No if he beats Pavlik I'll give him cred. I'll give him cred if he beats Hopkins. I give him cred for beating Kessler. You're missing the point.
If you are ignorant about the sport due to never bothering to research or watch fighters outside of the US that is your problem and yours alone. Eubank, Woodhall, Reid are fighters who were far better than the majority of the Super Middles around now. Mitchell and Veit are good opponents but not great, but they certainly qualify as notable, unless the term can only be used for elite fighters. Eubank was a better fighter than Lacy with a better resume and yet you rate Lacy (no doubt) as one credible opponent because you had seen him fight. Same way that most Americans who picked Lacy and now admit Calzaghe is quality, say that they had never seen Joe fight. What a great way to make a prediction.....base it on who you have seen.:roll: If Calzaghe fought Pavlik and whipped him (as he would) you would class that as a notable victory and yet in reality it would be no more of a test than fighting Eubank or Reid (in his peak).
Perhaps 'notable' was not the best choice of words, the fights you mention were notable, therfore your points have some veracity - however I am here to make the point that fights as these (during a 10 year 'reighn') and his bigger win over Kessler are not the foundation for comments such as 'I have nothing left to achieve in boxing except to go to The States and fight a middle aged champion and RJJ'. xx
Nice well thought out post there Mike, the smiley...i mean thats genius. Its a shame the rest of your posts are not as short because the points you usually make are about as sensical as a drugged lunatic banging loudly on kitchen pots and pans. Oh wait your on the list of Calzaghe haters, what a surprise.
The point being that Calzaghe gets no credit for beating the likes of Chris Eubank, Robin Reid, Omar Sheika, Richie Woodhall, Charles Brewer, Byron Mitchell, Jeff Lacy and Sakio Bika. But Hopkins gets credit for beating the likes of Segundo Mercado, Joe Lipsey, John David Jackson, Robert Allen, Antwun Echols, Syd Vanderpool, Carl Daniels and Morade Hakkar.
:good He should have started a while back, he's a good fighter no doubt but not a great one in my opinion.
Hopkins beat Glen Johnson, Tito, DLH, Wright, Tarver, (robbed against Taylor twice) reigned undisputed for an era. Calzaghe broke out from the WBO at 35. :roll:
Nobody questioned the quality of Howard Eastman when Bhop fought him, I know Eastman is a division below but when he was mentioned as a possible Calzaghe opponent nobody was interested in this fight.
Exactly. Calzaghe has already beaten fighters arguably more dangerous / better than Pavlik is now: Chris Eubank, Robin Reid, Richie Woodhall, Charles Brewer, Byron Mitchell, Lacy, Bika, Kessler. But guys like this poster underestimate how dangerous these guys were. Although I may be underestimating Pavlik :yep I'd only state definitively that Eubank and Kessler are definitely better than him. Pavlik still has time to show exactly how good he is.