Calzaghe..,what makes him so good?

:rofl Starting with you ya tool!

 

Well said:happy

 

Everybody underrated him

 

No one, not even Bernard Hopkins, can adapt mid-fight as well as Calzaghe. On top of that, superb conditioning, great speed and footwork (which never gets enough recognition) and unparalleled workrate. But perhaps more than anything else is the fact that Calzaghe's style is very unpredictable and awkward. He makes fighters uncomfortable. As Emmanuel Steward said during the RJJ fight, even a prime Jones would have had trouble with a prime Calzaghe, because his style is so unusual, awkward and hard to defend against.

 

How can anyone say he has a great resume, its pathetic other than hopkins (at 43 and many think he lost), a totally washed up jones, and a never was jeff lacy who taylor had a landslide victory over. These names are on it but only because he fought them a decade to late.

 

To be honest, I personally think the man's the most under-rated boxer of this era. I've never quite seen a style like Calzaghe's ever. Its a shame he gets so much hate, because you dont see fighters like him everyday. His ability to adapt is actualy incredible. He's a very unique boxer. The only weakness you can say he has is his power? and that I think is underrated also.

Workrate
Speed
Footwork
Chin
Ability to adapt
Defense

If you have them abilities in the bag, you can go along way, and Joe did.

 

He has a great work rate and a good chin. He has quick hands, and always stays calm. He never panics or makes big mistakes, when you add that with speed, stamina, and work rate you get alot of wins.

 

i guess things like what you say play a role. You talk about hes lack of power...but to me thats so overated. Like roy jones said, he may throw 2 or 3 pitter pats but there will be 1 or 2 solid crisp shots in there too. Just look at opponents faces when hes done with them

 

exactly, Joe Calzaghe was 36 years old at the time.. not exactly in the best moment of his career... how is it any different than Holyfield-Tyson? (Evander was 4 years older and yet won)....

PS: i don't hate Tyson (i think he's overrated, but i don't hate him).. i just use it as a example

 

He's so fast and agile, he slips and dodges punches so it's extremely difficult to hit him flush. And he can knock you out by throwing flurries that make your head spin like a tornado. Watch Chris Eubank and Bernard hopkins when they fought Calzaghe: both had trouble finding their corner. Alot of Calzaghe's wins were by TKO because the opponent was too dizzy to retaliate and the ref stepped in on Calzaghe's myriad of punches.

 

The quality of his opposition was the primary reason he is so overrated on ESB (he is not (overrated) in the US as he is virtually unknown - made ZERO impression in his two "wins" over two antique ATGs in 2008)).

The main point is it is not who you fight but when you fight them that determines your worth.

That said, Joe had a great record, got to middle age and the end of his career in near pristine condition, and while that is a product of struggling with a way past prime non-peak Eubank then never facing another fighter even as decent as that version of Eubank for about a decade, it did allow him to still have his chin in tact to survive knockdowns and struggle to wins over ancient Bernard Hopkins (career middleweight) and a shot RJJ (completely put to sleep by two old men in his prior fights by 36 year old Antonio Tarver & 36 year old Glen Johnson - before Joe chose to leap the chasm).


Without giving it careful thought, I've got Joe at about #8 (could be a little lower) on the

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(just looking at the combination of TALENT/ATHLETICISM/SKILL/POWER/TOUGHNESS - not who had the best record, matchmaking, most careful promoter, the most predisposed local refs, abundant back pocket judges, etc.).

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Second tier in no particular order:

Graciano Rocchigiani
Joe Calzaghe
Steve Collins
Sven Ottke
Robin Reid
Markus Beyer
Thulani Malinga
Mikkel Kessler
Byron Mitchell
Glen Johnson
Jeff Lacy
Lindell Holmes



As Eubank said in a moment of honesty as opposed to comradery or protective respect for a compatriot:

"Listen, Calzaghe is easy to hit with right hands. He's busy enough, fast handed southpaw but he's a bit European, quite square and rigid, you know? He's far from unhittable, in fact he's easy to hit with the right (hand). Just a basic, straight right hand lead he doesn't seem to see, but of course, you have to have a bit of speed ...

"I also found him (Calzaghe) fairly easy to hit with body shots."


Joe's a good fighter but his career would have been vastly different if he had fought all the ATGs he now supposedly could have beat in their prime.


All an objective viewer has to do is watch the tape (if you weren't there when they happened) and see him struggle with so many different fighters over his career. If you can't note the difference in skill set watching him against BHOP then you simply do not know boxing or have the experience to differentiate between good and better.


re: what makes him so good?

 

His ability to adapt, his toughness and his high workrate.