Calzaghes legacy is growing greater by the day

Just pick the 5 that stand out the most.

 

I'm looking for wins against the 5 best opponents he has faced. I can't make it anymore clear than that.

 

You revealed yourself as a 13 year old posting on adult subject matter with your very first sentence.
LOL, next you'll be using other adolescent WB phrases like "Ubber". :rofl

When Calzaghe FINALLY came to American it was ONLY because he and Warren knew that BHOP and Jones were well PAST PRIME. :yep

:roll: Kessler is a NOBODY!! Like Calzaghe, he fought NOBODY to merit any mention of GREAT before or after his name.

:barf Lacy? LMAO!!! Who had Lacy fought worth mentioning to build a Rep on, Scott Pemberton, Robin Reid, Omar Sheika? LOL!!! Sounds a lot like Calzaghe's weak resume.

Go back to my first sentence because you absolutely prove it with this comical response. :good

 

Tell you what...the only things that'll improve Calzaghe's legacy at this point are as follows:

1. Kessler comes back and beats Ward or Bute.

2. Froch wins the Super Six.

3. Hopkins beats Pascal, becoming LHW Champion.

4. Bika beats Ward.


You can only take the A beat B and B beat C so A is better than C thing so far though. Calzaghe never beat a prime ATG. I challenge you to name any recent fighter who beat 2 or more, and then tell me which prime ATG Calzaghe had an opportunity to fight and didn't.

Calzaghe absolutely destroyed Jeff Lacy, who never became what he could have, primarily due to that beating. The physical and emotional damage he took combined with the fact that he lost to some British nobody effectively killed his career.

Calzaghe moved up in weight late in his career to scrap out a decision against p4p #3 Hopkins for the linear LHW championship. I don't care if Hopkins was 50, that's still a good win. It would have been a great win if it was a stoppage or a really decisive win, but still, it was good. Then when Hopkins beat up Pavlik that win started to look better. Now depending on how Hopkins performs against Pascal, this win could get even more valuable. It won't decrease though, even if Hopkins is blown out.

Calzaghe beat Kessler, who was an undefeated champion at that time, quite convincingly to cement his ownership of the division that he had already dominated for so long.

Calzaghe beat Sakio Bika, which isn't a huge deal in and of itself but if Bika manages to beat Ward or even make it a controversial decision, that's gonna be a good-looking win. If Bika loses then whatever, no harm done.

Calzaghe stopped Omar Sheika, who was coming off a win against Glen Johnson, the only fighter who has a semi-decent claim at having been ducked by Calzaghe. The same Omar Sheika who is still good enough to compete with the top 10 at LHW, above his natural weight.

Calzaghe has what I view as 4 solid, resume-making wins against world champions in big-time title fights. These were all fights he was either expected to lose or given basically a 50:50 chance in:

Chris Eubank (to pick up a title at SMW)
Jeff Lacy (to unify the titles at SMW)
Mikkel Kessler (to unify the titles at SMW)
Bernard Hopkins (to win the linear 175 title in his first fight at the weight)

Plus he has a long list of resume-fillers against former champs and contenders:

Sakio Bika
Omar Sheika
Byron Mitchell
Mario Veit

And then he has the odd few wins that he would be better off without:

Roy Jones (secured him nothing but the everlasting hatred of the American black community)
Tocker Pudwill (the guy's name alone has made this a laughingstock of a win)
Peter Manfredo Jr. (poor kid...)

Why do I view this as a good resume? Simple. Compared to guys like Jones and Hopkins who seem to have everyone on their dick talking about how they're ATGs, I think Calzaghe's resume is great.

1. First of all, Calzaghe didn't need PEDs to get where he got. I know it's a dirty topic we don't like to talk about, but Jones used PEDs. And then after he got caught, his decline was precipitous. Just saying.

2. Talk goes on and on about guys Hopkins and Jones ducked. Why didn't Jones fight McClellan or Michaelzewski? Why didn't Hopkins fight Calzaghe or anyone near his own weight? Who did Calzaghe duck? Nobody. The only guys who have even the slightest claim are Dawson (made his name beating up men over 40), Froch (was not even given a chance at the time), Pavlik (kinda blew that shot while being destroyed by Hopkins), and Glen Johnson (Calzaghe instead knocked out the guy who had just beaten him). Of those 4 guys, only Johnson has a legitimate claim, as Calzaghe pulled out of fights with him like every week. But beating Sheika kind of put the talk to rest.

3. Calzaghe didn't insist on a weight advantage when he fought. Jones gets credit for this as well, but Hopkins...my god, who has he beaten at their own natural weight?? Precious damn near nobody, that's who. And he even lost sometimes. Calzaghe fought dudes at their preferred weight and never lost. I find it hard to rank Hopkins as a true ATG currently when he's always fought blown-up fighters. Just saying.

So basically, Calzaghe's resume is full of good fighters who didn't ever make it big-time, either as a result of the beating Calzaghe gave them or as a result of their not being American. But they were good fighters nonetheless. Hopkins resume is full of big-name stars, but they weren't competing at their natural weight. Sorta like me beating Usain Bolt in a 3 mile race...good story to tell chicks at a party, but nothing to get all excited about.

 

good fighter but will be forgotten completely in 10-15 years except in wales.

