Calzaghe should fight Dawson in Wales and then retire

Tarver may not be as good as he use to be, but he did show up KO RJJ and showed up Clinton Woods.. Tarver seemed off in the Dawson fight, but RJJ is way more shot than Tarver is.. RJJ has been shot for years.. So what if Calzaghe was KD by RJJ or got caught with an uppercut? That's boxing.. RJJ was good the first couple of rounds and then his age caught up to him.. Calzaghe isn't the youngest guy either, but he's no way near shot.. I just want to see Calzaghe fight a younger fighter such as Dawson instead of old shot legends.. What was really the point in fighting Jones anyways?

 

I'd love to see Calzaghe-Dawson next year. Would be a great fight.

 

Watch Tarver's decline from Muriqi, to Woods to Dawson. The man was shot in the last fight. RJJ was further from his peak than Tarver was, against Calzaghe, sure, but that's because he was a much better fighter at his peak. He wasn't more shot than Tarver...clearly!:good

 

I'd love to see it too, I really would! :good

 

I agree that Joe should fight Dawson, for two reasons: 1- After reading some posts it may seem like I'm missing something, but I was not impressed by Chad Dawson against Tarver at all and I think Joe takes him very comfortably. 2- He would have defeated the last real threat at light heavy that he hasn't already beat. He would be taking on a young undefeated World Champion, who realistically should be considered a unified champion. And basically, Chad Dawson (Legacy wise) would actually be more reward than risk, at least from my point of view.

 

Why?:huh

Even if he hadn't ducked Diaconu, but instead beat him and then beaten Tarver, he's only be WBC and IBF Champ, he wouldn't be unified champ...but as things stand, he's only IBF Champ and former WBC Champ, with a defence over a journeyman and a faded Johnson who almost beat him and almost KOed him.

Even if Dawson was unified Champ, having beaten Johnson, Diaconu, Tarver and Erdei or Garay, say...he couldn't claim he was No.2 in the division, with Hopkins still around...

...he's got a long way to go to prove he's the man to beat in that division, imo.

 

Because he never lost his WBC title in the ring and beat the IBF Champion. I didn't say undisputed, I said unified because he would of unified the WBC and IBF titles. Maybe I should have specified and say that he would have unified a portion of the titles. And I don't truly buy the whole ducking Diaconu situation since he was willing to fight him when an unfortunate injury from Diaconu forced the fight to be canceled.

EDIT: I'm not saying Dawson is the guy to beat at all, I just think that a lot of people are demanding Joe to fight him, and I think it's the perfect way for Joe to close out his career.

 

Beating Dawson wouldn't prove much. It's not an attractive match up either. Kessler would knock out Dawson. There isn't really any more fights left for Calzaghe

 

Why are we having this conversation? Because you seem to think Dawson hasn't proved himself "worthy" of a fight with Calzaghe. Which is miles away from the truth. Now you are saying he's not worth it financially. That may or may not be the truth but that is not what we've been disussinig. You have made it clear, you don't think Dawson has proved himself.

Is Tarver shot? I don't know. He is far from his best but he recently pulled a win over Woods and has looked ok at times. But lets be clear. Tarver has more left than Jones. Tarver still has enough to beat a number of the guys in his division.

 

Clinton Woods froze in the Tarver fight. Tarver did not have to move out of 2nd gear. During the fight Woods's corner consistenly berated him for not throwing punches and letting the occassion get to him. He really didnt show up other than to pass the title over.

 

Everybody says RJJ is shot, and that was pretty much the consensus before the fight. Yet the 'Joe needs to retire now' crowd wasn't so vocal before the fight...

Anyway, to be honest, I'm not sure we differ in opinion. Both of us agree that Calzaghe has the right to retire. Both of us would probably enjoy seeing him in action against Dawson and making some more money in the process.

You don't rate Dawson highly and think he has unfinished business. I rate him (so here we differ) but agree he has business to finish. My concern is that by the time Chad's rematched the Johnson's, Tarver's and Diaconu's - Joe will be old and shot. I think now - when Joe is clearly still close to his prime and so is Chad - is the time to make this fight.

If Dawson is not hype (which we can debate forever, but only time will tell) and ends up ruling the division for many years to come, the fact that this fight never happened will be a shadow on Joe's legacy. By the same token that not giving Vitali a rematch is a shadow on Lennox's - by all means great - career. Undeniable, plain and simple.

 

NO! What I said was that he was worthy, but not considerably more worthy than other worthy candidates and he is certainly not a must-take fight for Calzaghe, like Kessler was, for example.

I NEVER said anything about money! You've made that up, buddy!

He has not proved himself to be the outstanding challenger that Calzaghe simply must fight, putting his retirement plans on hold for him, especially, no.

Then how about you watch his fight with Muriqi and see his decline from that fight against Woods and finally against Dawson? Then you too will know.

Tarver certainly does not have more left than Jones. Jones would easily beat Tarver, even badly faded as he is. Tarver couldn't beat anyone in the Top 10 if his life depended on it! Jones, on the other hand, probably could!

If you are going to deliberately misinterpret clear sentences I write and make stuff up and attribute it to me, I'm wasting my time discussing with you. Take it easy, buddy!:hi:

 

Dawson isn`t a big name and if Joe beat him people would say he was still raw. There is no reason to fight him.

 

... as evidenced in his choice to fight Roy over Pavlik. I have a feeling he'll retire and make a comeback if Hopkins beats Dawson.

 

I actually had Glen Johnson up by a point against Dawson but that fight was so close that it could have gone either way. He fought a shutout against a shot Tarver much more impressively than Calzaghe beat an even more shot Jones. I think Dawson deserves more than a shot at Calzaghe and the fight needs to be made. If Dawson wins, he'll become one of the biggest stars if not THE biggest star in boxing. If Calzaghe wins, he can truly say he beat everybody he needed to beat in the division.