Calzaghe went 10 years (97-06) without a big fight...WHY??

Hamed hit a ceiling though, Calzaghe's abilities would have prevented this happening however. It hasn't been proven how brilliant the man was in the ring.

Think of it like this.

The we don't know how big the universe is exactly. We know it is ****ing big. Nobody goes around claiming it's small just because mankind cannot prove exactly how massive it actually is.

 

I'm back Gaz great post.

 

Right so Calzaghe is as big as the universe? He's infinately good at boxing... so good that he has no boundaries.

CHJ your actually quite deluded with regards to JC aren;t you? I never realised you were quite this much of a fan.

 

Not true. I appreciate Calzaghe has no chance against the likes of Lennox Lewis.

 

Reckon Pac would have took him

 

Hes highly overrated

 

Calzaghe threads are brilliant...


On one hand you have people hanging off his nuts coming out with ridiculous statements about him and on the other you have exactly the same from people who hate him...

At the end of the day the guy has gone down as a British Boxing Legend and there's **** all a thread on ESB can do about that.

He's considered one of the best post war British fighters, if not the best, he's a definite hall of famer and will be in the top 100 ATG boxers to have graced the planet, regardless of what anyone says in this thread.

Up until 2006 he had some solid win's over solid opposition, some against shoddy opposition, but no great wins. The Lacy fight was supposed to be his career defining fight, the manner of the victory made it special. No-one can doubt that he completely outclassed his opponent for every minute of every round. How Lacy has performed since then has tarnished the victory somewhat. Calzaghe's most arduent supporters would argue Calzaghe ruined him as a fighter, his biggest critics would say Lacy was never much good anyway. I'd say there was an element of both but certainly if Lacy wasn't a limited fighter to some extent he would have done more since then, shoulder surgery or not. Taylor pretty much won every round against Lacy but it was not a performance on the same level as Calzaghe's schooling.

Mikkel Kessler was a great win as it meant he finally became undisputed champion. The fact he was undisputed champion makes him much more than just a "fantastic belt holder" especially when considered in the context of other achievements. Calzaghe also displayed versatility and an ability to change game plan, attributes of a great fighter. Kessler himself has won back a version of the word title since then and defended it succesfully, although has been marred by promotional troubles. Kessler, so far, has proven himself to be a "fantastic belt holder." Potentially there is more to come but we shall see...

Hopkins was old but is still ranked p4p no.3. Imo p4p is as much a popularity contest as anything but still...Plus hopkins was a very very late developer and still very much a live opponent when Calzaghe faced him. It was a close fight, a messy fight but Joe did manage to land more punches than anyone had ever landed on Bhop. Hopkins went on to school Pavlik. Hopkins was a very solid win on the "resume." Had Joe fought Pavlik instead of Jones I think there would be a lot less debate about his greatness.

The Jones fight does nothing for his legacy really other than he won every round other than the first but all that showed was how washed up Roy was. Roy was purely a money fight and in terms of money probably was the best fight out there.

I don't have an issue with Joe retiring after the Jones fight. Boxing's a tough sport, yes there were some fights out there to be made but in the build up to the Lacy fight he said after that fight he wanted 3 big fights and that would be it. He stuck by that, despite the fact there must've been massive temptation to continue.

Overall he's achieved more than 95+% of boxers ever achieve and he's made a lot of money doing it. I would say his "resume" lacks depth as opposed to quality. He's fought some top fighters, just he could've faced more.

I personally don't think his level of competition is the reason he is unbeaten. I think the fact he wasn't of superstar status until the very end of his career kept him focused and kept his feet on the ground and kept him determined to prove the critics wrong.

 

Good post don't agree with all of it but fair play.

 

how many of them are world class opposition around at the same time as Calzaghe at 168 pounds then?

He could have stepped up to 175 sooner but as far as 168 goes there really isn't much on that list that betters what he already beat.

You have the likes of Arthur Abraham on there who is a middle weight and was a nobody in Joe's reign at 168 so that is really unfair putting the likes of him on that list

 

Jeff do you wanna get this one or shall i?

 

Early 'Prime' Hopkins
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'Prime' Hopkins
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Late 'prime Hopkins'
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Hopkins, just before Calzaghe fight
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Hopkins, just after Calzaghe fight
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Calzaghe didn't beat a great fighter who was in their prime? Right...


Calzaghe won every round except round 1 against master boxer Hopkins.
Hopkins was in his prime.
Hopkins had physical advantage at 175.
Calzaghe was past his own prime.
Hopkins had home advantage.

 

atsch

 

Joes win over B-Hop wasnt fully realised until the Hopkins v Pavlik fight. He beat Pav so easily (one im happy to say I predicted lol ) that it shone new light on Joes win, if im honest I had iJC vs BH a draw but it could have gone either way.

Joe was a great fighter with great versatility and his weak hands forced him to learn to box more in his latter years and I reckon it was a bit of a blessing coz it made the world take notice of him.

Im sure I remember hearing that he hated to fly and thats why he never travelled much. People will always say he never faced a younger Hopkins or Jones Jr but they were not even in his division back then. The Guy I wanted to see him beat was Sven Ottke coz Joe would have had him for breakfast but if it was in Germany then Joe would need to KO him just to get the draw (although the UK and US judges are getting just as bad these days)

 

Thats exactly what i did.

And as you say the guy is a modern day legend but i think he could have stepped up a long time before he did.

He should have left Warren earlier.

 

Cmon Scurla son let's be having you