I just saw a thread from another poster who mentioned how Joe could clean out todays 168 division if he was here in his prime. While I'm not a fan of Joe (although he was one of the first fighters I watched- him vs Bika to be precise) I do feel he could do well against them. I feel he could give Froch a boxing lesson as well as Abraham. I also think by using the movement he showed in the Lacy fight he would give Johnson/Green hell and not let them gain momentum. He also showed how he would deal with Kessler back in 2007. The only questions for me how would he deal with the speed and athleticism of the Dirrel (from Abraham fight, not Froch) and against Andre Ward. The Ward fight is interesting to me, Bika managing to win 3-4 rounds against him (in sane, neutral judges) shows a vulnerability there. What do you think?
As much as I dislike cockzaghe he would probably beat up most of the guys at 68, guy had great heart and a granite chin. I think Ward with his combo of skill, will to win and athleticism would give him a lot of issues but he's too raw right now for a prime calzaghe. Dirrell would fold like origami, Bute has about as much chance as Ward but I think he'd get pressured and wouldnt be comfortable
he would stay unbeaten because there's no way he would have fought ward. he wouldn't even fight ottke.
Joe is best to remain retired. Without Frank Warren, he is the average hyped and protected club fighter.
Better than Lopez? While I know Calzaghe's average opponent is better than Lopez but Lopez was more consistent and had a full a skillset.
Dirrell and Ward would give him the toughest bouts like you said. Abraham, too limited...Froch out-boxed him. Froch, Joe would out-box, and/or out-brawl him. Green, ......... Johnson, Joe's work-rate would not allow Johnson's work-rate to be effective.
no, i should have wrote that he didn't fight ottke. i know joe is better than sven but it would have been nice to see him beat that bum.
Calzaghe ducked Euro-level challenges. He would lose to Ward, Dirrell, Erdei, and Ottke, and a least a dozen and a half SMW that I have researched. He barely scraped by an old Hopkins. I cannot believe he gets ranked so highly for beating opponents like Mitchell and Manfredo for an entire career.