Calzaghe must be top 10 atg ?

top 50 ... lets give him credit of doubt

if he comes back and beat the winner of top 6 then he may be top 25
if he beats Hopkins again and the best at LHW beside Hopkins he may be top 10

 

Calzaghe was an excellent fighter, no doubt. I think placing him in the top 30 greatest boxers of all time would be generous. It's probably fairer to put him at around number 40. Out of over 100 years of queensbury boxing that's still an amazing achievement! ... The victory over Hopkins was messy, sure, but you've only got to look at how good Hopkins has performed since to realise what a great win Calzaghe's was. To pick himself off the floor in the first round in America against a FHOF who was clearly still at the top of his game, and win the the Lightheavyweight championship in his first outing at that weight, now that's a quality win. Vitali Klitschko is still at his best at almost 40. Lewis was still at his best at 36/37. Hopkins was still at his best at 43. People can't pick and choose with Hopkins. Was he too young when he drew in Ecuador and lost to RJJ? In his prime against Tito? Too old against Talylor TWICE? At his best against Tarver? Too old against Calzaghe, and then at his best against Pavlik? Which is it???!

 

No defeats. And wins over Eubank,
Mitchell, Sheika, Woodhall, RJJ, Reid, Veit, Kessler, Brewer, Bika, Lacy and Hopkins. NO LOSSES! No losses to average guys like Jermain Taylor. No draws to blokes from Ecuador either. 46 and 0.

 

i'm a massive calzaghe fan, but to have him in the top 10 is ridiculous!! i would have him bordeline top 50 imo.....

 

Top 5 ATG SMW

Half decent shout for top 75, just wish he had fought for longer when he cracked America after the RJJ fight

 

Taylor did just as well against Hopkins as Calzaghe did, some would argue he actually did better. Plus it was against a younger Hopkins, Taylor did not get dropped and after a close first fight, he gave Hopkins a rematch.

 

Ok duran is regarded as the best lightweight in history. Joe is regarded as the best smw in history.

After ruling for 7 years, duran moved up through the weights culminating in not only taking a top 5 mw the full 15 rounds (that's 4 divisions and 25 pounds higher) and then years later he beat barkley who had just iced hearns brutally.

After spending 6 years at the top, joe moved up 1 division and fought two 40+ year olds. By contrast he only moved up 7 pounds. For joe to move up only 3 divisions he'd be at hw, ok fine put him in with a lighter hw, say haye and adamek. What success do you think joe would have now against haye and adamek? Only 11 years since he gained recognition as the best smw in the world. This is how ridiculously great the career of duran was.

For the sake of being credible please stop this comparison.

And as for saying leonard wasn't prime in 80, dude your just having now. How can you watch the fight and not come away thinking these two are atg's?

Leonard would have been top ten had he had a semblance of longevity. It was wham bam thank you mam with leonard. Fortunately he was in a great era so we could see how great he was. To make top 15 considering how short his welterweight career was is a testament to what should have been.

 

bit harsh making out leonard didn't have a semblance of longevity. to have only had 1 fight in 5 years and then comeback and beat hagler just short of his 31st birthday isn't bad, especially as he then went on to beat lalonde, draw with hearns, and beat duran afterwards. you have to realise that boxers in general aged much worse back then than what they do now, remember people back then were accusing hagler of being past it when he fought leonard at 32.

considering leonards huge inactivity in between fights (especially after his detached retina), there was definitely a semblance of longevity about him though the norris fight and the fight 6 years after v camacho were obviously a bridge too far.

 

carpentier, cooper, mills, berg, buchanan, wilde, lennox lewis, schmeling, johansson, loi, benvenuti, kid lewis, thil, welsh, driscoll, fitzsimmons, lynch, turpin, harvey, nelson,

i just named 20 euro fighters who are clearly greater than calzaghe. this thread is a goddamn joke.

if you have calzaghe in your top 100 of all-time, you don't know anything about the history of the sport.

 

Mag, just to address what I meant by semblance of longevity.

Leonard was an active champ for what, 3 years? He then had 1 fight in 5 years, that inactivity and shortness of a prime career is what I was referring to.

Had he not suffered an eye injury and stayed active right up to 87 maintaining that quality of opposition he'd most likely have cracked my top ten list.

Beating hagler was outstanding tho. Everything from then on was not what i'd call great.

 

not even top 100 in my book

 

Good post.

 

:good

 

Joe is a bum.
Who had Kessler beaten prior to facing Joe The Bum? Nobody.
Who has Kessler beaten since? Nobody.
Kessler was always a hype.

Calzaghe hid away fighting bums, b level opposition and faded ex-champions throughout his entire career.
Top 100 MAX! :yep

 

you just insulted a 100 atgs. calzaghe is more like a top 1000