Calzaghe's WBO "title defenses" 1998-2002

Any version of Chris Eubank is better than A. Green , Miranda or AA. AA is not a top super-middleweight.

 

I put him there because he is a name. He won 3 fights prior to fighting Calzaghe. He also won 2 fights following the loss. He beat Trinidad, Sheika, and Lacy in that 6 fight span where he was 5-1. Past prime, yes. Shot, no. He was shot against Lebedev, Green, and Hopkins.

Eubank was 31 years old and the title was vacant. Not to mention, Calzaghe never fought anyone of note before him so it's not like Calzaghe was at his best or in his prime.

 

Nope he has a point. Besides Eubank and Kessler he doesn't get any props. Bhops really beat him, Lacy ended up being overrated and RJJ was never the same after he came back down after beating Ruiz. If Calzaghe faced someone the caliber of Andre Ward, Dirrell he would have been beat. He also should have fought Chad Dawson before he retired.

 

Eubank = shot
RJJ = beyond shot
Lacy = over rated journeyman without a singe significant win
Hopkins = grey bearded grandfather that earned the win in a close fight
Kessler = a nice win.

So we got a fighter with a couple of nice wins in his entire career. Very special...

 

Give us a break.......

 

It wasn't legit. It's a plain and simple fact. You can believe differently if you like being wrong. Look at some of the "championship" bouts and champions they recognized then. It was pathetic. Eubank wasn't even a champion at the time of the fight. The belt was picked up out of a trash can.

 

Make a list like this for Hopkins early defences and see what it looks like.

 

Check the win-loss ratio of Calzaghe's opponents compared to Jones' and Hopkins', Calzaghe's is better. Maybe Calzaghe could have done more earlier in his career to fight big names but I'd blame a lot of that on his management and it goes both ways. Hopkins didn't want to risk the DLH fight around 2002-2003 because he knew how dangerous Calzaghe was. You'll say he was shot when he fought and bring up the Taylor fights, where he lost to a hungry and talented fighter, but results against his common opponents with Taylor before and after that fight seem to show he was weight drained at MW.

Collins ducked Calzaghe, Ottke did, Taylor did and Wright did. All of these guys turned down good offers.

He beat Hopkins, Kessler, Reid, Lacy (who suffered a torn rotator cuff in his next fight), Eubank, Jones (badly faded but still world class), Mitchell, Brewer, Woodhall, Veit and many more.

I honestly think he was the only clean one out of himself, Hopkins, Jones and Toney as well.

 

I agree with the thread starter Joe had the worthless WBO belt in the trashbin of the SMW division. Nobody really considered either legit when you compare to say the MW, LHW divisions or the wba or wbc belts . . . it is what it is. the guy hid out in this safe weight class and took on only one real challange (bhop) which many people think he lost. i think bhop lost that fight before he even got into the ring with his racial slurs . . . and I am not a Bhop fan.

 

And that's where I stopped reading.

 

-(

 

What is it with the JC threads???

 

You mustn't rate the other 168lb belts as legit either, as Calzaghe had a superior reign to all the fighters who were passing around the other 168lb trinkets during Sugar Joe's WBO reign, and going even further than other WBO stalwarts Hamed, DM, Barrera & De La Hoya, he completely unified the titles. He also beat Brewer & Mitchell more convincingly than Ottke.

The only truly **** WBO belt was at heavyweight. Still, comparing the WBO title to the wbf and ibc is beyond ****ing ******ed.

 

Kmac - No your looking for a reason to slate Calzaghe. Maybe his opponents did face weak op at that time but over all they have a better win-loss ratio through out than most other ATG's.
Every body knows the WBO was a good title and Calzaghe was penciled to fight the recignized SMW champ for it until Collins pulled out. The fact is as I said before he was avoided a lot too.