Hopkins won about 3 rounds v Calzaghe... Atrocious scoring by many on that fight. Hopkins grabbed more than Mayweather.
I'm not a big fan of Calzaghe's but I do respect and acknowledge his talent and career. His win over a Kessler was really the fight that sealed it for me. At that time, Kessler was a young hungry champion seen as the next great fighter in boxing. I thought he was going to beat Calzaghe for sure and was really wrong.
It was no whitewash but after some uncomfortable moments early, he adjusted and took over. It was a good solid fight but a clear UD.
Beat Kessler comprehensively, no one else did that apart from a filthy Andre Ward. Beat Hopkins when Hopkins still very much a live dog. I thought he beat Hopkins easily after the first 3 ounds, all Hopkins ever did after the KD was hug and throw the odd right hand, he tried to be dirty with Joe but Joe wasn't having it. Calzaghe wasn't prime either. Beat Lacy who was the next big thing. Beat Roy Jones, Jones was pretty shot but Calzaghe beat him easily too. Beat several decent contenders comfortably. He managed to fight people at the right time and was very careful in his matches. Mayweather did the same. Marciano's career worked out in a similar vein. Calzaghe however adjusted better than Mayweather and there was never any controversy with Calzaghe's wins as far as I'm concerned. Mayweather and Marciano beat more names, Calzaghe has less depth but he was arguably more dominant than them in what he did manage to accomplish and clearly good enough to be held on a similar level.
I agree somewhat. For the majority of his career, he fought the best that was available to him with the exception of Ottke and Beyer which I don't pin on him 100% especially after seeing how his former Opponent Robin Ried got robbed blind in Germany against Ottke. I think he would have beaten both for the record and don't blame him for not wanting to fight over there. The Super Middleweight division had some talented guys but it lacked the star power of the more popular divisions of that era like the Welterweight and Jr Middleweight which were stacked. I think it was a good not great era but all a fighter can do is fight the best in his division at I do believe he did that at least twice with Lacy, Kessler and arguably with Bryron Mitchell, Charles Brewer and Robin Ried. This is going to sound like a copout answer but I think he is both over and underrated if that makes sense. The guy was blessed with incredible hand speed and always found a way to win.
I remember on the boxing circle with the SMWs they were all chatting and I remember Cowzagi just butting in saying he was undefeated when they were on the topic of the right plan beating anyone... I also vaguely remember Roy getting a bit of flak and cheek from most of them. The whole time I was watching I could not help but think Jones would destroy all of them in his prime and make it look easy.
