Calzaghe would have beaten any of the past Middleweight greats.

That's one of the easier picks.

If you come at Tiger throwing hundreds of punches your gonna ship some seriously punishing counter shots.

 

Calzaghe would be a light-heavy or small heavy in their eras. His ring weight against Jones was 187lb. That's quite a substantial size advantage he'd have over the above three, who rarely weighed more than 160lb and none of whom actually beat a light-heavy. A good example of how different modern weigh-in rules skew historical comparisons.

 

Light hitting Joey Maxim beat Sugar Ray Robinson in a Lightheavy title fight, which would be similar (Maxim: "Remember, I was fighting in the heat too")

 

this post joe beating greats.... is based on...joe not beating any greats.
nice one, black is white and white is black in calturd world.

 

Solid take.

 

If you wanna use the version that faced Jones, sure he was a stone heavier but he was also a lot slower by that point, had very brittle hands, was getting dropped every fight and had a lower punch output. Against prime versions of the 3 quoted I easily see him dropping a decision.

 

Can you point out all the 180lbers that Robinson, Monzon and Hagler beat? Even in his prime Calzaghe's ring weight would have been around 175lb. None of the above three ever showed they could overcome such a size disparity against someone who also happened to be durable, awkward, smart and a southpaw to boot.

 

Can you point out all of the prime ATG MW fighters Calzaghe overcame? When did he ever show he could overcome such a disparity in greatness against someone who happened to be in prime condition, had expert timing, quicker hands and expert conditioning to boot?

The answer to your question is the same as the answer to mine.

Which leaves us with guess work.

Imo Calzaghe showed a stylistic weakness to those who could successfully time him. The men I've picked could successfully time him imo and we're sufficiently great enough that a disparity in size can be enough to see them emerge victorious.

 

Explain that

 

And also happened to be about 15lbs lighter than him. That's like asking how many great middleweights did Michael Spinks beat. None by my count. He could hardly beat men who were too small to face him. Calzaghe gets plenty of abuse as it is, just imagine the outrage if he were to beat up a little ATG like Tito as well.

There was a disparity in greatness between Robinson and just about everyone he fought. That didn't stop him losing 19 times and having a lot of other close ones, and of course he lost the only time he fought a light-heavy, the Calzaghe-sized Maxim.

Fine if you want to pick the smaller men to win based on greatness when none of them actually beat someone of Calzaghe's combined size and ability, but we've seen time and again in boxing that a disparity in greatness can be overcome by greater size, or the right style and attributes. Otherwise how could Robinson ever lose to Turpin and Maxim?

 

**** Tiger is one of the best technicians our sport has ever seen. I'm not gonna go into the controversy of his early losses because I haven't seen those fights.

But at his best you had to pretty much knock him out to beat him on the front foot and Calzaghe is not going to do that.

Tiger could be out sped on the back foot but Joe isn't going to do that neither.

The way Joe attacks coming forward throwing punches in bunches, it just asks to be countered and there's few more proficient than ****.

 

Exactly which is why stupid rhetorical questions like that serve no purpose.

Yes and every time Joe fought someone with a semblance of counter punching ability he failed to impress. The fight with Maxim can be interpreted however you want on that result, debating that is a new thread in itself.

Obviously greatness can be overcome with size and style. The 2 men listed are my 3 top MW champions. All of whom were able to time and break down their opponents with well placed shots. Joe has an advantage in size, but style goes to the 3 I've said.

Calzaghe was a very great fighter and will give anyone a tough night by virtue of his chin and work ethic, but he is open for counters and the better the counter puncher the more open he is. None of the 3 are strictly counter punchers but all 3 are men who could time and punish due to a combination of anticipation, speed and power.

Ultimately I'm making my pick based on style, you're making yours based on size. Unfortunately we'll never know is right.

 

WOW !!!!!! that is the most preposterous thing I ever heard

 

For a start you don't even have Greb there and Greb will beat Calzaghe and Les Darcy would knock Calzaghe out... I think Charley Burley is stylistically impossible for Calzaghe to beat, Mike Gibbons should be a bad night for Joe too. Another omission I think is glaring from your list is Tommy Ryan but you can be forgiven for it but Ryan will beat half the guys on your list at least and destroy Calzaghe probably..... and How Fitzsimmons missed out is anyone's guess and he beats Calzaghe..... simply put Calzaghe's resume has no suggestion that he beats many of the greats at all.

 

Fact is, Lufcrazy has his top 3 MW's beating Calzaghe and although I don't agree with his list I must say the question of this thread is simply dumb, the idea that the unproven Calzaghe could beat every great middleweight ever is beyond stupid, if lufcrazy is wrong then all it means is his list needs to be redone.