Calzaghe was the best of a poor generation of Supermiddles....not his fault.

firstly I give Calzaghe alot of credit for the was he handles himself as a champion inside and outside of the ring, hes a real fighter.

I have to dispute the legitamcy of his 10 year reign.

This is not a Calzaghe bashing thread this is to educate those who have over inflated idea of his accomplisments.

Hes an excellent champion lacking the resume of a GREAT champion.

here is why.

1. He was due to fight Steve Collins for the vacant WBO title fight, an over the hill Chris Eubank took the fight at 2 weeks notice when he was pencilled in to fight Mark Prince at Light Heavy for the European title.

The fact that the WBO sanctioned this as a world title fight says everything about this organisation and its relationship with F.Warren.

2. Calzaghe dominated what was probably the worst division in boxing.
Do you think the likes of Marcus Beyer (WBC) Manny Sacia would have held titles in the days of Jones Toney Collins Benn Nunn Mcullam?

I think we all know the answer to that...and I promise you Calzaghe does as well.

Calzaghes signature wins were against Jeff Lacy (who was lucky to get by a journeyman Omar Sheika), and Mikkel Kessler (a 1 dimensional- European hype job "the guy tried to make himself out to be the 2nd coming of De La Hoya") most of you guys fell for that.

If Roy Jones /B Hop and Toney went to the HOF claiming greatness for beating Kessler + Lacy as their signature wins in 20 defences...there would be an inquest in American boxing.

Calzaghe has never fought outside his comfort zone, do you think Warren would have let him fight B-Hop 7 years ago in the states??

I hope Calzaghe secures his legacy by beating B-Hop, Woods/Jones Pavlik....(Forget Dawson that will never happen).

Hes a good guy, a real role model for any youngster trying to make his way in boxing. He has an honest style, fights with aggression.

I do think though he would have been cleaned out by the names i mentioned before, those guys were super talented guys who fought the BEST P4P.

 

Collins didnt want to know ...he was 35 and had been 2 years in retiirement, Eubank hadn't fought a legitamte fight(he was fighting Exhibitions in Dubai) for 2 years and gets to fight for the WBO title.

WBO = Bogus.

Calzaghe has actually probably only had 10 legit world title fights,

Hatton fought as opposition on par with Calzaghe with his WBU belt.

Hatton has also the bestter opposition on his resume.

 

So I take it you are going to convince every body

Tackie
Pendelton
McGee
Collazzo (2 weight division) in US....
Castillo
Tszyu
Urango
Stewart
Moussa.
Mayweather (at least he went to US to fight the best, I didn't see Joe Calzaghe Call ROY JONES JR out when he was creaming everyone....mind you he let Frank Warren dictacte what he fought)


were all lesser opponent to what Calzaghe faced