Anyone and everyone. I liked him until AFTER the Lacy fight when he and his dad started mouthing off about everyone. FFS he even tried to pull out of the Lacy fight. He claimed for like 8 years that he wouldn't fly yet as soon as he thought Hopkins and Jones were well past it he can suddenly fly. He could have had good fights at one time against Hopkins, Jones, Ottke, Ronald Wright even Collins and more recently he's had Dawson and froch to hide from
If he beats Taylor he will certainly get my respect! but i dont care if he do it in america or england.. it have no influence on me!
[quote="TKO";3704324]Like it or not, it is not irrelevant. He is a world champion, Andrade isn't. [/quote] That is completely irrelevant in proving that Froch beat better opposition than Andrade. If your ranking is based on what each has proven in the ring, then the fact that Froch fought Pascal for a title is irrelevant, once you factor in Pascal's performance. If your ranking is based on what titles each fighter holds, then yeah, Froch is ranked higher than Andrade because he has a world title. I suppose you'll rank Froch top of the tree, since his green belt is prettier and "more prestigious" than Kessler's or Bute's or Balzsay's right? You complain about "silly italics and underlinings" and then you commit a crime against common sense like that...:-(...disappointing...
So you've just named two middleweights (one of whom he DID actually fight later when he had moved up), one light heavyweight and a guy who retired when he was set to make a mandatory against Calzaghe. You can do this for any fighter, list a few good boxers in and around their weight class who they never fought. I'm afraid that is not enough to accuse that fighter of "hiding" from them. To accuse a fighter of hiding, he needs to have been unwilling to make the fight in the light of serious interest from the other side. You can argue about his own willingness to chase the fights, but there was never any serious interest shown by either Jones or Ottke. By naming Dawson, you are showing a complete lack of knowledge. I don't know if you;re aware, but Calzaghe has retired, which means he can't fight him. And Froch, do me a favour? Calzaghe has beaten at least half a dozen fighers better than him. Froch running his mouth off trying to goad Calzaghe into giving him a fight and a payday solely because he is British (ala Junior Witter) does not equate to Calzaghe hiding from him. Incidentally, he didn't try to pull out of the Lacy fight, he did pull out with a broken hand, but rescheduled it.
My point still stands. If we're discussing crimes against common sense then referring to "proving that Froch beat better opposition than Andrade" is a pretty big one as well. Logic would dictate that you can't prove it. It is completely subjective. Which is why holding a belt has to be a factor, as it is the only objective measure of success in the sport (money aside). I didn't say it was a big factor (it's not) and obviously there is still some subjectivity in determining which belts mean how much, but the WBC is generally regarded as one of, if not the, most prestigious. Anyway, nothing personal just something to consider :good
No he didn't he tried to pull out of the Lacy fight! And Froch hasn't been running his mouth off about Calzaghe for quite sometime. And I show a lack of knowledge for thinking he should have fought Dawson ? What are you on about... He retired because of that, and the fact there wasn't any more old men to face apart from one who'd already beat him and he wasn't willing to try his luck again there. He's not a bad fighter but the likes of Jones and Hopkins will always be remembered higher than him. In this country Eubank and Benn will be remembered long after him and in his own country Jimmy Wilde and Freddie Welsh will always have been better. End of. leave Calzaghe out of this forum now it isn't about him no more, like you said he's retired now so lets chat about Froch as thats the point of the thread
Taylor is NOT the toughest challenge in his division. Bute would be tougher and Kessler tougher still ! Calzaghe did agree to go to the US when he was a couple of years younger than Froch is now. And he agreed to fight Bernard Hopkins in his own backyard. Not his fault that Hop got greedy and backed out.
I respect the fact that Froch is serious about fighting the best. He has an entertaining style and I've enjoyed his fights. I wanna see if he can beat some of the top fighters with his style and then I'd take him seriously.
Froch has always run his mouth off about Calzaghe, including immediately after his title win over Pascal. http://www.boxingnews24.com/2008/12/froch-calzaghe-haye-klitschko-toney-and-more-latest-boxing-news/ The point is, Calzaghe has beaten at least half a dozen better fighters than him and until very recently, he's done nothing to deserve a shot at someone like JC. So to accuse a modern great of hiding from him is nuts. I will state again, Calzaghe DID pull out of the Lacy fight, due to a hand injury. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-410278/Calzaghe-I-I-want-achieve.html It was rescheduled and Calzaghe fought despite another hand injury and beat the **** out of him. No, you show a lack of knowledge by claiming he hid from Dawson. The time when Dawson became a real big name in the sport (after his win over Tarver) coincided wih Calzaghe's retirement. He can't fight a guy if he's retired. And he did so because he simply didn't want to fight anymore. It is possible. To try and claim it had anything to do with Dawson is silly, speculative and hating. The old men comment is silly, he's 36 himself and has beaten a large number of 20-somethings. Fair enough, though with Eubank and Benn (who I was also a massive fan of) that will be because of their mainstream popularity and their head-to-head rivalry as much as their own achievements.
"4 weeks before the Lacy fight I was thinking i'd have to pull out due to my hand, then my dad put everything into perspective". Plain and simple, he didn't pull out/ OR postpone it - And thats proven in your article. Dawson beat Tarver in October FACT - Calzaghe Retired last month FACT. Thats not coinciding thats 4 months for Calzaghe to think about it then bottle it.
He should be respected, any other fighter would be, of course Americans (generalising) won't like him and Calzaghe fans (theres a few of them) won't like him, but to take this fight so early on is really great, can't wait for the fight!And obviously Calzaghe has fought better fighters than Froch, he has been around longer, fought more people and been champ for 15 yrs, but still maybe with the exception on Kessler, has not fought anyone (and beat properly, Hopkins is debatable) than Taylor and Froch is doing in his 2nd fight.
Calzaghe added: "Four weeks before the Lacy fight I was thinking I would have to pull out with another injured hand and my dad told me, 'if you pull out again you will have to retire'. As per the above, Calzaghe DID pull out of the fight and then rescheduled it. In the rescheduled fight he beat the granny out of Lacy. Rre: the Dawson stuff. You know as well as I do that whenever a fighter retires on top there is always somebody who is the "next big thing" who they will be accused of avoiding. Had he retired three years earlier, it would have been Lacy, two years earlier it would have been Kessler. Six months earlier it would have been Pavlik. Had he continued and beaten Dason, it would have been Bute, Froch, Diaconu, Tavoris Cloud or whoever the latest unbeaten flavour of the month was. Calzaghe had said since the Hopkins fight that Jones would be his last bout. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ot...oe-Calzaghe-looks-set-face-Roy-Jones-Jnr.html He was half tempted to hang around for one more, thought about it and decided to continue with his retirement. Which was the right thing to do. You cannot begrudge the guy his retirement, he's 36, a lot older than most fighters retire, and his heart isn't in it anymore. The guy's kids were urging him to quit for christ's sake. http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/spo...s-to-see-Welsh-legend-end-up-punch-drunk.html To his credit, Dawson, whom is a class act, realised himself that Calzaghe had good reasons to want to retire and wished him a happy one. http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0209/594619.html If he can realise that, surely you can? Back to my original point, yes I am a fan of Calzaghe, yes I recognise that he could have done more to force one or two fights which would have improved his resume siignificantly (and there are only one or two which he should have done more to force and which would have significantly improved his resume- peak Jones and maybe Ottke). However, I feel accusing him of "hiding" is unjustified. Anyway, cheers for the discussion but you're right, should get back to Froch. Peace :good
I disagree whole heartedly. He's got power, is all action and talks a lot of ****. He can transcend borders.