I already respect Josh Taylor more than that sneering coward Joe Calzaghe. At least Josh Taylor has the balls to take on everybody. Joe Calzaghe did not have the balls to take on so many fighter's. I mean, come on, he pulled out of fighting Glen Johnson THREE times. Cowardly stuff. Ducked Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins for year's. Ducked Carl Froch for years, saying "I'd beat him anyway" whilst fighting bums like Tucker Pudwill and Peter Manfredo amongst many other complete tomato cans. This guy didn't have the guts to take on fighter's that actually pose any sort of challenge to him. Weakest resume ever for the amount of hype he has amongst his diehard fans. Ducked so many other fighter's too. This is why I respect Ricky Hatton and Carl Froch more. Both had the desire and the balls to take on the best out there. No ducking or dodging. They earned respect.
Kessler for sure was not unique, had mhmm, a lot of easy fights and also some hard fights. To be fair, with punch precision level he in some fights was seriously better than prime Usyk's versions. Not rare cases these were over the hill Kessler's versions.
Some folks can't put their irrational hatred of Calzaghe aside to form a balanced opinion.. let's look tho.. was someone like Baranchyk really any better or more accomplished than i.e Lacy at the time? I doubt it, Lacy was highly touted ... a former Olympian who'd been the first to KO Reid.. Taylor has never utterly ruined a rival champion like that. People called Lacy a scrub because of what he went on to do but this was a guy that won over 200 fights as an amateur… You don't do that or literally walk through a very solid fighter like Reid if you don't know what you are doing.. So I'd say right now it's Calzaghe b/c Taylor & his contemporaries are still building their legacies. -Kessler 5X titlist at 168. Would go onto walk down Froch for 12 rounds. -Hopkins has won the WBA, WBC, IBF & ring the title at 175. Had recently beaten Tarver & Wright. -Mitchell two time WBA champion & lineal champion. KOd the likes of frankie Liles & should have been unified champion at 168 after he clearly beat Otke. .. Eubank, Reid, Brewer, Woodhall, Bika etc.. However, Taylors resume for 18 fights & 6 years a pro is incredibly deep & eclipse Calzaghes earlier years by some way. But overall Ramirez, Postol , Baranchyk, Prograis, Vasquez, Martin etc don't trump those wins I listed .. Hopkins is an ATG & Kessler a borderline HOFer.
Kessler would be his best in prime win, however I think Hopkins was his best win despite no longer quite in his prime
Did you know pudwill was a late replacement for another fighter.... And that Hopkins priced himself out of the Calzaghe fight by demanding double the money?
I know folks have a dislike of Calzaghe, but some facts should be checked. It's true that Calzgahe did pull out of fights with Glen Johnson 3 times, but his problems with his hands were well documented, and as much as I like the Road Warrior, there's no way that Calzaghe was either afraid of him, or their match would have ended up anything other than a wide UD. Should Joe have left Warren, went to US earlier (like Hatton for example)? Yes I think he should have, but a deal was struck with Hopkins in 2003 and it was Bernard that doubles his price demands; from 3million to 6, then fought William Joppy for less than a 3rd of what he would have got for the Calzaghe fight. Did Bernard duck Joe? As others have argued, it's possible Hopkins felt that Joe had no name in the US and did not deserve the payday and fight - and was maybe High-risk low-reward. But Calzaghe most definitely did NOT duck Hopkins. RJJ, I don't think a fight between them was ever mooted or on the cards as Roy's pitstop @168 on his way to that legendary Heavyweight win, was well before Joe's breakout fight against Chris Eubank in 1997 (Jones IIRC went up and beat Mike McCallum in 1996 in his first fight at 175). Sure, Joe could have moved up to 175 in search of greatness earlier maybe, but he never ducked Roy, that fight was simply never in the vicinity of being made. And Froch, gain, Froch was never really going to get the Calzaghe fight, and agin not because of ducking - just the timing; the same way that Cazlaghe missed out on Collins, Benn and Watson, Froch missed out on Calzaghe. It's on record that Calzaghe knew he was more or less done after the Kessler fight and wanted big bucks fights, and his longevity had earned that even if he did not unify 168 earlier. Froch beat Pascal for the WBC in late December 2008; Calzaghe had already moved up to outpoint Hopkins 8 months before in April of that year. After Kessler, the names I was hearing being bandied about for Joe to fight were mostly Kelly Pavlik and Chad Dawson, NOT Carl Froch. And resume wise Joe made the right decision there, IMO B-Hop was the harder fight than Froch, he finally went to the US and he moved up. How anyone could suggest that Joe should have fought Froch then instead of Hopkins I can't understand. But Zags doesn't get a pass either - for him and Ottke to both have 20+ defences and never have faced each other is a DISGRACE to the sport that makes Spence and Crawford look like nothing at all. He spent way too long with Warren, and should have went out of his comfort zone more often. Because he could have been much greater than he was IMO.
The guy must be trolling or never watched their first fight, Ive watched that first fight at least 3 times, and each time I had Froch winning. It was a close great fight.
He's undefeated because he got more gift decisions than Joe Biden in Novembers election. Mitchell, Reid & Brewer all beat Otke.
It wasn't even close , Froch was soundly beaten & outworked that night .. you've obviously never watched it because there are rounds in that fight where Froch barely does anything LOL.. he got beaten at his own game of shock and awe that night.. no one has ever really done that to Froch other than Kessler… Froch was totally dejected after the final bell… Kessler beat him at his own game basically… It was an impressive win… you just want to dismiss it because you know an ageing Calzaghe beat a PRIME Kessler soundly and Keslers subsequent win over Froch makes that a quality win for Joe.. I watched the fight again last year & made a thread on it.. & even arrogant Froch admits he lost it fair & square these days.. Froch definitely won the second one but that was a Kessler with 1 foot out the door already, but he never came close to winning the first one. Try watching it. [url]https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/giving-froch-kessler-i-a-rewatch.665560/[/url]
Fk sake , you make ridiculous statement after ridiculous statement… how the **** couldn't Kessler outbox someone that Kelly pavlik schooled? .. you do know Taylor's resume at SMW right? KOd by Abraham, KOd by Froch, dropped by Truax , even a SHOT Lacy dropped him & had his moments with him.. You think Taylor would beat Kessler? Really? LOL.. Mikkel would steam roll him.. I don't care that he started well against Froch, he finished BADLY
In context, Calzaghes best wins were Lacy, Kessler, and Hopkins. Recall that there existed tremendous hype around Lacy, who was heralded as 'the mini Tyson'. Joe destroyed his career in a huge upset. Kessler was at his prime against Joe in what was billed as the biggest fight in Europes history , filling an attendance of 55k in a solid fight. Joe hurt Hopkins badly in the nineth, causing Hopkins to pull that phony liw blow BS in the 10th that gave him a five minute respite, more than ample time to recover. It was Bernards first loss to a "white boy". Trash Calzaghe as desired but the man was a great fighter. Josh isn't quite at that level yet, but certainly on his way.
Josh Taylor does not have victories over Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins, two legends in American boxing. Maybe if he can beat Crawford, he'll close the gap a little.
