Calzaghe Only Faced Bums In His WBO Title Reign? THE PROPER BREAKDOWN.

WILL McINTYRE, 2001
- Who? I am unsure myself, so although I remember the fight (vaguely), I checked the guy out. What did he do to merit a crack at the title? Well, since losing to Dana Rosenblatt in 2000, McIntyre's 5 opponents before facing Calzaghe were:
TONY POPE, record 14-6, had lost his last 3 in a row
ROBERT DOYLE, record 6-10-1, lost his previous fight
ANTHONY ATKINSON, record 17-9-2, had lost 2 of his last 3
CHARLES DAUGHTRY, record 9-25-2, 3 losses 1 draw from last 4
JESSIE MARSH, 9-3-1
Nothing else to say about this guy.

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CHARLES BREWER, 2002
- Brewer was 33 when he faced Calzaghe, record 37-8, had lost 2 of his last 4, including a 3rd round stoppage defeat to Antwun Echols oneyear previous. Brewer had won the vacant IBF title 5 years earlier, beating Gary Ballard, and lost it a year later to Sven Ottke. Brewer never won a world title fight again, and retired with a career record of 40-11.

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MIGUEL ANGEL JIMINEZ, 2002
- Who? I am unsure myself, so although I remember the fight (vaguely), I checked the guy out. What did he do to merit a crack at the title? Well, since losing to Max Hayman in 2000, Jiminez's next 7 fights before challenging Joe were:
VINCENT MOSES, record 3-15-2, had lost his last 4 in a row
HUGO LOMELI, record 0-3-1, no wins in 4 pro contests
EDUARDO GUTIERREZ, record 30-9-2, had lost 3 of last 4
ARMANDO CAMPAS, record 4-24-4, had lost last 3 in a row
SEGUNDO MERCADO, record 19-7-2, had lost 4 and drawn 1 of last 5
JESUS MAYORGA, record 24-24-2, had lost last 6 in a row at least
JEREMY MORRISON, record 11-2, had lost previous fight
Nothing else to say about this guy.

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TOCKER PUDWILL, 2002
- Who? I am unsure myself, so although I remember the fight (vaguely), I checked the guy out. What did he do to merit a crack at the title? Well, here are his last 4 fights before he challenged Joe:
KWAN MANASSAH, record 6-16-2, had lost his last 6 in a row at least
LARRY KENNEY, record 9-32-2, had lost his last 6 in a row at least
DONNIE PENELTON, record 13-139(yes 139!)-4, had lost last 6 at least
ENRICO RAMIREZ, record 5-12-1, had lost last 5 in a row
Nothing else to say about this guy.

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BYRON MITCHELL, 2003
- Former WBA supermiddleweight champion. Retired with 25-4-1 record. Has a weak resume (beat Frankie Liles, but lost to Bruno Girard and Sven Ottke before facing Joe, and was stopped by Richard Hall immediately after the Calzaghe fight then retired).

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MGER MKRTCHIAN, 2004
- Who? I am unsure myself, so although I remember the fight (vaguely), I checked the guy out. What did he do to merit a crack at the title? Well, here are his last 4 fights before challenging Joe:
JOZSEF BALZACS, record 2-3-1, had lost 3 and drawn 1 of last 4
FREEMAN BARR, record 25-2, had won his last 6
SERGEY GERASIMOVICH, record 2-3-0, had lost 3 of his last 4
VAGE KOCHARYAN, record 6-5-1, had lost 5 of his last 6
Nothing else to say about this guy.

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MARIO VEIT, 2005
- Had a 45-1 record by the time he fought Joe again. In the 2 years leading up to Joe, Veit had beaten a mix of decent pros (Charles Brewer and Kabary Salem) and obscure losers (Lolenga Mock 22-8-1, had lost 4 of his last 5, and Eliseo Nogueira 13-36-3 had lost 6 in a row minimum). Never held any version of the world title.

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EVANS ASHIRA, 2005
- A career middleweight who stepped up to supermiddle when offered a shot at Calzaghe's title. Stopped in 2 rounds by Maselino Masoe at middleweight a year prior to facing Joe. Has been fighting at lightmiddleweight for the past year. Has never won any version of the world title.

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JEFF LACY, 2006
- 21 wins and zero losses, IBF supermiddleweight champion, last 3 fights before Joe were wins over Rubin Williams, Robin Reid and Scott Pemberton, 3 fights since have been wins over Vitali Tsypko, Peter Manfredo and Epifanio Mendoza.

