Joe Calzaghe Vs. Roy Jones Junior @168

Obviously it's specious and dishonest and centred on just picking a fighter you like to win, using their actual fight as some sort of factual gotcha.

I do tend though to be careful to a point against over fixating on Calzaghe being flat and uninspiring against some of the cannon fodder types like Salem, Thornberry, Starie etc. Injury, lack of motivation, personal problems and a tendency to fight down to his opponents level were the main cause of performances like that imo. When something serious was on the line, he tended to step up to the plate and look sharp more often than not. Eubank, Lacy, Kessler, Brewer etc, even the second half of the Hopkins fight however f*ck ugly and offensively hideous it was.

 

Did you see the Mitchell fight?

How awful his technique was, and how open he was?

Very scrappy and very sloppy, until he caught him.

A better fighter than Mitchell would have dropped him/knocked him out, had he have had those opportunities.

 

this thread is flypaper for butthurt roidstans

 

RJJ turns Joe average at 168.

 

Was at the fight mate, fun times. Been many years since I'd seen it tbh but I've just been back and rewatched it. I'd forgotten a bit what a brilliant if wild scrap it was.

Calzaghe largely beat the snot out of him though other than the knockdown I thought. He was mostly sharp and focused by his standards in the first round, lasered in and imposed himself rather spitefully on Mitchell from the off. The odd risky flail and opening up of himself up trying to get off at close range moving from a dipping position to square on and upright (partly how he ended up in his arse in the 2nd) He just about dodged a right hand counter at one point that would have really hurt him if it had landed flush. He did show though what a fine, spiteful and precise infighter he could be when going about it properly and really rinsed Mitchell to the body.

Mitchell looked overwhelmed and wobbly and the end of the first and I thought that was when Calzaghe became more reckless and overconfident in the 2nd and didn't show Mitchell the respect he deserved as a very big puncher, which got him sat on his arse. A very hard compact punch that he should have seen coming but didn't. He recovered quickly though and didn't look phased, his chin and powers of recovery were excellent.

He WAS wild in the follow up and dug in like a lion winging away square on with his chin up that could have been disastrous but ended up rapidly paying off as it turned out.

It might be true that a better fighter could have finished him off but it's speculation really. I tend to think that someone would have done it to him at some point in his career if it was something waiting to inevitably occur.

 

Also, there was a lovely little nod of acknowledgement to Howard Winstone from Ian Darke just before the opening bell that I appreciated.

I've sort of made my peace with Calzaghe and have a quiet confidence of my view of him formed over the years (simply put that I rate him lower than the British boxing establishment does but higher than some fans). All relative to the big historical picture I hope. It's not wrong imo to say that he could beat, say, Ward, Toney, Bivol or Kovalev on a given night, but running a gauntlet in the 70s could easily lose to a Scott, Jesse Burnett, Richie Kates type or be in a struggle a bit with a Chris Finnegan while beating someone like Lonnie Bennett or Len Hutchins.

His opposition was sometimes Golovkin/Ricardo Lopez/Khaosai Galaxy level of horrific in an all-time sense, and he didn't always routinely crush them in the way that the other three did (though not for lack of ability imo). He was sloppy and unorthodox sometimes but still truly excellent at his best and a natural fighter.

 

Joe lived in 168 like Hagler and Monzon lived in 160 - Jones was obviously a great fighter, but a prime Joe would be a tough fight because of his speed and movement.
Could go either way - game plan and ability to change up but far from an easy fight for either man at 168 primes.

 

Jones, without hesitation.

 

Jones was on another level at 168. Untouchable. In his prime barely lost a round against world class opposition. Dazzling speed and reflexes.