Eubank vs Calzaghe 1997 revisted

You can sayhe didnt have it but before Calzaghe he had 2 KO wins and before that was fighting Collins to a SD. After losing to Joe, Eubank went up to CW and gave WBO champ Thompson 2 hard fights, that dosent sound shot, and I remember Eubank being back in the press after his first fight with Thompson

 

About four years?

He peaked around the Watson fights, all-in-all. Ridiculous attention.

 

He looked horrible in those Far East bouts, against total cans of tomato who were blown up. No doubt rusty, tired (promoted the shows himself), etc.

He did look sensational against limited Thompson however!

 

The judges scored it an SD, but he looked terrible against Collins (II) - he clearly lost 11 out of 12 rounds that night and even looked suddenly shot (more likely too weight-drained).

 

I agree that after Watson 2 he lost alot of his killer instinct, but dont think Eubank at 31 was as shot as people like to make out ie he lost to Collins then had 2 KO wins and then fought Collins to a SD (so fighting a world champ to a SD dosent sound shot does it?), then Eubank took a year off so he wouldnt have been in the press as much, then had 2 KO victories abroad (out of the UK press attention), then lost to Calzaghe, he then fought the WBO CW champ losing by 1 point on two cards and flooring the champ, (which dosent sound shot), then he rematched the WBO CW champ and lost by TKO due to injury when ahead by 3 points on two cards in the 10th round (which also dosent sound too shot).

 

Yeah it all caught up with him, the weight-making

 

Eubank wasn't shot but he was nowhere near his best and ill prepared for a fight of that magnitude.

He took on Calzaghe with less than ten days notice when Collins withdrew! That would have ****ed up his sparring - you name it.

Prime Eubank is a better fighter than Joe Calzaghe!

 

It was a change of opponent for Calzaghe also

 

True, but Calzaghe says he never used to watch tapes of opponents anyway and his (or his dad's) philosophy was that the opponent would have to adapt to his style. Whereas Eubank was meticulous in studying tapes of opponents and getting sparring partners to match that style.

 

I think the '92-'95 Eubank would still struggle with Joe's stance, loose style and activity and have to stop him (or knock him out).

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYx_a6anlBQ[/ame]

 

I agree with this. In terms of ability, the middleweight Eubank of around 90-91 was a better fighter than Calzaghe. Eubank was a brilliant combination puncher, Calzaghe was by comparison an inaccurate flurry machine. No-one could have shut that Eubank out, but top level opponents would expose Calzaghe's technical deficiencies.

 

Opponents change all the time for fights, if Eubank didnt feel comfy about changing opponents he could have refused the fight. Still if Calzaghe didnt study opponents and adapted in the ring that does sound impressive

 

Eubank said he took one look at Calzaghe's record, didn't see one name he recognised, and reckoned he'd 'won the lottery' with the shot out of nowhere.

'I lost 20lbs in seven days because I underestimated him and thought I could beat him on heart alone.'