Calzaghe announces retirement

He beat Vitali Tysypko with a torn rotator cuff. The same injury that Vitally Klitschko retired against Chris Byrd with.

Whatever the case, a former IBF champion and No2 contender cannot by any stretch of the English language be called a club fighter. He has to be regarded as a world class fighter and historicaly there are verry few cases of a world class fighter being as comprehensivley outclassed as Lacey was against Calzaghe.

 

I meant Manfredo the clubfighter - sorry!

 

My mistake.

That Lacey was overrated before the Calzaghe fight is now blindingly obvious.

We still shouldnt forgett however that many of us expected Lacey to win.

 

I was undecided to be quite honest, cautiously favouring Calzaghe.

It is unfair I guess to deride a win such as Lacy, especially given the manner of the win - even though Lacy was a hypejob, beating a guy 120-104 (on my card) is pretty emphatic.

The Americans tend to take away Lewis's victory over Michael Grant. Though that was a 2nd round stoppage, it was a similar scenario. Undefeated American knocking people out etc etc......

 

Grant was the "next big thing", people were saying even if he happened to lose to Lewis it would probably be very close and he would come again after Lewis retired.

 

Our American friends, how knowledgable they really are!

 

Enzo Mac on Calzaghe vs Froch
"Not at all," he replied when asked about whether the fight should have taken place. "I don't think Joe had anything to prove against Froch. He beats Froch 10 times out of 10.
"Froch boxed well against Jean Pascal last time and it was a good fight. He wouldn't fight light-heavy and there is no way Joe could make super-middle so that put an end to that straight away.
"Joe had nothing to prove to anyone - he was head and shoulders above anyone else so I don't think anyone could have beaten him."

 

Carl Froch, he is no Ray Leonard, and certainly no Joe Calzaghe, and can’t be mentioned in the same breath as those two great champions.Carl Froch never earned the right to be on the same canvas as Joe Calzaghe! Other than in his hometown, a bare few know the name Carl Froch, and how to spell it or pronounce it.”
–Jermain Taylor

 

"You have to deal with the hands you were dealt," said Leonard.

"You can't please all of the fans, all of the time. There will always be someone that will say you should have fought someone.

"Joe Calzaghe was supposed to be an easy opponent for Jeff Lacy to annihilated and that was a huge, huge upset for the boxing critics and historians and even myself and I didn't think Joe could beat Jeff Lacy.

"But the way he choreographed the fight was so impressive

"And even though Roy Jones was past his best, he was expected to beat Joe with his handspeed and knowledge.

"Joe has proven himself and beaten everyone that people claimed he couldn't beat with class - and that is respectful.

"Joe was a special kind of fighter."
-Sugar Ray Leonard

 

joe has got to be britans best ever boxer.all the best for the future

 

Very correct. There is no denying Joes talent or the fact that his been the number 1 since Sven retired as well as annexing all the belts which conviniently were held by Kessler (WBA WBC). But Joe had no intention of being a unified champ and nor did he want to defend his titles against all comers. He reliquished the IBF and did the same with the WBA and WBC and chased the big money in the twilight of his career. Looks very nice on paper of course but in reality his career was sorely lacking considering his abundance of natural talent.

 

The problem here was two fold. Jeff was touted as one of the best US prospects after the Olympics. Some even likened him to Mike Tyson :blood Jeff had a VERY crowd pleasing style, a great attitude and was great as a TV fighter. BUT he was as green as grass when he fought Joe, and the facts remain he was a VERY flawed fighter. This isnt hindsight as it was very apparent long before he fought Joe. Eyebrows were raised when he struggled with a shot Omar Sheika and Richard Grant, and prior to Joe had fought no one of any note. As he moved up marginally in class his style and vaunted power were exposed. That being said i am a big fan of Lacy and love his attitude in and out of the ring. He`s great for boxing as he will fight anyone. But much like when David Reid or Vargas fought Tito it was clearly the wrong time for a guy as green as Lacy to be in the ring with a veteran like Joe. That being said Joe did exactly what he was supposed to do. Either way this was just a solid win and hardly the type of win that could elevate Joe to any ATG status in boxing. Joe beating Lacy is the equivalent of Jones beating Gonzalez. Worthy contender in the division but not much else beyond that and never went on to achieve much in this sport.

 

Nothing you have said here is unreasonable.

I think however that a few observations have to be made:

Joe was willing to step up to the plate later in his career.

He fought Lacey who everybody thought would beat him however misguidedly. To give him his due a lot of people here confidently predicted that he would pull out of the fight with some bullsh1t excuse.

He fought Kessler, and lets face it Calzaghe Kessler was the dream fight everybody here talked about for a while.

The same people who downgrade Lacey picked Lacey to beat him.

The same people who hold up Kessler as his sole good win talked before the fight as if it was his chance at redemption.

The same people who describe Hopkins as a faded great picked Hopkins to beat him.


If you pick sombody to beat fighter A you give fighter A his due if he upsets the odds in your opinion.

 

Agreed. Good fights but again not the type of fights that could elevate him to any ATG type status. Good names on his ledger nothing more or less though. Up to this day i still dont understand the guys that actually thought Lacy would KO Joe. I expected Joe to beat Lacy by UD but certainly not to beat him up the way he did. As for the Kessler fight too little was known about him to make any judgments. Most went on the statistics , undefeated, unified WBA WBC, and used that as some sort of angle as to the beating of Joe. Prior to that fight id seen Kessler fight once against journeyman Andre Thysse. Worthy opponent most defintly, the kind of name to elevate Joes status in boxing, no way.

 

Lacey was obviously overrated.

But lets not forget exactly what was going on before the Calzaghe fight.

The majority of people on this board thought that Calzaghe was a sacrificial lamb though few will admit it today.

The BBC drew up a list of how they had fared against comon oponents and Lacey had the edge in all but one.

Calzaghe sustained a hand injury in training and wanted to cancel the fight then thought better of it.

I was a Calzaghe critic before that fight. I said that I would give him credit for lasting the distance (yes I said it).