Joe Calzaghe superstar is the epitome of what an ALPHA MALE looks like.....something @ HerolGee will never be.
It was a close fight especially with the KD. Bhop started off like vintage Bhop but lost most of the middle and late rounds. It wouldn't have been a robbery if some had to for Bhop...Joe was frustrated especially early due to some of the dirty tactics he had to deal with from Hopkins. Joe eventually acclimated to Bhop and took over, but it was still a close fight at the end of the day. I can agree there were elements of "vintage hopkins" in that fight. A lot of holding, spinning, straight rights, hitting behind the head but slick enough to get away with most of the fouls.
I don't think he had many things stacked against him when he fought Bernard. Adalaide Byrd's card for GG-Canelo was a disgrace. But a lot of people had Bernard beating Joe based upon landing the cleaner, more effective shots. It was really a contest of quality vs quantity. I know that Enzo Calzaghe was extremely worried. I had the fight as a draw, but I've only seen it the one time.
Your reasons don't stack up. You keep saying it was a quality win. Quality how? How was beating a shot version of Roy quality, after he'd said he Roy was shot and he had been for 4 years? You're just arguing for the sake of it. Plenty of pointless fights gets made. And that's because boxing is a ruthless business. Yes, there was an interest. Yes, there was money to be made. But to knowledgeable fans, it was pointless. How could Roy have perceived it as a cherry pick? Again, Joe personally contacted Roy to make the fight, after he'd dismissed him live on Setanta Sports. It wasn't a quality win, it wasn't noteworthy, and it wasn't memorable. It was a guy fighting a faded legend, a faded legend who he would never have fought when he was anywhere near his best.
Joe was getting on. But he was still a top level fighter, coming off of 2 of the best wins of his career. Whereas Roy hadn't had a top level win for 5 years, and he was coming off of a win over a 172 pound Tito who hadn't fought for 3 years.
joe's best win against a prime fighter was mikkel Kessler ward beat kovalev twice in his prime end of story, and not even close
It didn't have to be that way though. He could have been known if he'd have gone to the U.S. and moved up to LHW much earlier.
he never proved he was special he allowed frank warren to run his career which is why he never faced the best fighters of his era in their prime
Ha! On the thread titled: "Andre Ward at SMW" you have dismissed his wins over Kessler and Froch etc, yet here you are hyping Joe's wins over the likes of: Sheika, Mkrtchyan and Starie etc. What a joker you are. Joe didn't really achieve more than Andre, he just had more fights.
I have watched enough footage of Calzaghe to believe he was a great fighter. Trust me I wanted to hate him for a long time
How can it not be close? Joe has the numbers in his favour, but other than that, it's a hard question to answer.