Did Calzaghe ever fight at Elite level like Hatton?

Ricky's challenges were harder but also he got ****ing spanked, don't forget it.

Calzaghe is a much better fighter than Hatton.

 

yep, they were..

 

Fighting two fighters who were considered p4p best at the time is rare. However, Calzaghe was far more dominant against good fighters than Hatton and taking the title from Eubank was a bigger achievement than Hatton's first title win.

 

First of all Joe did not have the opportunity to fight the p4p nr 1 like Ricky, because that guy was not in Joe's weight class... that said Jones was a nonsense fight but a fighter like hopkins is very much elite. The point is Calzaghe for some reason only got his big fights late, and at that point it was to late to take on the "unbeatable" RJJ, so you could say he did not fight the elite level guys Hatton has.

 

No he never did, and he had his chances. That will always be the biggest knock against Joe, because really he would have been competitive with those guys.

 

In the last few years of his career Calzaghe fought the best possible opponents in or around his weightclass.

Which is really all you can do.

 

Agree with that :happy
The real mystery and enigma about Calzaghe will always be what he would have accomplished or not had he faced a peak Jones, Hopkins ten years earlier . Its easy to forget that the young Calzaghe hit alot harder than the version that gained greater recognition. As his brittle fists made it increasingly difficult for Joe to throw shots without the real risk of busting up his hands. Hatton did fight elite fighters but Joe would never have suffered the same fate or at least not to the same degree.

 

Calzaghe beat better fighters and is a much more able fighter. Though he never did take on two challenges comparable to Pac and Floyd.

 

Hopkins is the #3 pound for pound fighter in the world and after losing to Calzaghe had, arguably, the best win of his career. The man doesnt age. That fight for Calzaghe was as good as fighting PBF or Manny for Ricky.

 

spot on :thumbsup

 

calzaghe was very over rated and the same with hatton,people read to much into there wins against faded legends,kosta,jones,hopkins, and lacy was brutal fighter just hyped up,but at least hatton stepped up and fought the best even if he got embarrased badly,sure calzaghe was even dropped by 40 year olds,imagine what they would have done 10 years ago.john conteh was good

 

He's #3 mostly because of his previous accomplishments from when he was younger. Think about it, his best win recently is over a limited Pavlik...had Hopkins not have a legacy beforehand and just beat Pavlik, he wont even enter the top 10 p4p. Nothing will change the fact that BHop was 43/44 yrs old when Joe beat him.

I like how Radab sees Hopkins as a very credible opponent for Joe at 44yrs old yet quick to call Pac's opponent old/shot at 29yrs old (MAB/Morales).

 

He is not ranked #3 pound for pound based on past achievements. And even so, his best achievements didnt happen until relatively recently.

Although I would disagree with Radab about MAB/Morales being shot, age is just a number and means literally nothing in when talking about Hopkins.

 

Beating Eubank is a better than beating Tszyu? **** off