The love given to Hopkins and the hate given to Calzaghe

Becoming number 1 in their divisions.

Joe Calzaghe becomes WBO SMW champ in 1997, and gets ranked number 1 SMW by the ring in 2002. After 5 years.
Bernard Hopkins becomes IBF MW champ in 1995, and gets ranked number 1 MW by the ring in 1996. After a year.

First Unification bout

Joe Calzaghe WBO SMW champ, fights Jeff Lacy IBF SMW champ in 2005, 8 years after becoming champ in 1997.
Bernard Hopkins IBF MW champ, fights Keith Holmes WBC MW champ in 2001, 6 years after becoming chamo in 1995

The win that gives the recognition

Joe Calzaghe beats Jeff Lacy, whose best wins are against 38 year old Scott Permberton, and 34 year old Robin Reid. Winning a vacant IBF title in 2004, beating some guy called Syd. 8 years after becoming WBO SMW Champ.

Bernard Hopkins beats Felix Trinidad, who had been IBF Welterweight Champ 93 - 99, WBA LMW Champ, and WBA MW Champ. Beating a MW champion in William Joppy for the WBA MW title. 6 years after becoming champion in 1995. Becoming Ring Champion Calzaghe in 2006. 9 years after becoming SMW WBO champion. Hopkins in 2001, 6 years after becoming IBF MW champion.

Top 10 wins

Calzaghe
1. Mikkel Kessler.................6. Robin Reid
2. Bernard Hopkins..............7. Sakio Bika
3. Jeff Lacy.......................8. Ritchie Woodhall
4. Chris Eubank...................9. Byron Mitchell
5. Roy Jones Jr...................10. Charles Brewer

Bernard Hopkins
1. Antonio Tarver................6. Glen Johnson
2. Felix Trinidad...................7. William Joppy
3. Kelly Pavlik......................8. Keith Holmes
4. De la Hoya.......................9. Robert Allen
5. Winky Wright...................10. Antwen Echols

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How can Calzaghe be given more respect than BHop?
Lacy was a hypejob, RJJ was shot, BHop was SD, Eubank was old, Kessler greatest win is against Beyer.

 

:thumbsup Totally agree

 

Agreed. It's obvious the guy did his research but it's so biased.

 

but again saying that doesnt tell the whole story about kessler after his defeat to JC

 

If BHOp, fought Calzaghe resume, he would be 46 - 0

flip tht even if Jermain Taylor fought Calzaghe's resume he would have been 46 - 0 (Maybe Kessler tough fight)

Lol even if Andre Ward fought Calzaghe's resume he would have been 46 - 0

 

in all fairness i don't think people were excited about B-hop vs Jones. Those who were excited were the people way overrating Jones' performance against Lacy. Jones had not done anything too notable recently at the time the fight with joe happened.

 

certainly not. I think Kessler will beat Froch easily next and that will lift his stock again. All I was saying is at this point when comparing resumes it is worth noting that people like Kessler and Lacy have gone on to do nothing since losing to Joe. It would be fine with me if he said Kessler still can go on to do good things or that maybe Lacy was not the same after the combo of having shoulder problems and getting pounded by Joe. If we are going to talk about it lets here all the arguments not just one side.

 

i know what you're trying to get at but part of getting recognition in boxing means fighting on the international stage during your career, which means you're a candidate for fights that can bring you to the attention of the public in a way that can't be done even if you're a very good fighter like calzaghe but don't do that...until its too late.

calzaghe gets judged for what he didn't do on the international world stage, while lesser fighter like tarver get remembered for what they did do.

boxing is all about who you fight and when if people want to assess fighters clearly.
it's got nothing to do with 'titles' and being 'undefeated' if the fighter doesn't rise above that.

 

Im sorry mate, but you have no idea what you talking about.

Brewer had 8 LOSSES going into the Calzaghe fight, 8.

Glen Johson was UNDEFEATED going into the Hopkins fight.

Kelly Pavlik is a better wolrd champion than Mitchell, Reid, Lacy and Kessler (Kessler's biggest win is Andrade).

You say Tarvers good win but got outboxed by Johnson? (WHO HOPKINS BEAT) Tarver won the re-match mate.

Hopkins-De la Hoya was for ALL THE BELTS, because Oscar held one after beating Sturm (robbery yeah).

 

And you say Kessler become world champ after he was beaten. I guess fighting Sartison for a vacant title means hes great right.

 

If you make good points and then tack this picture on to claim they were the same size, it just invalidates your entire post. If I were a foot closer to a 45 degree camera shot, throwing a Little Mac star uppercut, while the other guy is crouching down... I'd look bigger than Valuev.

Spoiler

I'm not bigger than Valuev.

I really want to like Cal and his resume, but he & his management gave him next to no chance to build a fanbase outside of northern Europe - it's not Hopkins' fault that his talents were showcased against guys Cal never stepped up to (and probably would have beat). In fact, I really do like his highly-adaptive spoiler style but, other than Kessler, he couldn't make it "pretty" in the ring, during the world-exposure fights of his (very) late career.

Also... his fans make it damn hard to like him.
Besides, Nard is so much better looking and well-spoken.