Calzaghe: "Jones is a Legend, Not Hopkins"

you can call him a 43 year old career middleweight, or you can call him the ring magazine lightheavyweight champ who just beat Winky Wright and beat the **** out of LHW Champ Antonio Tarver

Both would be a biased spin of the truth.

 

Nonetheless, even I would hate to see Spinks or Foster vs Calzaghe. It's just unfair.

 

I think Bernard would have been a fine LHW if he moved up at about 34-35 years old. Jones would have been tough to beat for him, but then again I thought he won 4 rounds off Roy in their first fight. It was competative.

Hopkins would have beaten Hill, DM, Harding, Tarver, Woods, Glen Johnson, Calzaghe, and Griffin if he moved up in 2000 and stayed there.

 

yup, so will I. RJJr all the way, AND STILL

 

You are, of course, correct. Those guys were huge and very talented
lightheavys. But Joe is a large, very talented supermiddle who saw
a chance to take on a legendary fighter in the States for big money
at lightheavy and he won. I doubt for a seconfd that Joe would ever
claim to be an ATG at light-heavy. If some people are claiming this
victory makes Joe a great at LWH they are nuts.

 

Joe...Jones is a legend...but he is done with boxing...poor Joe thinking he is the best out there !!

 

And I agree completely. Hopkins doesn't deserves to be a legend. Hell no. That's an insult to everybody who IS a legend. Bruce Lee, ray leonard and mant others is what u call a legend.

If Hopkins is a legend, so would be dariusz michaelzewski, sven ottke, joe calzaghe etc etc.

No disres[ect or offense to his fans. Nor am i a hater of him. He just isn't a LEGEND imo.

 

While I disagree that Hops is not a legend - I understand why Cal is saying this. Hops is delusional if he thinks he was "robbed" and being a cry baby biotch about it.

I guess he cant handle being beat by the white boy.

 

this fight is meaningless and Jones is shot, but Joe C looked so bad against B-HOP displaying no jab flailing away, slapping and he just isnt the great boxing machine he is made out to be. The things that Joe C brings to the table that make him very good are his stamina and work rate. The speed is overrated. He looks to outwork and be busy, but slaps and doesnt sit down on his punches so you dont have to worry about his power.

Though Jones is shot, in a slap contest he is formidable. A true Lightheavy with Power is something Jones can no longer handle, but in a tap fest where its like slap boxing in the streets were at the end of the day we tally how many times my glove knicked or touched your face and the one with the most taps wins, well Jones can still pay that game, I think.

 

Hopkins is a sore loser.

Yeah, it sucks.

But Calzaghe is being a sore winner. If Hopkins is just a crazy old man who isn't a legend, and is nothing compared to Calzaghe - why is Calzaghe so seemingly desparate for his approvable?

I don't think the way EITHER is acting is befitting people who hold as much prestige and name-value in this sport we all love.

NO NO NO. Hopkins is not a legend just because of his 20 title defenses. Its the fact that he has 20 defenses, which include defenses against VERY good fighters. Trinidad, De La Hoya, etc. Then pretty much every other legit 160 lb contender from his era, theres only a couple of no-hopers on Hopkins's championship resume. The same is not true for the others you mentioned. Also, after losing the 160 lb championsip, Hopkins upped his game AGAIN by beating the recognized 175 lb champion, and then fighting yet another tough fight in one of the other best fighters of the era. And his fights with Jones and Calzaghe are both very much to his credit. For Jones, he fought him in such a way that although he did not win, neutralized much of Jones's offense, and even landed some good shots himself. As for the fight with Calzaghe, though very faded, Hopkins was able to beat Calzaghe soundly for the first 3rd of the fight, even scoring a knock down, and then make it through the rest of the fight without even having more than a couple of clean punches landed on him. This is not to take anything away from what Calzaghe did, but the fight adds plenty to Hopkins's legacy, doesn't take away ANYTHING.

Sven Ottke and Calzaghe cannot both be considered legends (yet), because their claims to fame are title defenses (a large number of them), in the same division, during the same era! I believe Calzaghe WILL be considered a legend (by the entire world not just Wales, the rest of the UK, and the imaginary world of Enzo Calzaghe ;P), by the end of his career.

Just a reminder, Hopkins DID beat Tarver and Johnson. And not just beat, but he knocked out Johnson when he was undefeated, and spanked Tarver badly as well!

Also I want to comment on this ranking of Jones, Hopkins and Toney at 160-175... am I the only one that feels its futile? All of their resumes are impressive, all are massively talented... but they are SO different. Their styles are all very different. They've all had losses, for various reasons though whats interesting to me is arguably none of them for lack of skill. Jones's CAN be blamed on his weight drain, Hopkins's loss to Jones was when Hopkins no where near his prime, his losses late in his career he just got out worked possibly because of his age - yes even Taylor, Hopkins was becoming weak at 160, and Toney simply wasn't motivated some of the time. Its pretty easy to see that when Toney was motivated he was a beast, when he wasnt he seemed like not just a whole other fighter but a whole other man. Even his loss to Jones, though I still think he would have lost, its obvious that Toney thought Jones was a phoney, like he was just a flashy fighter with no real power or balls.

Of course, all of those things I said are controversial opinions and hard to prove. But its POSSIBLE. When you look at them together, it paints an interesting image of the three fighters.

Personally my top two looks like this.
1. Three way tie between Toney, Jones, and Hopkins
2. Joe Calzaghe

I think many would say Jones is automatically first because he beat Toney and Hopkins, but I think ths deceiving. Hopkins though still a good fighter, as nothing when he fought Jones compared to how smart of a fighter he as later in his career. And that fight was CLOSER than people seem to think/remember. Yes Jone won more rounds, but the individual rounds were fairly close. That is, neither fighter landed much, was able to get off much, was able to figure out the other guy much. That one I think is a definite. The fight with Toney... well I'm not saying I think Toney would have won at ALL, but its obvious to ME at least (just my opinion is all I'm saying!!) that Toney did not think Jones was going to be a tough fight, and underestimated him like he did to several B level fighters during his career. Thats just how I see it at least. Jones still won, because he peaked earlier, and he took his career more seriously than Toney, all to his credit. But since we're rating how GOOD they were, well I think its important to take this stuff into account.

 

Is every one of your posts going to be continuous bitching over the Calzaghe victory? Get over it ffs.

 

jones my favourite fighter ever at this stage wont have enough to keep calzaghe off him, jones can tee off on the guys waiting for it, Jones also likes to go into his shell leaning on the ropes with his gloves blocking his face, all the while calzaghe will be unloading everything he has, just cant see Jones beating him, without his great movement (which he has lost over the years) he barely has a defence.

 

If Joe really believes this, he's not very knowledgeable about the sport. Right now he's talking out of emotion and is just pissy about Hopkins.

 

I can understand where he is coming from ..Hopkins is still a legend but its sad that he isa sore loser !

 

Ya -- the truth is some where in between. BHop has done an amazing job of defying father time! After watching him Saturday night however, i do think it is time to hang-em-up.