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SAKIO BIKA, 2006
- Bika had lost to Sam Soliman (15-7) before he fought Calzaghe and hadn't beaten anyone of note. Although he was also beaten by Lucian Bute after Calzaghe, has posted a couple of decent wins against his old conqueror Soliman (34-9) and Jaidon Codrington. Hasn't won a world title.

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PETER MANFREDO JR, 2007
- Had 3 losses to his TV show chums former WBC lightmiddleweight champion Sergio Mora (twice) and Alfonso Gomez (once), who recently challenged Miguel Cotto for the WBA welterweight title. Hasn't won a world title.

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MIKKEL KESSLER, 2007
- 39 fights, 39 wins, WBC and WBA supermiddleweight champion. Had wins on the resume against Mundine, Lucas, Andrade and Beyer. Since Calzaghe, beat Dimitri Sartison by 12th round KO and has a fight coming up against Danilo Haussler.

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Good analysis of Calzaghe's relatively weak resume.

 

PACFAN you outdid yaself with this one.:good
On that note I have no comment:hey

 

Calz. has an impressive resume. It's hard to keep your focus when you face a lot of not so great fighters, yet he's remained undefeated. Look @ #1 ranked Manny Pac., he's lost 2 fights by KO against guys who are not exactly household names.

 

That's a quality breakdown, BritInvasion. :thumbsup

 

top notch sir

 

good stuff

 

When Eubank met Joe he wasn't totally shot - and had something in the tank, but he was far removed from his best. He was also weight drained. All his defeats (five) came in his last nine fights, one of those to Joe; that indicates his state and level of decline at the time. He was also inactive for two years at the weight, and his only fights during that time were two matches against absolutely diabolical opponents (check them out, they really are truly terrible - more sort of exhibition fights) in the middle east, and at Light Heavy. That depleted version of Eubank gave what Joe says is his hardest fight ever. I understand that Joe was a lot greener then, but he'd still had over 20 pro fights; he'd had as many fights as David Haye has had now in fact.

Eubank wasn't even considered worthy of a top ten super-middle rating by Ring magazine at the time he fought Joe. In fact he hadn't been thought of by Ring as a top ten SM boxer for 3 years prior to facing Joe. Eubank in his prime rode high in the list for years, sitting only behind the likes of Toney, and RJJ. They simply believed that he had deteriorated to such a degree that they no longer thought him good enough to warrant an inclusion.

When you consider the limited names that made the Ring magazine ten at the time Eubank fought Joe - the likes of Henry Wharton, Joseph Kiwanuka, Vincenzo Nardiello; it really highlights how far removed from his best Ring magazine believed Eubank to be. Even Jones at this moment in time, who is absolutely shot to pieces, makes todays LH top ten.

As far as the fights with Thompson goes - sure he put up a wiling fight against Thompson but it was at Cruiser weight. Eubank could no longer make Super Middle that is obvious. Eubank lost both fights to former Light heavy Thompson. Thompson then went on to lose the title he won by beating Eubank in his next fight, and went on to never hold a genuine title at the weight again.

Also don't forget that it was Collins title they were fighting for - Eubank had no title, he was simply a last minute semi retired stand in - weight draining. A fight that would not have been sanctioned by some boxing bodies. Collins was the genuine champion.

Anyway, it was a decent start to winning a title - something to push on from to greater things - nothing more; certainly not a ATG legacy defining fight.

 

You have Lacy, Reid (which was a close fight a few think Joe lost), Kessler, Eubank, and Popkins.

You could give Byron Mitchell a mention I supose... who knocked Calzaghe down

 

I think it is him being talked about as an ATG off the back of that resume - that is the thing that really grates people.

 

And is funded by Calzaghe Bashing Closet Gayboy Admirer Productions

 

:good

never fear. we're not all bat**** insane, wind up merchants like TFFP or just general comic genius' like C_H_J. the main bulk of joe's career is pretty awful with some decent ex champs thrown in.

i think in the past few years he has redeemed himself and pretty much sealed his legacy with the lacy, kessler and hopkins wins. RJJ means nothing, just a money making excercise for the pair but i still have high hopes that he will round it all off with pavlik next spring in cardiff as the icing on the cake. the stuff he is saying to the press about pavlik is all too similar to the stuff he was saying about kessler before their fight was signed.

a solid resume, nothing special.
a super fighter.
a decent career.

could have done better but tailed off better than expected.