How would Joe Calzaghe have fared against John Conteh at LHW?

I think the bigging up of Calzaghe is getting ridiculous now I have seen threads where people argue that Calzaghe could beat Michael Spinks at LHW when infact he would be destroyed and totally outclassed.

Calzaghe was good but he was never a genuine world class LHW in fact he never even got in the ring with a prime natural light heavy let alone a top class one.

Conteh would beat him comfortably as would another good British light heavy Dennis Andries.

 

Andries? How do you see that panning out, stylistically?

Calzaghe vs Chris Finnegan is an interesting one. I honestly think the talks of Calzaghe vs Charles, Foster, Moore, Spinks are ludicrous, even if you 'move up' whichever version if Joe you feel is best equipped.

In my opinion, which is judged by watching footage of all (though obviously not much of Charles at light heavy) they're just different leagues, despite Calzaghe being a formidable proposition head to head for many a fighter. He has a style all of his own with several good attributes. Just not enough to offset the mind blowing attributes of some of the fighters that he has been matched with in hypothetical matchups, or ranked alongside in some peoples alltime lists.

A damn good fighter? Certainly. One of the all time greats? Not IMO though amongst the top ten Britosh fighters ever.

A hater? Well I went to Calzage-Kessler, cheered him on in every fight bar the Hopkins fight (who I was a bigger fan of though I scored it 114-113 to Calzaghe) and feel he is the 2nd best 168lber ever.

So I would say not.

 

I see Andries winning ugly and nullifying Joes better attributes.I think like any decent LHW Andries would walk through Joes punches and wouldn`t stand for that sticking the tongue out nonsense.

If Calzaghe was struggling so much to make SM why didn`t he go up to LH earlier when there was good fighters in that division?

My guess is that his O would have gone quite quickly.

 

Yeah it would be an ugly fight.

Even as an admirer of his skills, Calzaghes excuses are on a par with Holyfield or Durans, except he can't match either of them for top class fighting.

 

Hopkins made Jones look pretty average that night too with his safety first fight plan.

 

And beause Roy fought primarily one handed :good

 

Day before 168 and same day 175 are basically the same weight. The weight is a non issue. The had very similar height, reach and builds.

 

Dennis Andries

Go and watch the guy fight instead of spouting off nostalgia. Andries is a caveman fighter, he's a Jeff Lacy. No skills whatsoever. As if he's going to just outmuscle Calazaghe, thats not how you beat a guy with handspeed and volume.

 

Completely agree. I loved watching the guy fight, strong as an ox and so much heart but the guy was so crude its not even funny. I'm still thinking about Calzaghe vs Conteh tbh (I'm old enough to have actually seen both) but Andries vs Joe is a no brainer. Joe would Lacy him.

 

I would have to pick Calzaghe, but I liked Conteh a lot.

 

Conteh UD

 

Oh Christ! Andries!?atsch
Come on lets not be too damning on Calzaghe. He's a big step up in quality from Dennis. Way to quick and skilled.

 

Do any of you guys reckon you could take Joe in a fight ? I've been dreaming of it for some time now and I reckon he's probably one of those boxers I could really give it to outside the ropes :huh

 

You have issues.