Joe Calzaghe accepting hes award...

Joe would never come back. He is an old man.

 

He's rich,still has his mind intact and has his health.Why should he come back?He doesn't need it anymore.I'm not a supporter,but I love to see fighters be successful and get out before they suffer any permanent injuries.I've read that he may get into the promotional aspect of the sport.If he does that kudos to him.Why the **** should bloodsuckers like King,Arum and Warren make the millions without having paid the price?If he's successful at promoting,maybe other former boxers will follow.GBP seems to be doing well.

 

I'm in the camp that thinks the US fighters should have been coming across to fight JC earlier. He held the belts. If other boxers wanted unity, they'd have fought him. They didn't...

That's always been an issue facing boxers outside the US. No recognition from the US fight fans. Yet you don't see those same fans complaining that their own fighters don't go overseas. From Pavlik, to Mayweather; RJJ to B-Hop; US or nothing. Doesn't make them cowards at all, but it does mean that they missed fighting some awesome boxers in their prime.

So, JC's certainly a man with his heart in Wales. Doesn't make him a coward either. And he proved a number of times that he was willing to make tough fights: £1 to fight Ottke - and £0 to fight B-Hop - both in their prime. Neither one agreed to it because JC wasn't such a big name back then.

So what I'm saying is that JC didn't get the fights, because he wasn't American. Looking at Froch; he's gone out of his way to call out US fighters in the US - and all credit to him for that. But I just don't see any US fighters going out of their way to look worldwide for the best challengers. No different from JC.

 

... boring fighter with an incredible work rate?

Seems a bit of an odd statement...

 

I'm working on another project right now. Here's a bit transcribed from the last three rounds of commentation on the Calzaghe vs Kessler fight. Remember: the commentators were in favour of Kessler dominating.

Round 9: Calzaghe is very, very special. I’m just so impressed with Calzaghe. Looking at the things he’s doing he’s shown that’s got everything in the book. [in the ninth]: he’s fighting with the same tempo he was in the first round. He’s willing to take risks, over and over, to let his hands go.
There we see the body punches again, which I would never have expected that Calzaghe would have been more effective in a fight with body punches than Kessler. I would have thought that Calzaghe would have been more effective in a fight with his jabs and regular head punches.
Round 10: Joe Calzaghe’s just given him a boxing lesson.... Calzaghe’s had a lot of tough fights. The Kessler camp just weren’t prepared for this kind of a war... Kessler’s never been hurt in a fight. Maybe they didn’t think it was possible [against Calzaghe].
Calzaghe looks cool as a cucumber. He’s obviously more comfortable in a fight than Kessler. [Kessler] is into a desperation mode, hoping to throw enormous right hand counterpunches hoping to catch Calzaghe.
Two great superfighters, maybe two of the best fighters in any weight division... I think there is something to be said for being unconventional. You can prepare to fight someone who is conventional. There is nobody else in the world exactly like Joe Calzaghe. It looks to me like Calzaghe has broken Kessler in the second half of that round.
Round 11: Kessler has had a very good fight, but he’s just been fighting a phenomenal fighting machine. Against any other fighter in any other weight division he would be more successful. Calzaghe is all in a zone by himself. Great fighter. He’s been in a zone by himself for a long time. In his amateur and professional career, Joe Calzaghe hasn’t lost a fight in 17 years. There’s lot of people who have denigrated his record, but if you look at it, there’s a reason [he’s been undefeated]. He is really impressive.
Kessler is seven years younger, two inches taller, two inches longer in the arm. Kessler is determined still to win this fight. As he’s been chopped down, he’s throwing back. This isn’t an exposure that Kessler is less than something he was supposed to be. This is a fantastic performance by a fantastic fighting machine in JC. Kessler puts up a great and spirited fight, but between rounds he just looks absolutely shellshocked. You know why he is shellshocked: because he’s not doing anything wrong. Calzaghe is a fighter where you can do everything right and he’ll make it come out wrong.
Round 12: Comment from Kessler (prefight): Joe’s style is to spoil your boxing. I’m faster than JC, I’m stronger than JC.
These are super middleweights. They are harking back to the great middleweight matchups of all time. They would be proud of watching these guys. Calzaghe’s almost in a Ray Robinson position, where, as good as I might be in the SM division, I don’t know if this guy can be beaten by what’s out there right now.
Great fights often come down to the force of will. JC’s will, for 44 fights now, has been indomitable.
Post fight: We thought JC’s bag of tricks was empty. We were wrong.
Kessler: I don’t think his power is really hard, but it confuses one when he punches like that 20 times in a row. He came out and started imposing. He took my breath away. By the sixth round I was having problems. I’ll just have to do it better next time.

