after just reading a piece comparing the careers of bernard hopkins and roy jones and their legacy i thought i'd try and compare the careers of Hopkins with Joe calzaghe! my experience of reading these forums is that hopkins gets a huge amount more respect than jc does and maybe rightly so, the stuff he has done at his age is pheonominal, but why is calzaghe hated on so much in comparison? Before the calzaghe bashers start talking about joes resume let me just put forward a few points. bernards best most stand out wins have come against , trinidad, de la hoya, tarver, pavlik, winky. (i may have missed some) all great wins in which he totally dominated but they all seem to be smaller fighters coming from lower weight divisions...... do you think joe calzaghe would have lost to any of these fighters if he had of fought them at the same time bernard did? in my opininon he beats them all! Joe also beat a very good kessler quite comfortably which is probably his most impressive win, aswel as destroying lacy, and beating a slightly past his prime hopkins both have similar length reigns in thier respective weight divisions and both seemd to perform better as they got older imo opinion i dont see a huge difference in achievements, where i know others do, why do you think both are lights years apart in the respect they get from fans? im not meaning to create huge arguements just a well balanced debate, none biased, unsarcastic, views welcome?
after just reading a piece comparing the careers of bernard hopkins and roy jones and their legacy i thought i'd try and compare the careers of Hopkins with Joe calzaghe! my experience of reading these forums is that hopkins gets a huge amount more respect than jc does and maybe rightly so, the stuff he has done at his age is pheonominal, but why is calzaghe hated on so much in comparison? Before the calzaghe bashers start talking about joes resume let me just put forward a few points. bernards best most stand out wins have come against , trinidad, de la hoya, tarver, pavlik, winky. (i may have missed some) all great wins in which he totally dominated but they all seem to be smaller fighters coming from lower weight divisions...... do you think joe calzaghe would have lost to any of these fighters if he had of fought them at the same time bernard did? in my opininon he beats them all! Joe also beat a very good kessler quite comfortably which is probably his most impressive win, aswel as destroying lacy, and beating a slightly past his prime hopkins both have similar length reigns in thier respective weight divisions and both seemd to perform better as they got older imo opinion i dont see a huge difference in achievements where i know others do, obviously hopkins has lasted longer but joe was 37 which is no spring chicken, why do you think both are lights years apart in the respect they get from fans? im not meaning to create huge arguements just a well balanced debate, none biased, unsarcastic, views welcome?
Calzaghe is hated for: His supposed 'slapping' punching technique Weak opposition (Ashira, Pudwill, Jimenez etc etc.) Fighting old guys at the end of his career (Hopkins, Jones) Because he is European
all valid points but im sure if you studied hopkins opponents during his 20 defences you would find a few weak opponents comparable to pudwill etc calzaghe was at the end of his career when he fought them he is welsh cant debate that lol
This was the definitive thread on the subject: http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=139947&page=23
I feel like Bernard's rise to the pinnacle of the sport was more epic than Calzaghe's. In addition, his exit, even if he were to retire today after that last win against Pavlik, would also be more epic because of the nature of his curtain call.
If i had a choice id take Calzaghe's career, he beat Hopkins and NEVER LOST A PRO FIGHT 46-0:deal NUFF SAID...:smoke
Bernard would be more of an epic retirement to us, but maybe it's because the majority of us are american, and we relate and have access to bernard, the poll in europe might look a lot different!
I understand your point but I feel it goes a little further than that from my view. you see, i've seen some of his fights, and most of his wins pre Lacy (an outcome I was slightly suprised by but not totally blown away), which I followed before that fight, left alot to be desired personally, not because of his performances, which were outstanding in the majorty of cases, but because of his level of competition. sometimes the facts hurt, but here they are. calzaghe cracked the SM top ten in 96, check this out. August 1996 1)Roy Jones (IBF) 2)Steve Collins (WBO) 3)Thulani Malinga (WBC) 4)Nigel Benn 5)Frank Liles (WBA) 6)Henry Wharton 7)Joe Calzaghe 8-Tim Littles 9)Jorge Fernando Castro 10)Frederic Seiller who he fought that year- 16-11-1 Guy Stanford, 21-0 Mark Delaney(undefeated fighter at the time who went on to have a fringe career that culminated in a tko loss for the british LH title), 11-6-2 Anthony Brooks, 17-2 Warren Stowe, and 21-8 Pat Lawlor. September 1997 1)Steve Collins (WBO) 2)Frank Liles (WBA) 3)Robin Reid (WBC) 4)Herol Graham 5)Joe Calzaghe 6)Charles Brewer (IBF) 7)Henry Wharton 8-Andrej Shkalikov 9)Vincenzo Nardiello 10)Frederic Seiller who he fought that year- 13-22-1 Carlos Christieatsch, 12-0 Tyler Hughesclap: thrown in early with calzaghe, went on to lose over 20 more times), 44-2 Luciano Torres (had easily the most built up career record ever seen, his only step up had been a one round KO loss to Yory Boy Campos down around the Junior Middleweight limit.) Lastly, he fought one of his career defining fights for the Wbo title, and a fight he personally considers one of his toughest, against an unranked, end of his rope Chris Eubank 1998- he made two defenses of his title in 98 after his CAREER best win against Eubank, against overmatched competitors in 14-1 Branko Sobot and 51-8-3 shopworn Juan Carlos Gimenez Ferreryra (who had already lost to benn, and had lost to Eubank 5 years before, and lost a decision to Roberto Duran as far back as 87') 1999-Present he finally stepped it up, if you want to call it that, beginning to fight ranked challengers, not title holders (wher is ottke, liles and woodhall in 1999? not in the ring with Calzaghe) and sometimes defending against completely unranked challengers, up until the Lacy win. Hopkins is a feather in his cap Kessler may have been a great win(I think we'll find out for sure once the 168 pound tourny is done with, because we all know Kessler hasn't consistently fought the best at no point in his pro career) was Lacy proven? did the real Roy Jones Junior fight Calzaghe that night at the garden? Joe Calzaghe's lofty 46-0 record must be put into context
