Does Calzaghe Pass the Eye Test?

JOE was past his prime, had a cocain addiction and had hand problems, he was in his late 30's when he fought Hopkins and Roy, both fighters who had allot more left than he did career wise. AND he completely schooled your heros!

 

It is tough to ****yse Joe properly because his resume, whilst good, is not great. Also, in regards to his style, he is also tough to ****yse in regards to the "eye test".

He has some obvious flaws, with his main ones being that he doesn't put everything into his shots, his punching technique is not "correct" and he is open at times, especially to a well timed straight right when he is coming forward. However, his strenths can overcome these flaws (or at least they did against the guys he fought). His hand problems made him have to change his style so that he couldn't put full power on all of his shots and I think this made him a better fighter. Those rapid fire 4,5,6+ combinations made it very difficult for his opponents to get their own shots off and whilst these were not KO punchers, they clearly had respectable power on them as none of his opponents ever just walked right through them. As for his defense, whilst he could be hittable, he was defensively sound and didn't get hit as much as you would expect for someone who threw as many punches and took as many risks as he did. Add in the fact that he had a solid chin, then his total defensive package (avoiding being hit without having to be incredibly negative offensively, and an ability to take a shot well that does land) is pretty good.

There is also the fact that he had an incredible engine and a great ring IQ. There are numerous examples of him making subtle, and more obvious changes, on the fly.

Ultimately, we will never know how good he could have been, but if he were to face of against the ATG's of the 160-175 divisions, then I think he has the style and physical attributes to give them all problems. Im not saying he would beat them, but at the end of the day, even the Hagler's, RJJ's, Monzon's, Foster's of the world would find a quick, slick, southpaw with an ability to throw a 100 punches a round and adapt on the fly, a pretty tough opponent.

 

Joe smashed all the big mouthed overrated yanks, Hopkins, Lacy and Jones especially got schooled by the Welsh Dragon.

 

What like Kessler????

One of the biggest things i didnt know about Joe when he was fighting was that he was actually a much bigger guy than super middle so although he wasn't punching correctly he was guy who naturally weighed around 14 stone coming down to 12.
He was so fit his body could handle the weight change he was a nightmare for anyone- he must have been much heavier handed than he was given credit for especially at the end. Just look at Lacy he was smashed from pillar to post.

Akward style, speed, tremendous stamina and able to change tactics mid way through a fight, granite chin. Only thing he lacked at the end was huge power and even then i think if had looked after his hands better when he was younger (his gym sounded a right dump) he would probably have had better than average pop

 

Wow, an unbiased, intelligent post concerning Joe Calzaghe! Great job, Jacko:good:good

 

Thanks, Clinton.

 

Excellent! This response should be pinned as the de-facto point to end all the zagger disputes.

 

if you arent going to fight one your entire career then it dont matter.

joe had one elite, kessler, and only offered him a fight when mik was crocked and never outside that injury. He was losing until the injury manifested thru the fight.

 

lots of middlers school 40something atgs. congrats on putting joe in their company,

 

There is no strict "eye test".
The only tests are "did he win the fight ?", "did he win it convincingly" and "who did he beat?"

Some fighters look sloppy and have an ugly style but they outbox or KO good opponents convincingly.
I don't think Tyson Fury will ever look textbook perfect but he might end up outboxing a lot of good fighters. He already done Klitschko. Ugly, dull, hardly any punches thrown, but he won it for sure.

As for Joe Calzaghe, who did he beat ?
Kessler and Hopkins seem to be the best.

But I don't think he beat Hopkins at all convincingly.

Outside of that, he did completely spank Jeff Lacy, who was a decent contender at the time.
Calzaghe deserves a lot of credit simply for that being so dominant in that fight.

He beat Eubank, who was a bit past it and on late-notice and coming back down to 168 with a real struggle.
But it's still a credible win.

I'm not sure any of this equals "GREATNESS".
And the less said about Calzaghe's 20 (or whatever) consecutive defenses of the WBO title the better.

 

he is definitely world class, no doubt, he proved that by finally stepping up to face and beat lacy, a bit part titlist.

for a holder of an unknown title for years to step up finally after years of mediocrity and manage that proves he was world class. however the world elite is lacking from his skills, except for elite stamina and elite management. and elite being buddies with the ref in cardiff. his skills were always a step behind his best opposition..and by best that doesnt actually mean they were very good. fortunately he had a tonne of stamina to fall back on, to compensate for middling fighting skills....and always faced opponents who were going to fade down the line.

he gets in the top ten smws so far in history, shame his reign with the the real titles was so brief (hardly ever more than one fight or defence, which if you think about it is FCUKING ATROCIOUS) that he is behind the long reigners like eubank, kessler froch ward lillies.

 

Yes.