Calzaghe left a massive void when he retired. The SMW division in particular.

The fact that his name is still brought up time and time again when he's been absent from the ring for the past 5 years tells its own story.

 

Personally I think the division now is a hell of a lot better than when Calzaghe was fighting. Ward KO's calzaghe too btw.

 

the funny thing about Bika is I'm not sure he isn't better now then he was when he fought Calzaghe. He certainly has better footwork then he did back then.

 

I agree totaly cause although ward is incapable of knocking out the vast majority of his opponents he would easily ko the best smw ever

 

Yeah he only KO'd the light heavy champ. And calzaghe got sat on his ass numerous times. Calzaghe was too easy to counter with his slap bull****, and Ward is one of the best counter punchers in the game. Please, stfu and fall back. Ward's resume is already greater than Calzaghe and he is nowhere near done.

 

If Joe was around today theres no doubt he would be a champion and would beat Froch, Kessler again, Stieglitz, Groves, and Bute. But the Ward fight is 50/50

People love to discredit Ward because he fights in Oakland, but his performances speak volumes.
Furthermore, Calzaghe's title defences were Hopkins like, many of them wouldnt be relevant today.
The ONLY reason why Calzaghe left a significant "void" is because we dont know how good he truly is because he never fought anyone better than a 40 year old Hopkins (controversial decision) and a past prime Eubank.

 

Its good to see Bika become champ, he gave Ward a beating, gave Calzaghe some rough headbutts, also pushed Bute. But history should remember Ward was the original WBC champ, they upgraded him to Emeritus champ, and thus gave the vacant WBC title to Bika-Periban. Nowadays with this Super, regular, interim, Emeritus, Diamond, Silver etc bull**** it has become easier to become champion.

Had Ward kept his WBC title then Bika would still be a tough gatekeeper, Ward had no one to fight so maybe it was a smart move on his part because now Degale, Groves, Oosthuizen or any other decent contender can challenge for Bika's title to set up a Ward Clash.

This division has generally gone tougher, with a blend of seasoned veterans in Kessler, Bika. Elite fighters in Ward, Froch, and young upcoming fighters in Degale, Groves, Oosthuizen, Rodriguez. Even the bums/fringe contenders have become tougher in Stieglitz, Abraham, Magee, Dirrell, Periban... Compared the Calzaghe's era where the elite fighters were Calzaghe, Ottke, and Jeff Lazy.

 

Your right..ward has massive ko power and should be regarded as somewhat of a ko specialist.

 

Theres no doubt in my mind that if Calzaghe was still fighting today, he would still remain the main man at 168 in his 40s and still be unbeaten. Ward would have given him a decent fight for 7 or 8 rounds before badly gassing, and froch would have been widely UD'd.

The super6 and the emergence of an American at 168 seems to have given exposure to the division stateside and spoonfed the gullable American public into believing that the division has relevance today, when the cold hard truth is that this is now the most feeble 168 division in its entire history.

 

Wassup soldier :happy

I too am pleased that Bika has won a belt, he's tough as nails and will fight anyone. I thought the scorecards for his fight v Ward were an absolute ****ing disgrace. If that that exact fight took place in a neutral country, with neutral judges, with those judges having no idea who either fighter was roll::roflatsch) then I think Ward suffers his 2nd loss as a pro :deal

 

Calzaghe always wanted to fight an American with a big name on a big stage and he got that fight against a young undefeated Jeff Lacy. Lacy's subsequent downfall caused that win to be less and less relevant and therefore Calzaghe was no longer interested in fighting promising young American stars and concentrated on fighting old legends. He is bashed for it now, but lets face it, at the time it was Chad Dawson who was this young promising star and had Calzaghe fought him and won, today most people would rate that win similar to the win over Lacy.

 

****ing delusional lol wow

 

Afternoon Gay Lord :roflatschwned