Show Some Respect For Joe Calzaghe!!!

Calzaghe was a damn good fighter. Look at his early career when his hands were not so fragile. He had decent pop. Joe Calzaghe could fight and anyone that says different is an idiot.

 

Their are plenty of fighters more overrated than him like Hopkins for example. Who claims to have a legendary resume because he beat up a lot of smaller fighters

 

Why should he have to cross the pond? He beat alot of Americans, the more known ones being Sheika, Brewer, Mitchell, Hopkins and a faded but still Ring top ten LHW Jones. Calzaghe wasnt worried about Johnson, it wouldnt have made much sense to fight Johnson (around 10 losses or so at the time) anyway after he lost a close decision in his 3rd fight with Woods, who was nowhere near as good a fighter as Calzaghe, and Calzaghe had beaten Sheika and Hopkins who hold wins over Johnson also.

 

so we wouldn't be having this discussion. next to floyd fans, calzaghe fans have to fight the hardest to defend their fighter. do you really think it's cause the world just hates calzaghe? maybe we don't like him because he's a lame dancer? 95% of the time calzaghe fans defend his skills and resume because so much of his career and legacy is in doubt. if calzaghe had these indisputable skills and resume, you would think there wouldn't be so much dispute wouldn't you?

 

Calzaghe whooped the asses of both Roy Jones Jr and Bernard Hopkins. Get over it, black people.

 

In fairness, I would say the issues with staying regional, and what he ended up doing later in his career are 2 separate issues. But they are tied together in the way that people see Calzaghe's resume as less than impressive.

People say, and in my opinion, rightfully so, that he refused to leave his comfort zone, taking 2nd rate competition, making unimpressive defenses. (Whether it is his fault or not, Warren's or not, prospective opponensts or not it's all up for debate, but really, what does it matter. You fight who you fight. There are many reasons why guys do not fight. )

Then he beats Lacy and Kessler, which are, in my opinion, his 2 best wins. He then goes on and takes on 2 over the hill guys with huge names, looks to dress it up as career definers, as if it would silence the criticism. He then promptly quits amidst calls for a rematch vs Hopkins or fights vs prime, young up and comers. After years of fighting in relative anonymity, he finally gets the big spotlight and rather than capitalize, and admittedly risk his "0", he retires.

You can see how that might elicit calls of fraud, no? Not saying that fraud is the correct word, he was a terrific fighter, but his resume does not match the lofty pedestal on which his loyal fans put him on.

 

oh so it's a race thing? so white people can't dislike calzaghe?

 

Fixed it for you

 

why would he re-match hopkins when you and many others constantly de-value that victory anyway. what does he have to gain from re-matching a fighter who did his best to stink out the entire arena in the 1st fight.

for the record, i think hopkins was still an elite fighter despite his age and it was a good win considering

- calzaghe fought in hopkins back yard
- he fought at light heavyweight for the 1st time
- he agreed to let cortez referee the fight

lets not forget that calzaghe was also getting on at this stage of his career. he'd just beat 2 undefeated young guns in lacy and kessler and probably realised that he was slowing down and would only end up losing to someone who couldn't carry his jockstrap in his prime.

 

There's no doubt it was a good win, but be realistic about it. People on esb actually try to make it seem as if he had beaten a prime Hopkins and should get the praise that the accomplishment would bring. You do realize that was Hopkins 3rd or 4th fight at LHW and at that point he was 42. And 2-2 in his last 4 fights. Nonetheless, JC had beaten a guy who's antics had alienated many people and JC's bandwagon grew immensely. I for one, was on it. I rooted for him that fight as Hopkins had been acting like a colossal ***** for years.

I can see why a rematch would not have appealed to Calzaghe, but there were calls for it especially in light of the close decision.

As for fighting a young fighter and losing.... he probably would have gotten alot of respect, although in fairness, the claims of "see, I told you he sucked." would have been there too. But, in my opinion, it would have shown he wasn't all about protecting the "0" that so many people view as weak anyway.

 

Your right about the Floyd fans and Calzaghe fans. In my opinion, both guys are great fighters whose motivations are in doubt. Although, Floyd has taken a step forward in fighting Mosley, and contrary to many people's beliefs, I think he would have fought Pacquiao. However, the criticisms are similar. Both are/ were talented fighters who seemed, at least at times, to take the path of least resistance. Both even went so far as to retire at points when potentially very good fights loomed on the horizon.

I think both guys would have been better served taking on some or more top guys and risk losing than to sacrifice their legacy to protect their "0"s. A loss may not be as pretty, but all the greats have em. Is it a coincidence that you never really hear the term "warrior" mentioned when referring to either guy? But other guys get that title who have generally inferior skills?

 

good post:good losses mean ****, sooner they realize this the better. in 20 years people wouldn't be saying "floyd sucks cause he lost to pac" they'd say "floyd fought the best and beat most of them. what a great battle between the best two in the world".

instead now in 20 years people will say "remember, floyd mayweather? nah? well he was that guy who wreaked havoc on some pretty good fighters. he didn't fight any atg fighters or the best...wonder how he would've done? aw well, let's go watch some micky ward fights"

 

i understand what your saying. looking at it from joes point of view though i think there were a number of factors in him retiring when he did.

1 - i don't think joe gave a flying **** what people in the states thought of him

2 - he had talked continuously over the last 3/4 years of his career how his motivation was on the wain and how he was struggling to get up for fights. a fighter without hunger is in a dangerous place.

3 - he knew he was getting old. his strengths at that stage of his career were his workrate and reflexes and they are aspects that would soon diminish.

4 - its common knowledge his hands were ****ed. he'd lost power in his punches, again a fighter with diminishing power is in a dangerous place.

5 - he was 38 and a loss at that age was likely to never be revenged because he was only going to decline as a fighter from that point on. a loss at that stage of his career would have undone everything he had achieved and left everyone with a stick to beat him with forever.


if calzaghe had retired at the age of 32 then i would probably have the same criticisms of him myself but the fact is that calzaghe got out of boxing at exactly the right time. he was only going to deteriorate as a fighter from that point onwards.

despite being a fan, i agree that its a shame that calzaghe didn't move to the states earlier but its also fair to say that the likes of hopkins and jones had little interest in fighting calzaghe because he was a high risk / low reward fighter for them to face when he was at his peak.

 

haha i dont mean nothing by it, just stirring the pot. Ive been corrected above anyway

A lil light hearted stab back at this...

"I aint never losing to a white boi" Bernard Hopkins

 

:thumbsupfair enough. and yeah hopkins is racist ****ing *******