Joe Calzaghe

I've heard (and read) many people who have met him say that he's a decent, down to earth guy. On here though, the arrogant factor is always thrown in. One guy I used to work with actually is a good mate of his and grew up with him. Have you actually met the guy does your claim of arrogance stem from a few quotes in the press on the build-up to a fight??

 

I've never met the guy, which is something I thank god for every day I wake, but he comes across as an arrogant, obnoxious dick in every publication i've seen. No matter if it's TV, radio, print, or whether its a fight, training, other issues, whatever; he comes across as an absolutely clueless individual, and just doesnt seem to get 'it'.

 

Boxing will not miss his showboating skills. I still cringe for him when I think of the Jones fight.:-(

He was a very good boxer, but his absence from the ring does not cause me undue pain.

 

yeah, it was like watching David Brent dance.

 

Sorry but I had to post it!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4VYzXFQ8co[/ame]

This content is protected

 

The Legend Killer

 

It does amaze the level of hate he gets too. I can see why he is disliked as a person. Then again, I don't think he's too bad in the grand scheme of things and certainly in comparison to other boxers. His well debated boxing record and technique have been discussed over and over but these are the hard facts:

• 3 succesive ABA titles at different weights
• British Champion
• WBO champion
• IBF champion
• WBA champion
• WBC champion
• The first man to unify the Super Middleweight division
• Stepped up to Light Heavyweight and beat the widely regarded best man at 175lbs
• The first boxer since Lennox Lewis to become BBC Sports Personality of the Year
• Undefeated in 46 professional fights
• Set a record for a European crowd for fight vs Kessler

That is an incredibly impressive list of achievements. The lack of respect for that list is shocking sometimes.

 

POW fair enough however.....

the super middle is a very 'new' division so being the first man to unify isn't as great of an achievement as it sounds.
Sports Personality means **** all. (not even based on personality obviously anyway)
Undefeated record means **** all when you the opponents on 'said' record
Stepped up to beat the 'man' at 175 but many believe he didn't win and he never rematched to prove his worth
Attendance record means **** all when you think of it. He biggybacked off Hatton/Football fans by being on his cards a few times. AND Hatton beat that attendance comfortably fighting Lazcano. Imagine what he'd have got by fighting his biggest rival in the UK ???

He did incredibly well, whether it be by cherrypicking or not however its mental to say that Boxing would be a far worse place if he'd never have fought

 

A range of acheivements that themselves range from noteworthy to pointless and irrelevant.

 

These are the hard facts:

• 3 succesive ABA titles at different weights

Chris Bessey won 5. And despite this achievement he still wasn't considered good enough to fight in the Olympics.

• British Champion

Won against a 11-1 Steve Wilson who retired after winning his next fight and defended against Mark Delaney who was beaten inside a minute by Neil Simpson.

• WBO champion

Won against 2 day replacement Chris Eubank who was semi-retired, hadn't won a real fight in 2 years and he was nearly KO'd in the final seconds. Defended against Never were's and has beens well passed there best. No fighter Calzaghe beat during his WBO reign went on to win a world title again.

• IBF champion

Won against Jeff 'Hype Job' Lacy. Lacy's record post Calzaghe 4-2 including losses to Jemaine Taylor and a stoppage to Roy Jones.

• WBA champion

Kessler win... Congrats.

• WBC champion

Kessler win.... congrats

• The first man to unify the Super Middleweight division

Amazing achievement. He beat Lacy :!: and unproven Kessler. :thumbsup

• Stepped up to Light Heavyweight and beat the widely regarded best man at 175lbs

How wrong we were. Dawson was the man Hopkins just beat a failing Tarver.

• The first boxer since Lennox Lewis to become BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Personality??? What personality. Nice guy yes but he's hardly ****ing Don King is he.

• Undefeated in 46 professional fights

At least 38 of the matches were pointless undercard fights.

• Set a record for a European crowd for fight vs Kessler

Is that an achievement?

 

Unbelievably biased. The facts I pointed out are achievements far far beyond most British boxers of recent times. You can only argue that Lennox Lewis has achieved more in living memory.

Unifying a division is a hell of an achievement. Playing this down is nothing short of ludicrous given that the unification matches were against two undefeated younger boxers who had big reputations.

Sports personality means an awful lot when boxing isn't even a mainstream sport anymore and Calzaghe spent most of his days hidden away on Sky.

Hatton is a great ticket seller and it's fine that he broke Calzaghe's record but the fact is that Calzaghe's lack of likability and personality got 50,000 through the gate just so that people could say that they watched him box. There weren't many football yobs at Calzaghe fights. Most were casual sport fans who were going along to see him.

To pick up any of those points and say they mean "**** all" basically degrades the achievement of winning, unifying a division, getting tens of thousands to watch a live fight, having appeal to casual fans etc etc...

All of which are fantastic achievements. Of all the points I listed, none can, or should be downplayed.

 

This is incorrect. The Welsh ABA wouldn't put him forward for national selection because he didn't enter the Welsh qualifiers.

 

When was the last time somebody with a personality actually won the award? I'll always remember Calzaghe's victory fondly for the look of sheer disbelief on that twat Hamilton's face when he found out he hadn't won.

 

Is this alone enough to devalue being British champion?

 

Jeff - I would address all of the points but my girlfriend is banging on at me to go to Waitrose before it closes. I'll be back later...