Who had the more impressive wins Calzaghe or Hatton?

I think he did underachieve but not in a massive way, as TFFP says the division as polically messy in Calzaghes prime but, at the same time, Calzaghe seemed quite happy with the situation as well.

 

Of course he did. Most people do in the modern era, there aren't many fighters out there that fight all comers, or even a good percentage of them.

He could have fought, and been a heavy favourite over Sven Ottke, Markus Beyer, Glen Johnson (tho it didn't make much sense considering Glen's record at 168, but in retrospect...), Kelly Pavlik before Bernard, and Chad Dawson. Those names could have really firmed up his resume, and that is not even pie in the sky stuff but names you would expect him to beat.

That is just leaving out names that would require him to move up in weight, and Bernard Hopkins who he clearly tried to fight much earlier.

 

Perfectly put :nod

 

I think he mentally retired after Kessler, certainly after Hopkins. The last fights were pension fights IMHO.

 

calzaghe

 

I would say that his resume doesn't match his skillset.

Look at 168 now, if he had stuck around for another year or two things could have been a lot different.

Or even proved himself a LH, by beating Dawson. Hell, even Tarver wouldn't have been a bad name to have on the record at that weight. Same applies to Johnson.

That's the part I don't understand, he reigns supreme in a crappy division for most of his career, then when the big fights finally come along, he retires after dipping his toe in the water.

A crisis of confidence perhaps?

 

Add Jermain Taylor to that list too but he priced himself if I remember asking for around £5m

 

I think your right. And I also think its a sad indicement of the man. But you know, I've spent a lot of time defending Hamed's right to **** off into the sunset when he did, so I suppose Calzaghe should be afforded the same curtesy. I think we could have all done without the Jones debacle though.

 

Fair points,motivation seems to be his main problem for me,but it is as you say a mystery

 

depends how you look at it and how highly you rate him

i rate calzaghe very highly, i think he should've been doing things he did maybe 10 years earlier, some would say he was a victim of circumstance, hopkins pulled out of a fight very late for example because he was having problems with don king

look at the time between eubank and lacy thats his prime.

 

Yep, we say we want the best for boxers so we should really applaud when one has the cheek to leave the sport with his brains, looks, health and bank balance intact.

 

I suppose its better than the flipside of the coin. The side with Evander Holyfield's head on it.

 

What a great thread, well thought out comments and no trolling/blind hate.

 

I watched Holyfield-Qawi a couple of weeks ago and in the build up they had an interview with Evander where he said he wanted to win a world title, earn a bit cash and retire at 27 to run a car dealership!!!atsch

 

4 kings

Jones
Toney
Calzaghe
Hopkins

what a waste of an era :-(