the plug on Joe. (IMO, not because he was scared of Joe. He was just too greedy). Ottke ? The only 168 lber on your list. He never left Germany, and after Robin Reid's treatment by the German officials, where the referee should have at least half the credit fot Ottke's win, Joe would have been pretty crazy to go to him. I frequently see the charge leveled that Joe should have faced better competition. (James Toney, who could never have fought Calzaghe for similar reasons, is frequently mentioned). But he faced who was available and in his division. And while that resulted in a less than spectacular set of opponents, he did beat them all. Including Eubank, Reid, Mitchell, Lacy, Kessler and Hopkins.