Is Calzaghe slated enough for sitting home with the WBO belt?

and joe chose to defend against him TWICE!!

 

While it's true Veit was a mandatory both times he fought Calzaghe, had Calzaghe really wanted to avoid his mandatory, he could have. Freeman Barr was his mandatory for over 2 years and despite Barr trying to enforce the fight, Calzaghe was able to duck his mandatory.

While it's true the Veit fights are really a non issue it's a symptom of his attitude at the time. Calzaghe was happy fighting nobodies for easy paydays for much of his prime, he didn't have much ambition until the end of his career.

The only times he really went looking for a big fight prior to this was against Ottke which simply didn't make financial sense and when he tried to make a fight in 2002 against an aging, smaller fighter in Hopkins.

He get's plenty of criticism for much of his reign and rightly so. But he did finally get his act together with the fights with Lacy, Kessler and Hopkins.

 

A bit harsh on Calzaghe in my opinion and he didn't want to fight Veit the second time but was forced to due to Veits long term number one ranking (in reality isn't that how it should be) also the bookmakers in Britain actually had Lacy as the favourite and the British Boxing news expected him to beat Calzaghe so always remember before the events and not just after, I can partially agree about him staying at home as supposedly Frank ****** couldn't get him to leave the country but to suggest he was just sitting is a bit off the mark and like other promotions it's financial sense for both fighters , I won't go into the Hopkins fight as it's been done to death but never forget Frank ****** offered Hopkins what would have been his biggest purse to date years before they met so the Calzaghe camp certainly were looking for the best opponents, Calzaghe certainly deserves his accolades and his CV shows it and I genuinely can't see that he's been overrated in any way !

 

No idea just how good Calzaghe was but takes 2 to duck a fight.
Hopkins, Jones and James Tony also never thought outside their home country and were too busy having domestic fights and generally avoiding each other in their so called primes. Calzaghe was often the away fighter as most fights were in England not his home country of Wales and was often booed when entering the ring. Today we have Ward who is regarded as one of the elite but who has never thought outside his home country and whose best win is against Kessler who was also beaten by Calzaghe. When Calzaghe did fight in America he won on both occasions. The fact he got of the canvas on both occasions suggest he had certain qualities that mark him out as a good fighter. For all the plaudits Jones receives once he gets hit, he stays hit. His chin was never really tested in his early days as he was very fast and elusive. I remember many other fighters being great until they got hit. This is not to devalue the achievement of Jones who was truly blessed with speed but tell me who he beat other than a green Hopkins and James Toney (who he refused to fight again). You could maybe throw in Mike McCullum who was a pumped up middleweight but it ends there. Toney by the way never had a great resume other than a few washed out middleweights and lacked the discipline to be a true great. Ultimately we will never know who was better but the one bridge we do have is Hopkins and whether you believe he won or loss to Calzaghe we can at least agree that the fight was close and that Calazaghe did enough to suggest he belong at that elite level. Hopkins remained very competitive for many years after that fight so I believe it was a fair test away from home. The only yardstick for today's crop is Kessler and again it would suggest Calazaghe was competitive. Let's see if Ward every fights Kovalev but so far he has done nothing to suggest he was better than Calzaghe. Any fight would have been close but Calzaghe was faster than Froch and didn't cut up like Kessler (and would have butted Ward back). It would have probably gone to points and who knows.....

 

Brilliant argument. It shows a complete lack of understanding of the issue.
It isn't simply about geography, my silly boy. I'd imagine Mayweather beat 20+ world class fighters. ........Veit?

That aside, and it's been gone over before, top fighters from around the world look to fight in the USA. It isn't necessary to leave the USA to have the biggest and best fights. As a matter of fact, it is usually where they occur. That's just the reality of ths situation. It is changing as boxing is becoming less USA-centric, and it's a good thing. But the idea that the circumstances of Veit and Mayweather, or Calzaghe and Mayweather are at all similar is goofy.

 

It becomes painful how some posters really dont have a clue what they are going on about.
In 24 world title fights Calzaghe only had around half of them in the country he was living in atsch

 

What with a world title and wins over Brewer, Braehmer etc

 

Brewer was done for, and a journeyman. All these years later, Braehmer still doesn't have a world class win himself.(looking forward to Oosthuizen though, slow and steady gets you there, I guess).

What world title? I don't recall Veit holding a world title. I could be wrong.

 

lol..


Here we go again

Eubank
Hopkins
Kessler
Jones (past it)
Lacy
Bika
Brewer
Mitchell
Reid
Woodhall
Veit

All won world titles (11)

Then guys like Sheika beat Glen Johnson.

Look at Andre Ward's record

Froch - solid fighter
Kessler - worse than Calzaghe one
Dawson - What has he done since? weight drained
Bika
Abraham - done **** since
Miranda - lol, massive decline
Green - Woodhall/Sheika/Brewer/Mitchell all better than him

(5 titles between them)

Then what's after that? Edwin Rodriguez, Paul Smith? Shely Pudwill? Ward has fought his share of **** too, and he's fighting another **** fighter coming up. This is with big US networks backing.

 

What does Ward have to do with Calzaghe's wbo reign? Ward IS getting the proper criticism of his recent fights/inactivity. His career has completely stalled because of his own decisions. When he does fight, he's fighting tune ups.

That said, since you broached it, apply the same commentary that you did to Ward's opposition to Calzaghe's. That's all guys like me ask. Call it straight.

 

I like Calzaghe kept his pimp hand strong

 

:good

 

its called a fail-lie title

 

That aside, and it's been gone over before, top fighters from around the world look to fight in the USA. It isn't necessary to leave the USA to have the biggest and best fights. As a matter of fact, it is usually where they occur. That's just the reality of ths situation. [/QUOTE]

In other words American fighters always have an unfair advantage. Make no mistake any home fighter has an advantage which is why elite American fighters who do fight outside the USA have a poor record.

I am racking my brains trying to work out the last American fighter to defend or win a title overseas. I am sure they exist but Hagler is the last one I remember and that was in the 70s and I guess you could throw in Terrance Crawford although a spent Ricky Burns is no great shakes. Oh yes Rocky did ok too

Seriously Any Fighter who wins overseas at the elite level deserves respect and that includes both Calzaghe and Froch. Both also benefited from Home advantage on many occasions just like many, many American fighters. "Thats just the reality of the situation".

 

shame then that most em r u