Double standards from Fans

No, this is a realist post.

Joe did need to fight them, but they did everything in their power to ensure he couldn't. So with that in mind, he fought the next best in the division - he cleaned out 10 former/current/future champions in his time, collected all four belts + the ring belt in his division, then collected the ring belt in the division above, he spent over a decade in the Top 3 of his division and cleaned out countless (talking 20 here) Top 10 Ring rated fighters during his career.

On pure statistics, Calzaghe has had an ATG career. I think the problem is that because he was never really pushed to the limit and despite the "close" Hopkins fight, the fight was clear to 80% of the people watching it, that it's hard to rank him because no one knows what he MAY have been had he stepped up to the next level.

Anyone denying what Calzaghe did was proof of his elite status as a boxer really just has hate in their heart. You call me a nut hugger? I'll just point to 46-0, 25 title fights and one of the very few of the modern era to wear every title in his division having never lost a fight.

PS - Hasn't been great fighters in those divisions? LOL.

Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, James Toney, Iran Barkley, Calzaghe, Jones Jr, Holyfield, Virgill Hill, Bobby Czyz, Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Gerald McClellan, Dariusz Michalczewski, Vassily Jirov, Carl Thompson, Steve Collins, Sven Ottke.

Yeah, no great names in that list right?

 

there's nothing realistic about that.
if you want to fight the man you challenge the man....

lacy did, kessler did.

why do you think the rules change for calzaghe with hopkins and jones?

 

They didn't, he challenged both of them and even had a verbal agreement to fight Hopkins before he pulled out of the fight.

What was the difference? Why was Lacy able to get Calzaghe in the ring? Because A: Calzaghe believed he would win and B: The money Lacy had behind him made the fight easy to make.

Calzaghe was not a money maker until after the Lacy fight - after the Lacy fight, he got Kessler, Hopkins and Jones Jr in the ring, he also fought a rough up and comer in Sakio Bika who would give anyone at 168 a go.

 

calzaghe gotr kessler in the ring because kessler fought his career like joe did - good fighter racking up hometown wins, though kessler fought the better SMW contenders leading up to the fight with calzaghe (which was fair enough because joe was the man at 168).

calzaghe didn't need lacy or kessler to get jones or hopkins - he was the legit champ at SMW but he used his 'european buffer' and allegiance with frank warren to make sure those 'risky fights' didn't happen until jones and hopkins were old and beaten.

 

i won't ignore it. i'll stand by what i say.

answer incoming....

 

You don't have an answer - when Bernard's promoter at the time was quoted as saying it was the most ****ed up decision a boxer has made, to pull out of a sure made career pay day against a guy he should beat, you know something was up.

Eubank has often said he got calls from Hopkins, Jones Jr and a fair few others asking him about Calzaghe and he told them all to steer clear of him.

When Calzaghe was getting at max, 100-200k to fight previous to Lacy, except one cirucmstance when Veit got 600k in Euro together for Calzaghe to fight him a second time, do you really think he's going to be able to force people who make 3-4 million at least to fight him? Even when he managed to get the 3-4 million for Hopkins to fight him, he got turned down.

There is no answer for that, except to say Hopkins was obviously less sure about his chances than you are.

 

boxing ISN'T about who is a champion with a belt when you are trying to arrange fights, especially when you have a savvy promoter who - wait for it - balances the risk versus reward ratio when making fights.

i also feel invisible when this subject comes up because i've TALKED TO YOU about this before exactly as i'm doing now and you're choosing to ignore it...but i'll say it again...

the hopkins - calzaghe fight wasn't finalised because calzaghe was high risk - low reward...how many times do you want me to say that?

do you think danny green got a fight with roy jones because jones was at the top of his game and felt sorry for a fringe contender from australia?

or do you think jones knew he had fallen from grace and decided to cash in since he really didn't have anything to lose anymore?

calzaghe was EASILY the best fighter both jones and hopkins could have fought from MW to LHW and the ONLY REASON calzaghe never got those fights in his prime is because he never chased them.

welcome to the world of frank warren.

****, come on! how can you people not see this?

 

and every time people bring up posts like this it's always the boxer who will be remembered less internationally that has to ask about big fights he didn't get.

david haye can get the klitschkos anytime he wants if he wants too....and how he reacts will define how people remember him.

ricky hatton did what you're talking about and nobody questions him becasue he put his balls on the line and got his defining fights against the best fighters on the planet when it mattered.

why do you think hatton got his fights against pacman and floyd but calzaghe never got near hopkins and jones in their prime?

 

any fighter who isn't known internationally has everything to gain from getting a fight with someone who is. it's like junior witter getting a fight with floyd 6 years ago - and witter was calling him out then.

we've already spent about 2 hours talking about this so - seriously - do you not want to hear this or what?

seriously...tell me what you disagree with from what i've already told you becuse i'm not saying it all again...

 

that why nobody will ever change your mind.

you're british and you're putting someone on a pedestal and you want to keep him there.

so why bother post on a forum and debate about things?