F***-off

Frank Warren was just protecting his cash cow, that's all !

 

I followed Calzaghe from day one, my dad had seen him in the amateurs and told me he was someone to look out for, and I was very exited about what the future held. When he beat Eubank I thought that win was going to be a stepping stone on to bigger and better things, but it wasn't. His career just stagnated from there and by the time he fought Tocker Pudwill I gave up and didn't take the time out to watch a Calzaghe fight again until he fought Lacy. Calzaghe did finally give it a bit of a go at the end with wins over Kessler and (a old) Hopkins, but for me it just seems like to little to late. Calzaghe could have done so much more.

 

The most talented out of the lot of them by some margin...but you got to give it to Ricky and Clinton they took their talent a long way and really pushed the limits of their abilities..which unfortunately meant some bad losses for them.

Cant really say the same about Joe.

 

So you ignore Lacy,Kessler,Reid, (All champions at the weight) and Mitchell each of these guys in their prime.....and who did he beat to win the title? Chris Eubank.
Not the worst a champ can do (Sven Ottke/Felix Sturm).

I know for a fact that because of Frank Warren, a lot of those fights couldn’t be made, along with hand injuries which prevented fights with glen johnson coming off.
When his time came, he took advantage.

I doubt Jones, Tarver, Montell Griffith, James Toney and Winky Wright even cared about Calzaghe because they didn’t see him as a threat..no1 called him out because of the ignorant american view of 'protected european fighter'.
Wasnt till he whooped an american who was supposed to be the next tyson...until americans took notice.

And in the short space of time (last few years) calzaghe has proved to be a far superior fighter to woods and hatton.
Only seems like they had heart because they lost to the best!
Joe beat the best when his time came....

 

op op op

 

I wouldnt go that far but its a fair opinion. His record is obviously padded, no doubt about that.

 

...when his time came... exactly!! He ducked most of the best fighters until they where to old.
Calzaghe was a good champion that hid out in Europe. He avoided a lot of great fighters that would have embarrassed him.

 

Put simply, Woods is one of the most underrated British boxers around. The bloke is hard as **** and never shirks a challenge. As pointed out, Hatton has never been one to refuse a challenge either. I know the guy gets a lot of stick on here but Amir Khan has a huge heart as well- he always gets up when hurt and if he was content to live off of a padded record he would never have taken on Kotelnik. Call him 'glass chinned' all you like, but he wants challenges and behind the scenes is a top bloke as well:good.

Calzaghe, unfortunately, will always have question marks around him.

 

Lacy and Kessler fair enough, but Reid and Mitchell?

Reid gave Calzaghe all he could handle and many people felt he did enough to win that night. This is the same Robin Reid who had recently been beaten by Malinga and then immediately after pushing Calzaghe all the way was
comprehensively outboxed by the average Silvio Branco.

Mitchell was coming of a loss to Sven Ottke and straight after losing to Calzaghe was stopped in a four rounds by Richard Hall.

Now I'm not saying these guys are complete bums, but they're hardly anything special.

 

exactly my point when i explained about the ignorant protected european fighter thing u americans were raised on.
you completely ignored my points about his promoter, injuries.... and oh yea which one of these great fighters were calling him out at their prime before they saw him whoop lacy and fill out 'soccer stadiums' as you say to bring in the money?

i could name a few stiffs on the records of hopkins (after his jones fight up until de la hoya) and jones in their prime.
But that doesnt take away from their talent and achievements in their defining fights.

 

There has been a lot of careful matchmaking going on.Calzaghe, Jones, and Mayweather are prime examples.Gone are the old days of fighters just going for it despite crazy odds.You had guys like Henry Armstrong going from 126 to 147 (thats a 4 weight class jump today!) to challenge a undisputed world champion. Micky Walker, a beer bloated middleweight fighting and beating (until he ran into Max Schmeling) top heavyweight, and Billy Conn, in reality only a super middleweight by todays standards, taking on an ATG in Joe Louis. But the 'superstars' of today , shoot their mouths off and pick opponents more carefully than The Sun Maiden pick grapes.Guys like Paq and Marquez seem to be willing to fight anyone without all of the mouth and bragging, but most of todays best fighters are way too calculated in their choice of opponents, and that includes Jones , Mayweather and Calzaghe.

 

I dont agree with this thread , Eubank was world class and the best at the weight when Calzaghe beat him sure he was gettin on but he was still champ and more then a bum , Lacy was suppose to be the next hot **** KO Machine and got found out by joe , Kessler is world class and my money's on him winning the tourney comming up and joe dominated him , Hopkins is old as **** but as we all no the man is a freak of nature and is still one of the best fighters in the world and look who he beat just before he faced joe and look what he did to Pavlik after hardly not still got it , Jones jr is the only one i'll give you as when Calzaghe beat hime he was a shell of him former self

 

Are you serious?

The only 1 win of Calzaghe i give as a good opponent was Kessler!

How can people like yourself say he fought the best, if you class Hopkins and Roy jj waaaay past it as THE BEST!

You mention Robin Reid and Jeff like they should be acknowledged for being great fighters, behave!

Why not fight Chad Dawson, Pavlik, and personally i think the Hopkins fight was a draw as not many of Joe's punches landed clean!

 

Oh My God. I love these kinda threads. How anyone can argue with all the valid points raised by the OP is beyond me.