Joe Calzaghe retired 46-0 (32) in 2008. Get over it. Fans & haters; quit trolling!

1......to be fair, Roy never had the need to adapt through 50 some odd fights. Literally he was that much superior and that is pretty much irrefutable. He made world class fighters look out of place with his speed, reflexes, anticipation, athleticism etc. Even a full blown hater has to concede that to at least some reasonable degree. And to be real, no amount of PED use can magically replace base talent. If that were the case the world would be full of athletes like Roy WAS. His decline came post ruiz, and if you don't think he adapted in Tarver 1, then you didn't watch it.

2......Roy doesn't exactly fold. His physical attributes faded and betrayed him. After two decades in the ring, basically being far superior to the opposition, and then having your primary weapons quickly fade....can you really cite the last stages of his career as a benchmark for anything.....it's like saying Ali should've just dug deep and found a way against Holmes. Watch his career post ruiz, he isn't there just for a payday. It's not like he has no will, heart or guts. Tarver 1 pretty much makes point 2 invlaid. It was obvious he dug deep.

All that hate is based on ignoring his first 50 some odd fights, exaggerating the reasonsnfor his decline.

 

Loudon is 100% right.
Even Calzaghe's showboating was classless, like his "bumming" of Hopkins.

 

Almost everyone in this thread is agreeing with me. The only vocal detractors have been of the typical pro-Calzaghe contingent, but that was only to be expected.

:good

 

Joe was a great fighter on his day, but he was also very scrappy at times. He has a giant ego, and has always played the victim card, pretending that he wanted huge fights, but couldn't them. I have huge respect for him as a fighter, but not as a person. He's contradicted himself too many times.

As for your quotes, Roy was being polite because they agreed a 50-50 split in 2008.

There's also other people that respected his ability, but questioned his ambition, such as Jay Larkin, Kerry Davis, Nigel Benn, Ron Borges, Lou DiBella and Thomas Hauser etc.

He was the exact opposite of Ricky Hatton in my opinion.

Ricky's skills didn't match his ambition, but with Joe it was vice versa.

 

Never liked his style of fighting(slapping) but got to give him credit as he beat Bhop who is still going strong.

 

showboating s 43 year old is horribly classless. I would never do that in my wildest dreams, even against a cheat like bhop.

joe has a few great assets (stamina and management), but class wasn't one of them.

 

are u for real. no worse than seeing anyone else showboat, including old man hopkins against pascal. Get real pal.:roflatsch

 

so you are excusing showboating against a gassed out old man?

are you saying you would do it?

Would you showboat against 40 year old Muhammad ali?

go for it then, don't expect to be thanked for it. make fun of your parkinsons ridden old opponent and see how people react later to your classlessness. then you can get real all by yourself.

 

Kessler gassed? Gassed means being tired and slowing down during the fight due to being tired. Kessler was very mobile and kept the tempo throughout the fight. He was also still in his prime and wasn't in the phase of his career where he wouldn't be able fight intensively for 12 rounds. If you look at the fight, Calzaghe really changed the range and started going out of the mid-distance when needed and left no space for Kessler to catch him.

On the other hand, Hopkins was 40+ years old at the time and he really couldn't keep the tempo during the whole fight. It was one of the factors in that fight, but it wasn't like Calzaghe started winning when Hopkins became tired. Ever since the knockdown Joe kept the volume high and was winning the points. That's just how you beat a negative boxer like Hopkins if you are a southpaw and can't jab him all night., you just outwork him because his punch output isn't high. Of course, Joe needed a good chin for that in case he gets caught, as well as a good sense of distance because of Hopkins' movement. Fortunately for him, he had everything it takes.

 

Kessler was breathing hard midfight. Calzaghe noticed it even if you didn't. Therefore, my case of him being hampered bynot being fully fit and the damaged hand is closed.

 

again, no.

calzaghe lost the first half of the fight clearly. He was unable to outbox even old Hopkins (not something to be unduly ashamed of).

 

This. So , so , so much this.

 

That's true. Toney did put in a few lacklustre performances, but he was fighting every few months at that point. He also had a lot of non title fights at 168.

But he also put in some great performances, especially in his prime at 160. He beat some very good-great fighters in McCallum, Reggie Johnson and Michael Nunn etc.

 

Shut up. Come up with your own argument. Don't take a fighters quote and use it against them.

 

I was very impressed how he seemingly figured Kessler out after the early storm.
I have always been impressed by his stamina, it was his biggest assett.