 

because you're an idiot, when in reality there are barely any black people that know who he is let alone know him enough to hate him. plus add that to the fact that 90% of ESB are white posters, moron.:-(

 

LOL!! I can guarantee you that the majority of black americans, as well as all americans, don't even know who joe calzaghe is. joe beats bhop 3 years after jermaine taylor did twice and he beat jones 4 1/2 years after tarver and johnson did. i guess we should have those fighters as all-time greats as well.

 

Calzaghe will be a footnote, remembered primarily for a "slappy style", and a certain rugged inelegance about the ring. Even boxing history buffs will often refer to Calzaghe as a "scrappy Italian" who was born and trained all his life in the city of Verona.

He will sometimes be confused with Ricky Hatton, and will not uncommonly be referred to as a "poor man's Lucian Bute".

This is what Joe has to look froward to, legacy-wise. Sad to say it.

 

why are slappy joe fans so caught up on race?? it kind of makes me think that his fans only liked the fact that he was a white guy that beat up on a bunch of old black guys and nothing else. not really admiring his skillset

 

Ya must be a lawyer cause you sure like to hear yourself talk ALOT without saying anything.
LACY was a good fighter, but unworthy of Hopkins or Jones to be placing as one of their top 3 wins, YET Calzaghe does. Why? Becuase Calzaghe spent his career fighting bums and taxi drivers, who yes, were not American, and better yet. Couldn't fight at the high level to make it to America.

Hopkins fought champions and elites IN THEIR PRIMES like Trinidad, who if you forgot, was the FAVORITE everyone expected to win that match by blow out. Instead, Hopkins demolished him.
What PRIME ELITE fighters has Calzaghe on his resume comparable to Felix Trinadad, a Roy Jones, or a Glen Johnson? Lacy, Reid? LOL!!

Yes, Calzaghe fought dudes at their weight like;
14-38-3 Karl Barwise,
12-23-3 Spencer Alton,
26-21-1 Frank Minton,
5-9-1 Bobbie Joe Edwards,
33-34-0 Robert Curry,
7-9-1 Tyrone Jackson,
16-11-1 Guy Stanford,
13-22-1 Carlos Christie,
51-8-3 Juan Carlos Gimenez,
7-16-0 Paul Hanlon.

By far, the best name on Calzage's Pre-America resume is an aging and declined, Chris Eubank a back sliding Charles Brewer, and the B level Byron Miller.
What's all the fuss about this padded Hype job? :deal

 

On his tombstone it will read:

Here lies Joe Calazaghe. Conqueror of a whole bunch of mediocre euro-fighters and two shot-to-**** American boxers in their 40's.

 

Sad, but that really is the extent of their admirations. :-(

 

No I'm not. No I don't.

If Lacy had been a middleweight at that time and gotten demolished by Hopkins in the same manner, it would absolutely have been one of Hopkins' top 3 wins. Same deal if he had been a LHW and been demolished by Jones (before being demolished by Calzaghe). Fact is he was a super middleweight so Calzaghe got to be the guy to wreck him.

Yeah, well I guess it says a lot about Hopkins that people expected him to lose to a GODDAMN WELTERWEIGHT. That fact alone makes the win negligible. Trinidad wasn't a champion at 160, nor was he elite. Nor was he in his prime, since his prime occurred at 147.

No ****. He was a welterweight.

Hmm, I've already told you what I think of the Trinidad win. Calzaghe has a win over a younger Roy Jones than the one Hopkins beat. And in 2000 Calzaghe knocked out Omar Sheika, who had just beaten Glen Johnson in his last fight. So there's your answer.

^ All these fights except Jimenez happened before Calzaghe got his first title shot.

7-16-0 Paul Hanlon--So Calzaghe fought a dude with 23 fights in his debut. Hopkins fought a guy who was also debuting. And he lost.

51-8-3 Juan Carlos Gimenez--Not a bad record for a your second title defense, no? And hey, he was good enough for Duran, Eubank, and Benn...

Calzaghe fought 11 guys with losing records enroute to his first title shot (in his 23rd fight). Hopkins fought 8 guys with losing records before getting his first title shot in his 24th fight. I have boxrec too, and I'm not afraid to use it. :nono Oh, and Hopkins lost his debut AND his first title shot. Like Calzaghe, Hopkins first title shot was for a paper belt. A vacant championship.

Jones fought 4 guys with losing records before his first title shot, a vacant paper title (in his 22nd fight). We could look into the combined records of the opponents of all 3 guys, but I really don't feel like it and I'm only doing this to make a point that it really doesn't matter much who you fight early on before you get a title shot.

Chris Eubank I'll agree with, and I agree he wasn't at his best. However, throw that same Eubank into the super six today and he'd likely win it. Also, he was 31. Just lost 2 close ones to Steve Collins. Then lost 2 close ones to the dude that knocked out David Haye. Not a bad way to end one's career...

Behind that one I'd say how about Lacy and Kessler. They were both much better wins than the ones you mention.

Omar Sheika 20-1 (just coming off a win over Glen Johnson, who everyone was accusing Calzaghe of ducking) was a better win than Brewer and Mitchell, imo.

I suspect that you, sir, are a hater. Cheer up!