I haven't seen Joe Calzaghe's whole career as it has happened, but i've heard that he fights almost nothing ten years ago than he does today, and had more power in his punches. So please, Calzaghe fans, how much has he changed over the years as a fighter?
His hands have become more fragile, hence he takes better care of them. From his pro debut till he took the title from Eubank, he went 22-0-0 with 21 KO's. 10 of those came in the first round and another 6 in the second round. Since capturing the title, 5 of his first 14 defences went the distance (35 %) 5 of his next 7 defences went to 12 rounds. (71 %) His skills have improved but his body and hands are in decline. He's still the #2 p4p and by far, the best SMW around.
Calzaghe has changed subtley over the years. When he first won the title, beating Eubank, he had much better power than today. It wasn't sublime power but he could hit and it would hurt. He believed in his power so much that he would stand toe to toe with anyone. He neglected his defensive and boxing skills back then. Around this time, he used to have hand problems and elbow problems. Much of these have been attributed to poor wrappings, poor punch technique, playing golf and years of using poor gym equipment. It's my belief hat he got so pissed at damaging his hands every fight that he started reigning in his punches and began punchng at less than full pop. So he developed his style based on his speed in spite of the injuries. But he still has the power. The Byron Mitchell fight was a good example. He was doing his usual thing, boxing nicely, hitting Mitchell many times but then Joe got floored. He knew he was in trouble so threw caution to the wind and reverted to power punches. 15 seconds later, Mitchell was floored and the fight was over. The Calzage of today is a much better, rounded complete boxer. Is a master of jugding space naturally, has superb natural timing and can move very well or a big man (for his division). His hands will always be the thing that stops him being an absolute superstar these days. But, to his credit, he's never blamed them, he's just got on with finding a different way of winning.
Agree! I think he's a much better boxer now, when he don't relay on power alone. I think that Kessler learned that, hopefully he will adapt that style. High workrate instead of few powershots.
he wasa bigger puncher when he fought Eubank, though after all these defences he is a much more well rounded boxer.
Look at the shape and size of joe 10 years ago and look at his body now, he looks a lot thinner, this is because he has changed the way he trains because of his fragile hands. He does more shadow boxing, speed bag etc.. He used to struggle to make 168 even claiming he puts on 10 pounds between weigh in and fight time. For the kessler fight he came in at 166.
His body looks weaker now because its verry hard for him to make the weight. I guess when he moves up to fight Hopkins he will look better, like he did when he was younger. Same with Hopkins, in his last middleweight bouts he looked verry skinny cause it was hard to make weight, when he moved up to face Tarver he looked much better.
Joe is an enigma, like a fine wine he gets better with age. When he was young and hungry he switched between boxing and slugging as he racked up the defences he simply relied more on his skills than his power; you honestly think he has no power when he winded kessler with a regular shot to the solar plexus? Joe is unbeatable. Expect Hopkins to be slaughtered like never before; finally Joe gets to expose what the knowledgable already know.
