Why I Rank Calzaghe Above Hopkins

Youve got to be kidding? Jeff Lacy was America's brightest star? Calzahge was fighting the opponents of Roy Jones soft competition. :yep Just look at his resume, it chock full of has beens and imported US midwestern tomato cans. Theres a clear trend of one dimensional and far past their best former champs on Calzahges resume. Theres a reason he didnt face these guys in his prime, and it wasnt because fighters took notice of him beating Eubank, but more because Warren didnt want to upset his cash cow that could sell out a stadium whether he fought Bernard Hopkins or Christy Martin.

 

When exactly in my post did i mention Joe's resume?

I was merely pointing out why the guy didn't get the big fights earlier on in his career!

We will never know, nor did i predict, whether Joe would have beaten Roy or Bernard earlier on they never gave him the chance to find out until he could make them some money

 

Lacy is a great recent example of someone who had got a great deal of hype despite never looking particularly good, nor really doing anything in general to earn it.

 

Hopkins is far greater then Calzaghe.

 

Your making it seem like Joe was some avoided monster. Not really in my opinion. Just putting his resume in the proper perspective.

 

Also this is not my intention either.

My point was Joe was far two dangerous an unknown for them to bother with earlier.

It may have been the case that he would have been found out and i agree with those who say we never saw Joe tested or even the best brought out of him which is a crying shame as in my opinion he had the talent to make this debate a non entity.

 

Plenty of fighters wanted to fight Joe though, from 2000-2006 (Woodhall-Lacy) he fought 1 top 10 opponent in his division in Mitchell and that was a premature stoppage.

In that period where were the fights against Otke? Beyer? Glen Johnson? Mundine? Danny Green? Reid Rematch? Vanderpool? Larson? Echols?

Those were the top10ers in his division and he didnt bother to fight any of them in those 6years of his prime, there was a reason he was a bit of a joke. Mitchell/Brewer were the 2 best names and they were directly coming off loses. Nevermind the likes of Prime Jones/Hopkins

 

1. I think it was 2002/3. Because he was under a contract to Don King that meant he'd lose the majority of his purse. He accepted this contract to get his shot at Tito. Hopkins stayed at 160lbs after hearing Delahoya maybe moving up to MW. A Delahoya fight was worth 7figures, a Calzaghe fight was relatively worth peanuts

2. He didn't he schooled Calzaghe despite being 10-15years past prime

 

Hopkins landed the cleaner punches, Calzaghe only won the fight because he was pushing the action and throwing more. Bernard beat him to the punch every time, and also put him on his ass within the first minute. Bernard will be remembered forever in Boxing history, Joe will be remember forever in Britian but the rest of the worl will forget him in 10 to 15 years.

 

Hopkins calzaghe was garbage.

 

No it didnt mean Hopkins could beat him, but I would think he could around the time Calzahge was slapping his way to wins over shop worn fighters like Brewer. Hopkins was an old fighter as was Jones, and Hopkins could be out worked if you kept the pace up. Hopkins was never a big puncher but he was not a sharp shooting cutey in his prime like he became, he was a workhorse that wore his opponents down with pressure and just as high of a workrate as Joe. The win over Hopkins was close, but even Jermain Taylor was able to outwork B-Hop late in his career just on activity.
Joe was a good fighter but he was perfectly matched in my opinion, and there was plenty of times Calzahge could have stepped up anf faced better fighters and they chose not to. There was so many big fights to be made in the late 90s and early part of 2000 between 168-175 that could have been, and thats why I think there will always be a big question mark as to how good Calzahge really could have been. All one has to do is compare their resumes at that time. There is no excuse for Joe being green he was an established fighter. There was though a clear case for Hopkins and Jones being well past their best when they faced Joe.

 

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