 

like pac used oscaris thesame ****

 

Belts?? He had the WBO belt, thats it. What the **** are you talking about.

 

\o/ Another idiot that grabs one thing they think they can use their whole argument. Take it for read that I know his belt history. I note that you didn't comment on anything else I said.

Yes, he held the WBO for a decade. Because no half-decent US fighter was willing to fight out of his back yard. He added the IBF from Lacy. You'd have thought that he'd be MORE of a draw after that with two belts ... but again - no half decent US fighter willing to come over and fight. IMO chances are he'd have faced his defining fight if any of them had. As it is, we'll never know just how good JC was/could have been.

Much as Lacey has been denigrated since then, at least he had the balls to face JC come what may. He was damned sure that he'd walk away a winner tho'. I doubt that he'd have taken the fight otherwise.

And before you go on to talk about Manfredo - JC's career lowpoint IMO, I doubt there's a single journeyman from any country that would have NOT wanted a shot at the title.

Pity no US fighter with any balls - Lacy aside - was willing to go overseas to take a shot at Calzaghe's '0' and adding a belt into the bargain. Only after he belts up with Kessler that you start to see fighters coming after him. Because by that point there was no way to ignore him. I wish it had been sooner.

It is a great shame - the whole point behind my comment. It would have been awesome if they had, and we'd have had more decent fights by which to judge them all.

But I take it you saw something you didn't like and failed to look past that, Ed7890.

 

This is exactly right, couldn't have put it better.

 

He comes across okay there. Meh, we all have our opinions on Joe. The RJJ fight was a joke and his crippling fear of failure definitely held him back, but he beat Kessler and Lacy fair and square and they were good wins. I felt Hopkins should have got the nod in their fight but it was close and you can't really argue too much either way.

 

You make some very good points. But your pissing in to the wind with this lot.
80% of posters on here are 18yr old fan boys who are not interested in fact. And will just **** on anyone who does not come from the the united **** i love my country **** everyone else states.

 

Exactly!

 

Sorry there, didn't bother to put together a point by point analysis of the **** you are spouting, i had other things to be doing.

Your whole argument is based on the fact that the top fighters were avoiding Joe, that they didnt have the balls, and wouldnt come to chase his WBO belt and his '0', like getting them would have been the pinnacle of boxing achievement. Why would they want these exactly?

You use alot of emotive language to make your point seem stronger. That Joe was a man "with his heart in Wales". Or that he couldn't get bigger fights because "he wasn't American", as if its some sort of racist agenda.

Your arguments are full of contradictions.

You compare Joe's "plight" to Froch, but they're completely different. Froch is taking the risks, and if he is successful he will be able to attract the big fights back to his home. Thats how it works, when people all over the world know your name, the best will come to fight you.

You also slag off other fighters balls, and also say how no " no half decent US fighter " was willing to come and fight. So first, your admitting that Joe was facing poor opposition up until Lacy. Thats 10 years of poor quality defences. Also, who's balls are in question, when Joe is the person being happy to take these poor defences for so long.

The fact of the matter is this. Joe had nothing to offer for a long to time to make it worth while for anybody to come and fight him. Its not because they had no balls, but he had little to offer.

People always slag off americans for not fighting outside their country the same as Joe. Well its not the same. The biggest fights and the biggest audiences are in the States. And thats a fact, why do you think Joe took his last 2 money-making fights in the US. If you want to be big, you'll have to go there. Maybe Joe didnt want to be big, and if he didnt thats fine, but dont go around saying he's the greatest then.

 

How long you been watching boxing? BELTS? Plural? He held the WBO belt, one that was long considered a trinket until only recently. He didn't unify with Lacy and Kessler until almost a DECADE of defending the WBO against a parade of fighters who wouldn't make the Top 30 P4P.

When he was crying that he was being ducked, why then wouldn't he move up to 175 where there were plenty of challenges? Calzaghe ducked Johnson multiple times.

 

The WBO strap is still a trinket. JC could have actively sought the Jones fight earlier in his career if he'd wanted to.