This is a very good question, and to answer it, you need to look at the evidence apparent, Calzaghes resume. Calzaghe won an unknown unrecognised title back in the day by beating faded but game eubank. So if Calzaghe was 26 today, he'd win the IB0 smw title by beating a Brit on an end of career losing streak such as Robin Reid. Calzaghe defended against perhaps 2 or 3 good challengers plus a handful of not bad ones, and made that up to 21 but fighting weaklings. So today that would amount to beating Kessler and say drawing with Arthur Abraham in UK, an equivalent to young Reid but not offering a rematch. Plus 18 defences against low rankers and unknowns. He would then unify the IBO and IBF, then drop the IBF. He would then win the WBA and WBC and then immediately drop the WBA and WBC in order to avoid tough non-IBO title fights. The he'd go to LHW and go life and death with 2 old legends, such as 43 year old Martinez and 46 year old james toney. Not a bad career but limited by having an unrecognised title for 9/10ths of it and many weakling defences. If anyone has a problem with this then I am simply using his REAL career as a blueprint, so if you got an issue with thispost then you actually have an issue with Joe's weak resume, not with me, so pm joe C not me.
Calzaghe would beat everyone but Ward in my estimation and Bute would have a good chance as well because of his speed, style and body punching. Calzaghe didn't have the kind of punching power like Froch does so I think Bute would give Slappy a more competitive fight than Kessler did.
Rather well I figure. Ward vs Calzaghe would be close to a toss up in my book. Other than that, he'd beat all the others.
Those who think he would beat everyone are not looking at the evidence. Consider if Joe C was a young man now. He beats everyone who is a non top ten fighter, yes, including journeymen and brits and 6 round fighters. He beats 3 or 4 top ten fighters yes, some of them with a real struggle. He beats 1 guy who is near elite, yes. He draws with 1 guy who is a flawed near elite, yes. But nowhere on Joes resume does it say he beats everyone ranked. He does not fight the top 2 Ward and Froch until they turn 40something. Furthermore, Joe would be an IBO SMW title holder if he was a young man today, not a major title holder, and would be therefore unknown until 2016. It is unlikely that Ward would even know the name of an IBO title holder, never mind consider him as an opponent. Joe would need to bring more to the table like going to fight in America. All these estimates are taken directly from his resume, there is no lie or exaggeration here. tell it like it is, people.
Gotta be fair Herol, Kessler was/is as good or better than Froch. I think Lacy circa 06 would still be a top 10 guy today. JC may have some trouble with some guys, but I still think his quality as a fighter dictates he beats most of the top 10 relatively comfortably.
not fair at all, Froch beat him well once at home (as did Joe) and was robbed once in Kesslertown, so Froch is marginally better. Kessler was def near elite though, just his lack of brains and fitness let his down.
Calzaghes leftovers are still doing alright.. So I would think Calzaghe himself would at least have a few belts, if not all of them.
what you think is immaterial mate, its what actually happened that you have to base facts on. A young Calzaghe would be an IBO champion today and would take another ten years to get a real title. This is based on what happened, not what I think.
Bulletproof; you are 100% right. I'll speak to you as I can't be bothered to argue with people who like one boxer, not boxing and it's history. In another era, Joe would be 38-8; there is a blueprint!
apart from the blueprint to not take on tough fights. Joes words, not mine, sorry if they bother you.
