Comparing Resumes: Hopkins & Calzaghe

Calzaghe was better then Sven Ottke, Richie Woodhall and Robin Reid (debatable) he was worse then Hopkins and Jones who both made him look silly despite been gradparents of 3 and 4 respectively. :good

 

A fair bit of that is hypothetical though, Jeff.

 

:good

 

Jones made him look nothing of the sort. Jones armed him in the face, that doesn't prove anything, then he at most had a good second round which he just won.

Calzaghe whooped him from rounds 3-12 as well he should.

 

Nah I had it much closer. Especially early. Jones looked like he was going to take him. And so what if it was an arm.... just goes to show imagine what a prime Jones Jnr knucle sandwich would have done.

 

That's one example - but of course we've only the one side of the story - but that's just ONE fight. One fight between 1997 and 2006. What's the excuses for anything else not happening in all those years?
For almost ten whole years the entire boxing world was against Joe Calzaghe and on a mission to freeze him out and prevent him from having any big fights??? I don't believe that.

High risk, low reward? What did Joe do about changing that? What efforts did he put in to make himself "high risk HIGH reward"? None. He stayed at home and played ball in his back garden.
If he made efforts to unify against any of the rival champs (who weren't that good and perfectly winnable fights for Joe) such as Ottke, Beyer, Lucas, etc he would have increased his value as a unified, dominant champ. Didn't happen though did it?
Some fights may have been offered (if you listen to Warren) but turned down - that's where you NEGOTIATE. It seems with Warren it's there's the offer, if you don't like it lump it. Hardly a way to start building your fighter into a credible "high reward" opponent for the elite fighters who supposedly avoided him.

Yes, Joe was a high risk low reward fighter. But he was only low reward because he did very little in elevating himself beyond that. If you can't get a big fight, you manoeuvre yourself into a position where you become a big fight for somebody, but in all that time Joe was content to let it pass him by and just moan about it whilst beating up Mario Veit in the C.I.A

 

In Calzaghe's head it was a battle of fast hands.... it was a chance for Joe to show the world how his hands were even faster then Jones'.... For me as an onlooker it was a battle of a frail old guy who shouldn't have been in the ring and someone who never in a milllion years belonged in the top echelon of the middleweight greats.

 

What do you mean so what if its an arm? What about a head, is that okay? The punch missed and he followed through (unintentionally) and hit him square on the chin with a forearm. If a fighter fought with his forearms regularly he'd be DQd!

You might well have been intoxicated when you viewed this fight. Jones did nothing from rounds 3 or 4 onwards. He was getting outworked, outmaneovred, Calzaghe was in complete control and was so comfortable he found time to do those shocking showboats. All Jones did was stand there in a defensive shell which is why the judges gave it wide to Calzaghe.

 

It was a fight against a washed up, shot fighter - in Joe's own words!
Oh, wait, Roy redeemed himself with three "good" wins against Prince Badi Ajamu (who?), Anthony Hanshaw (whatever became of him?) and a washed up out-of-retirement Tito Trinidad. Double standards are fine when the almighty dollar is talking eh?

 

I agree its just one fight and Calzaghe should have done more, but it also goes to prove that getting a fight with the so called 'greats' of which there were only two realistic options, is not that easy. They are not easy to negotiate with, Hopkins certainly isn't.

Hop was given a fair offer considering he can't draw flies to ****. When you agree and then turn around later asking for double that is a clear sign you don't want the fight for whatever reason. You want a lot more money for your risk.

Hopkins has never changed. He offered Adamek the cruiserweight champ a pittance.

 

You are correct, Hopkins is a tough b@$%£*d to deal with. However, Warren can move heaven and earth when he has to - if it is wanted bad enough. It obviously wasn't wanted badly enough to go a decade of not having any truly big fights, be it Hopkins, Jones, Dariusz M, or even the likes of Ottke, Beyer, etc.

 

These are some youtube comments i've come across.... Brilliant.

calzaghe was better than great..if he didnt have so many hand problems i think he would of beaten rocky marcianos record plus he would of had more knock outs than he did 32 out of 46 is a great ko rating...but he would of done better...think the ref should of stopped the lacy fight aswel..poor lacy took way too much of a beating

and

Ledgend

his fight with robin reid was epic

and

Greatest in the world-debatable
Greatest in Britain-OF COURSE

and

Calzaghe > Jones > hopkins

I didnt spell coward hopkins name with a capital as he doesnt deserve it as coward hopkins who for over a decade hid in middlewight taking on small guys while Calzaghe reigned supreme calling out the negroid coward hopkins.

In 2000 coward hopkins again pulled out of negotiations to fight Calzaghe ...THEN..when coward hopkins finally couldnt run or hide any longer he faced Calzaghe and while Losing in the ring coward hopkins did what he does best...HIDE.


:rofl

 

He was knocked down by his forearm.... Its the second most flacid piece of skin on his body. He may as well of got knocked down by his ear or nose.

 

Yep, he should have done a lot more through that period. Perhaps stepped up would have been best.

I'm not sure a Beyer is a big fight, and well, Ottke is very difficult. Getting him out of Germany does not seem to be easy, and history would have suggested going to Germany presents a lot of challenges other than the fighter in the opposite corner. I don't really blame Calzaghe for that one.