Does anyone else think Calzaghe declined from the Kessler to Hopkins fight?

Sure, Hopkins has a history of making his opponents look bad, but still, i thought Calzaghe looked relatively poor compared to how fantastic he did against Kessler. Against Kessler, he threw more punches, moved more, and in general did more than against Hopkins. Then the was the knockdown in the first.

Calzaghe depends a lot on speed, reflexes and workrate, which are the first things to go as one ages. And at 36 he's getting pretty old. I think his fight with Jones will have quite some close rounds with Jones covering up most of the time, while landing much fewer but more accurate and snappier punches, bringing up a similar dilemma to scoring the Hopkins fight, although i thought Calzaghe took that one, and i don't think Jones will pull those pathetic tactics of pretending to be hit low.

 

He already admitted taking Berard lightly,clearly he didn't train 100% as I believe he didn't for Roy Jones

 

No, I don't think so. It's a bit naive to say someone has declined simply because he followed an excellent performance with a comparatively mediocre one. The real difference was the quality of opponent. Hopkins is far far more skilled and has a far better defence than Kessler. Hopkins made Joe look bad, Kessler let Joe fight.

 

Correct.

 

He lied about taking Hopkins lightly to justify his relatively poor performance. There is no way on God's green Earth that Joe Calzaghe took the guy who had just beaten Antonio Tarver and Winky Wright "lightly", in his American debut against by far the biggest name he had ever fought. Don't be so silly.

 

Yep, exactly.

This is kinda a silly assumption considering Hopkins, even at 43, was Calzaghe's biggest fight of his career, which he admitted. Plus he really wanted to make a statement in his first fight in the US, which he also admitted.

 

He's Joe Calzaghe,he does it all.I'm sure you sleep with him that you know he lied but...really the man is 36..he wants to retire...he ain't into boxing for real mentally cuz physically he prolly still can do it

 

You are being very very naive. Of course neither of them took one another lightly or thought the other was overrated. That's just post-fight 'spin'. Be serious.

 

Wow. You are a man of mighty intellect, that much is clear. Thank you for bestowing your wisdom upon me and correcting me. I see it all now.

 

A couple of days before the Hopkins fight, Calzaghe was as sharp and fast as ever on the speedball and pads. He looked like he was punching harder at the harder weight too. He looked better than ever, he really did. On the night, he underperformed, though. Hopkins had a lot to do with it, obviously, but he wasn't quite the same, even if you take Hopkins out of the equation. No, I wouldn't say he declined. He just had a bad night, in my opinion.

 

You're not living in the real world mate. They were both very very aware of the challenge they were facing and how big the fight was. Never, never take a fighter's word as gospel, everyone has their own biases, agendas and interests at the forefront of their thoughts at all times.

 

HAHAHAHA, why? Because of all the clean punches Joe landed in the round!?!? First time I ever heard anyone say that before
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You are correct above, PACFAN84.

I am a big fan of Kessler's talent, but Hopkins is by far the more seasoned opponent and made Calzaghe look bad, whereas Kessler was unable to do so. Calzaghe did NOT take Hopkins lightly, and only said so in order to save face for not looking great.

Calzaghe got older, but did not have a marked decline in ability between the fights, it was a matter of who he was fighting.

 

Exactly. This should be obvious to anyone with a brain.

 

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