Another nail in Sloppy Joe's "legacy".

Merely 20? Closer to a hundred, a lot of which i would favor p4p. Which also coincidently is where i rank Joe, probably on the wrong side of 100. He was a very good fighter and should be proud of his accomplishments.

 

That's all very well, but who was he supposed to face that he didn't?

Ottke - well known Ottke never wanted to fight Calzaghe, almost to taunt Ottke, Calzaghe started beating the guys Ottke struggled with in their very next fight after Ottke - Mitchell and Reid come to mind.

Beyer - Beyer was never that great, but sure, a champ Calzaghe didn't get to unification with, but Calzaghe beat Kessler who beat Beyer, etc.

Benn, Collins and co were all at the end of their careers when Calzaghe was starting his, Benn has come out and said that Calzaghe would have been the best of the lot in his era, Eubank shares that sentiment.

Hopkins and Jones Jr - seriously? How is an unknown European fighter going to attract fights with Hopkins or Jones Jr when the money would be so poo? Regardless of this, he did sign to fight Hopkins but Hopkins renegged on their deal, the fights weren't possible until after the Lacy fight.

Lacy in his own way was the catalyst to show us that Calzaghe wasn't really afraid of the big challenge.

He fought Lacy at a time where everyone thought this kid was about to take the world by storm, lets not forget that Lacy beat some pretty "decent" fighters prior to Calzaghe too.

Lacy gave Calzaghe a name recognition, owing to the performance, from that point on....

He fought Manfredo Jr - money fight only, I couldn't understand why he did it at the time but from what I gather, he was struggling to find anyone else due to Beyer being tied up with Kessler.

He fought Bika, this is the fight after Bika was busting up then champ Beyer before a headbutt stoppage, a rough tough fight where he beat him - Bika went on to establish himself a decent solid contender at the weight after this.

He then stepped it up and fought Kessler, the #1 and #2 of the division, at a time where many felt Kessler was doing enough to be on the fringes of P4P.

Then he fought Hopkins - this is after Hopkins had dispatched Tarver, who was the target of Calzaghe, Hopkins proved since he wasn't by any stretch of the imagination shot when he dealt to Pavlik so convincingly.

Then he signed out with Jones Jr - again, an interesting enough fight, Jones Jr had some credible wins since coming back into the reckoning, he was dispatched easily by Calzaghe.

What fights should have been made? Pavlik vs Calzaghe? Admittedly yes, but Pavlik lost to Hopkins and really took himself out of the running there after.

Dawson vs Calzaghe? I wanted this fight to be made and saw no reason it couldn't, it seemed to be the way things were pushing at one point but then again - Dawson really wasn't a name at the time Calzaghe was signing the Hopkins and Jones Jr fights.

Glen Johnson vs Calzaghe? This fight should have happened, but owing to injury and circumstance, it never did - does anyone doubt Johnson would simply be out boxed in this fight? Stamina wise, Johnson isn't going to outwill and outlast Calzaghe like he does other fighters.

Dig into the career, realise quite a few of the guys he beat were at the time, the best fights available. The Manfredo Jr type fights? Paydays mate, everyone takes them - look at Hopkins vs Ornelas for proof.

 

Calzaghe beat Hopkins easily.

Notice how much the haters hate Calzaghe?

 

At 168 - Jones Jr is the only guy who would be a favorite against a prime Calzaghe. Even then, I have a sneaking suspicion there were enough intangibles in Calzaghe's favour that he MAY have found a way to upset.

From 160-175 - well, some people like to be nostalgic, but realistically, take Spinks and Jones Jr out and then you've got Hopkins, Monzon, Hagler, Calzaghe and Toney fighting for the scraps of who is P4P ranked at that weight.

Of course most American's won't see it that way, Calzaghe also has the "We never know how good he was, cause he never lost" stigma... but I think he showed it in his wins why he didn't lose - the guy had a heart the size of Texas, an iron jaw, stamina reserves unlike near any other fighter and that went with no shortage of handspeed, great footwork, good adaptable defense and ring generalship as good as anyone in recent memory.

 

Finally, a person who can use their brain. A few points though. I believe the Manfredo fight was supposed to setup a fight with Taylor. Calzaghe had to vacate one of his belts before the fight because Steiglitz was due for a shot and nobody wanted to see that fight.

Johnson had already been beaten by Sheika, Ottke, Hopkins, and many more. Calzaghe wouldn't have gained much from taking him on.

Dawson does seem to be the only fight for him when you look at things. But Dawson has no following, a boring style, etc, so there would be no payday. Plus he hadn't beaten anybody that Hopkins or Jones hadn't beaten, besides Adamek (a good win, though). I think Calzaghe would have gotten the same sort of response he got for beating Lacy: beat up an overrated kid who didn't have any real credentials. Not only that, but the fight would probably be boring as hell.

 

You overrate Calzaghe to unprecadented levels. This is a guy that got dropped against ancient versions of Jones and Hopkins in the first round. Guys like Spinks and Foster would be a massacre. Name a big puncher that Joe faced. I am not going to even bother with lightheavys or middleweights the list is too long.

Jones is nowhere near his biggest threat.

Prime Watson, Eubank would be interesting fights, more than that is slightly overeaching.

 

You are making comparisons between Lacy and Dawson? :think

 

Nope, but everyone else would be if Joe had whooped on Dawson.

"Well, Dawson was just over-hyped, he wasn't really all that good in the first place, Joe winning doesn't prove a thing."

Not saying the outcome would be anything like the Lacy fight, but the criticism would be the same.

 

:good Don't even have 2 defend Calzaghe. Anyone with a brain can see how stupid this is.