Nelson wasn`t as skiled as Calzaghe P4P and was unproven at lightweight, Chavez never had a good performance after that bout with Whitaker, Calzaghe`s rear hand was far more effective than Oscar`s who far too one fisted.
Not so sure about the " Lots " to be frank, think you are being a bit disingenuous about a truly good fighter, who I don't enjoy watching , but give him a lot credit for what he achieved in his long and undefeated career.
Chavez fought Randall and Taylor after Pea. How does Calzaghe’s rear hand have any relevance to what I said? Oscar was a huge challenge to Pea at that stage of his career. And he put in a great performance. It was controversial. And Oscar is another kind of opponent that Joe wouldn’t have taken in Pea’s position.
I don’t see why not. He had 30 plus fights against domestic and European level opposition. So that made up most of his resume. You then had a faded Eubank, Reid, Woodhall, Brewer and the like. Then there was an overhyped Lacy, a very good, but not great fighter in Kessler, then Hopkins and a shot version of Jones. Joe was a great fighter, but there’s nothing great about his resume.
Oscar didn`t throw many right hands at pea. Taylor was finished by the time of his rematch v Chavez and was nowhere near the fighter he was in the first bout v Chavez, Kessler was a top contender when Joe fought him, Taylor was no longer a top contender when he met Chavez in the second fight and was a huge underdog.
Mark, once again, most of your points are completely irrelevant. Oscar didn’t throw many right hands at Pea? And? Oscar didn’t throw many right hands against most of his opponents. That isn’t the point. The point, is that a faded version of Pea fought a great fighter in Oscar. An Oscar who was younger, fresher and who was significantly bigger. Pea put it on the line. He fought Oscar and Tito. Joe would not have taken those fights in Pea’s position. Does Chavez not deserve credit for fighting Taylor and Randall?