how much more would calzaghe have to do to get the respect he deserves?

I recognize that facing, Manfredo, Lacy, a shot to peices Jones, Ashira, Pudwell, Mitchell, and Charles Brewer doesn't make someone an all time great and I'm the one with a sight problem. He fought Ashira's sorry ass twice as if once wasn't enough. Was that the rematch Britons where clamoring for? Facing those fighters(excluding Jones) would net an American fighter less than 100,000 total. British fans are filling stadiums for this garbage.

I'm off to watch Ayala vs Abraham for the 12th time. What a classic!

 

My goodness.

There are plenty of knowledgeable British boxing fans. Don't generalize so much.

As much as I give Calzaghe a hard time for his resume, I think he was a better fighter tha you give him credit for. I do think he would have losses on his record, but probably not 5.

SMW has legitimized itself in recent years. No it was not always a premier division, more of a stepping stone. But, I would say it has taken some big steps and, ironically enough, Calzaghe had something to do with that.

 

Why are you replying to me with this?...Not once in this thread have I tried to defend Calzaghe's resume...did I enjoy watching him box, yes...but I've acknowledged before that Calzaghe's resume would have looked a great deal better...IF he had fought both Hopkins and Jones a good few years earlier.

I replied to you because you claim all British and European boxing fans know nothing about the sport...when clearly that is untrue. You also claim British and European fans don't know what a competitive bout is...well you clearly know nothing about British and European boxing then do you. Shows how knowledgable about the sport of boxing you are...

 

Didn't happen.

So now your claim is that British fans are less knowledgeable because they actually go to watch boxing atsch
I don't think we're going to get very far with comparisons of crowds considering the US is the country where Dawson and Tarver fought twice for a total attendance of less than 3000...

 

I don't doubt there are and I'm always happy to see boxing popular. There are big differences in the game in the U.S and abroad right now and I'm just using colorful language to point those out. More cross pollination over the Atlantic would help the sport. Zags fought some pathetic defenses in his reign. Pavlik's gimmes look life life and death stuggles compared to the stiffs they dug up for slappy joe. Its a harder row to hoe in the US of A.

 

Woods was a legit challenge. Manfredo, Ashira, Tocker, Sheika were not. I don't know who would have one the fight but I'm not going to say Joe wins it without effort considering the type of fights he did choose.

 

Mate, your right about Ashira. Thanks for catching that. It's a shame that Americans don't support their fighters better. On the flip side joe getting breast fed by an army of nutthuggers is a bit revolting. Joe won three or four good match ups in his entire career. There are hundreds of champions that have equaled that.

 

Far too late for Calzaghe to change his history.
Everything is a trade-off, and Joe made the trade-off of hiding in Wales for the majority of his career, ducking all the ATG fighters until they were old. You cannot turn back the hands of time, so Joe is left with the fact that many boxing fans recognize him Calzaghe as more of a product of Frank Warren's management skills, than as an ATG talented fighter.

 

Now your really showing some ignorance and once again need to be guided. Lets look at Pavliks MW title defences Gary Lockett, Marco Antonio Rubio, Espino and Martinez In those first 4 defences who was worthy of a MW title shot, Martinez was the only one in world class and he was a LMW that beat Pavlik. In that same amount of defences where Calzaghe also had some gimmes, Calzaghe fought R Reid a genuine world class SMW.
How could the SMW division be harder in USA to Europe when you look at how many world class SMWs have been around over the last 15 years in Europe?

 

^ LOL that's easy.
It's simply because the SMWs in America are a better QUALITY than the 1000s of bums in Europe.

This is WHY Calzaghe choose to stay under Frank Warren's skirt. His choice was; Stay Hiden in Wales make a ton of money fighting bums for fans too drunk to even know what was happening, or go to America, take a HUGE risk of getting KO'ed by REAL BOXERS like Hopkins, Jones, or Toney.

 

Once again you show your lack of knowledge and need to be schooled again.
Hopkins wouldnt fight Calzaghe, dont pretend it otherwise, Hopkins backed out
Jones wanted a high price, but still wasnt interested in Calzaghe. When Jones was fighting at HW, Calzaghe hadnt even beat Mitchell at that time.
Calzaghe was willing to travel for both.
Heres how little you know. Toney was fighting at CW before Calzaghe had even won his first SMW world title and was at HW just after the time Calzaghe beat Mitchell. Toney was 2 divisions higher before Calzaghe was a world champ, see how little you know

So who was Calzaghe meant to go to America and face in the SMW division (the division Calzaghe reigned in)? Calzaghe was champ, the man of the division, so travel to fight what SMW?
Calzaghe beat Americas best SMWs Brewer, Mitchell, Sheika, Manfredo & Lacy. Echoles and Tate pulled out and Johnson blew his chance by losing to Woods when Calzaghe was ringside

Oh and it was Calzaghe that travelled and beat Jones and Hopkins :good

 

www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/article-5499540-details/i+am+the+best,+andsays+honest+joe+/article.do "I could probably give Jones a tough fight,probably the best I've ever had,"said Calzaghe,"But I know my capabilities and unless I got paid the crown jewels I wouldn't want to risk it."


"I have no interest in anymore in Roy Jones and no interest in Antonio Tarver.Jones is washed up and Tarver was never that good anyway.He just got caught Jones when Jones was shot and Johnson did the same."-page 300"NO ORDINARY JOE:THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOE CALZAGHE and Brian Doogan in 2007.
Look at youtube.com/watch?v=AWDtzdAYTOA.About 6 minutes in,you repeats almost the same thing on BBC.Love when the blond bimbo claims that you can only be a legend when you're undefeated.Glad to know there are stupid blonds everywhere.
"I would never want to fight him now.He's not the same fighter and I'd have nothing to gain by beating the shadow of what he once was."Calzaghe in his same autobiography.

Daily Mirror June 1,1999: "I'm not chasing after Roy Jones.Be honest,Roy is a good fighter and I don't want tough fights.I just want big money."

Joe Calzaghe is convinced age will be the overriding factor when he meets Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas."The guy is 43 years old-he's not the bionic man,he's human,"Calzaghe told BBC Sport.

It's official.Calzaghe is a lying tosser.

 

Why do we ignore all the storys showing Hopkins backed out vs Calzaghe but then we expected to look at the ones showing Calzaghe vs jones. STOP THE SELECTIVE READING ffs.
Bottom line anyone who thinks he would have lost more than 2 fights vs americans best at that time knows nothing of boxing, Likewise anyone who thinks he would have cleaned out america without any losses at all is stupid.
Calzaghe was extremly skilled and would have beat all cept Jones and 50/50 vs Hopkins. He didnt tho at that time and his resume is lacking for it. But one fact to remeber is they ahd the power to make the fight happn at anytime and when they chose that time they both lost.

 

He did fight some decent fighters and sometimes this is overlooked.Brewer,Woodhall,Mitchell,Reid,Kessler,Bayer and Lacy.The problem is he fought a lot of average guys like Pudwill as well.Calzaghe was unlucky in a way that he fought just after Benn,Eubank and Collins had retired the domestic scene was good and fights were easy to make when those guys were fighting.
Im not a fan of Calzaghe but think he gets some stick thats unfair,look at some of the guys Eubank brought in for title fights in the 90s and he gets very little stick for it.