Better resume: Calzaghe at 168 or Hopkins at 160?

This is tough.

Hopkins best wins are overrated as sin, and Calzaghe's - as questionable as they are - are in fact better.

But Hopkins probably has the better resumé based on the total crap Calzaghe did sometimes fight.

 

well you can argue that 22 is more defences!

I think a lot of people have missed the point of the question, it is not who is the best fighter or who would win head to head but is who has the best record at their predominant weight, so answering the actual question I would say..... Calzaghe.

Ok Hopkins biggest wins are;

Tito
People saying the win over tito is not legit because he was going up in weight is rubbish as Tito was the favourite, had proved himself against a top MW and looked unstoppable at the time!

DLH
With this one I don't think Hopkins deserves too much credit for this one, he beat a past his best fighter who was moving up to a division which was way too high for him and his only fight at the weight was a heavily disputed win over an average champ.

Johnson
Well at the time Johnson was just known as a tough journeyman who would go anywhere and fight anyone, after the Hopkins fight he lost a few fights (some that he should have been awarded the win) and only really proved himself at LHW.

Other notable wins are Vs Eastman and Joppy but neither are or were worldclass.

Ok Calzaghe

Eubank
Eubank was somewhat past it but did have a couple of good fights against the Cat at cruiser later on where he proved he still had something left in the tank. Not a massive win to some but for your shot at the title pretty impressive going against a seasoned pro and champ like Eubank.

Lacy
With the Lacy fight, Lacy was favourite and everyone thought he would have an easy fight with Joe. Joe destroyed him and I think that has contributed with injury and him being a bit overated to why he has not done anything since the Calzaghe fight.

Kessler
Easily Joe's biggest win at SMW against a young hungry champ who had 2 belts and has since picked up the WBA title (vacant though it was).

other notable victories being Veit who he dominated twice, a close fight with a good champ in Reid and a win over the always tricky Bika.

Joe also never lost at 168 whereas Hopkins lost 3 at 160 (although RJJ was pretty much unbeatable then).

I actually think Hopkins best wins were at LHW against Pavlik and Tarver.

 

Calzaghe does. Hopkins met rather weak names plus a couple of smaller guys.

Overall there is a good chance that Hopkins.. well - no.. let me put it in another way - Hopkins HAS the stronger resume overall. But that is because of Tarver and even Pavlik.

However at their main weights Calzaghe had the stronger reign. Hopkins was also ousted by Taylor, while Calzaghe took on a fighter as strong or stronger than Taylor and won. Calzaghe reigned and left on his own terms while Hopkins got beaten and then beaten again and then left...

 

You know, they are rather closer than I thought...

 

this is very true:good

they are almost mirrors of each other in some ways.

 

Overall the resumes are fairly close. But three of Hopkins best five wins came at light heavyweight, Calzaghe has the better resume at the weight he spent most of his career at.

 

I'll wait to see what Kessler goes on to accomplish before making a call here. If he has an impressive career from here on out I'd give the edge to Joe.

 

wbo?

 

In most comparisons, Hopkins wins. He was the better fighter, with the better resume and greater accomplishments, IMO.

 

It doesn't matter what three letters the belt are, it's who you defend it against.

If a fighter defended his WBU belt against top fighters, I'd rate that reign higher than a fighter defending their more 'valuable' WBC/WBA/IBF belt against total dog**** (not that that will ever happen given the WBU's shite mandatories.)

I'd have Hopkins' 160 resume over Calzaghe's 168 resume, but it's close.

 

Joe clearly, Hopkins beat up washed up champs and nobodies.

Overall Joe also, after all, Joe smashed Hopkins then RJJ the man who beat Hopkins first, this is just preposterous.

 

Kill yourself arran.

 

Joe's wins over Hopkins and RJJ don't come in to it as they were at LHW!

 

LMAO

No response needed.