calzaghes legacy could it have been better

Of course it could be better, he didn't exactly beat loads of prime, elite fighters did he?

 

I suppose he could have met some better fighters, but the primary reason I don't hold it against him, is because I'm not sure what type of offers were availbale to him during his time as a supermiddleweight champion. Somehow he and Roy Jones managed to never meet during their primes, as was the case of Bernard Hopkins and perhaps a few others. But, I don't know if this was Calzaghe's fault.

 

It was Roy's fault.
I am the "best", says honest Joe
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport...ls/I+am+the+best,+says+honest+Joe+/article.do

'"I could probably give Jones a tough fight, probably the best fight he's ever had," said Calzaghe. "But I know my capabilities and unless I got paid the crown jewels I wouldn't want to risk it."
There's honesty for you.'

 

Well I guess Harry Grebs legacy could have been better if he had beaten Jack Dempsey.

There are always going to be mised fights and mised oportunities in a fighters career and Calzaghes more than many.

It is a shame that the Glen Johnson fight never came off because that could have catapulted him into the world stage much sooner.

Ultimately however you have to concentrate on the positives of a fighters career which in this case are many.

 

The biggest fights around for him were Otke, Prime Jones, Prime Hopkins, Michauski, tarver, Glen Johnson, Pavlik, and Hopkins and Reid rematches. From his own division he should have faced Otke, Mundine, Echols, Beyer, Larson, Green and all the other staple top 10 contenders he never faced, look how many there are from Rings top10 168lb listings

Rings 168 Top10 2000

Sven Ottke
Joe Calzaghe
Bruno Girard
Charles Brewer
Thomas Tate
Dave Hilton Jr.
Dingaan Thobela
Glenn Catley
Byron Mitchell
James Butler

2001

Sven Ottke
Joe Calzaghe
Byron Mitchell
Antwun Echols
Charles Brewer
Thomas Tate
Eric Lucas
Mads Larsen
Manny Siaca
Markus Beyer

2002

Title Vacant
Joe Calzaghe
Sven Ottke
Antwun Echols
Eric Lucas
Byron Mitchell
Charles Brewer
Mads Larsen
Manny Siaca
Anthony Mundine
Markus Beyer


2003

Title Vacant
Joe Calzaghe
Sven Ottke
Anthony Mundine
Antwun Echols
Danny Green
Byron Mitchell
Markus Beyer
Charles Brewer
Mads Larsen
Robin Reid

2004

Joe Calzaghe
Mikkel Kessler
Anthony Mundine
Antwun Echols
Danny Green
Jeff Lacy
Mads Larsen
Robin Reid
Markus Beyer
Manny Siaca

 

Of course it dosnt follow that these guys were eager to fight him.

 

You mean the fight he pulled out of 3 times on a trot, where Glen had to train for and get his weight down each time, and never got paid a penny? Goto be happy for Glen he got to KO RJJ after that

 

The jeff lacy and mikkle kessler win speaks volumes and he beat both these guys when he was outside his prime
it was never a tough devision when calzaghe was active sven ottke had hijacked the IBF and was running from calzaghe like he was the anti-christ furthermore ottke was never a good fighter with many questionable wins on his CV,

 

he was at his peak when he fough omar shaika in 2000 this version would have probrably TKO'd both kessler and lacy

 

Dont get cheap, iv never used jones or hopkins names, i dont know what would have happened had he fought those 2, my argument is that both lacy and kessler were both hurt in there fights aginst joe, in his younger years i'm sured he'd have pressed foward and TKO'D both of them. his footwork and movement was much sharper earlier in his career then in the kessler and lacy fights.

 

I think he could have set up with Toney easilyi f he wanted, Toney loved to fight, and would more or less take on anyone...

Can anyone give me the story behind Toney - Byrd not coming off?(Didnt mean to stray off topic, but I figured this is a good time, haha)

 

Of course people will criticise his level of competition with some justification but you still have to look beyond that.

The fact is that lots of fighters who established themselves as the top man in a given weight class have fought weak competition but it still always caught up with them sooner or later.

 

toney was at cruiser by the time joe beat eubank. how was that fight ever possible against a guy who has zero control over his weight?

RJJ, ottke, hopkins fair enough but toney was never a viable option.