Floyd Mayweather is the black Joe Calzaghe.

calzaghe didnt duck anyone, in 2002 he wont out and arranged a right with hopkins, at the last moment hopkins pulled out. everyone knows this

calzaghe couldnt get the fights despite being the champ for so long because he wasnt a big name.

mayweather can get the fights but doesnt want the risk

 

Mayweather is a much better fighter than Calzaghe and has a better resume, but there is indeed a parallel with the way they have strategized and ducked through certain periods of their careers in order to retain the hallowed zero.

I wished I lived in an era where fighters didn't think like this, and just wanted to fight the best.

Thankfully, there are still some of them around.

 

bad thread from a good poster...

Ottke wasnt even an option, Calzaghe wouldve had to KO him to win
Hopkins rejected the fight in 01/02
Jones was a different division altogether (still pisses me off that Joe fought him)
Glen Johnson was a journeyman at SM
Dawson brang no money to the table (shame dat)

they are the most popular fights to bring up which make me laugh

 

its a good comparison. time however, is on floyd's side. he can change all that.

 

These little excuse-lists that some people dredge up are truly depressing. OK dude, you win, it was literally impossible that Joe C could have fought anyone at all other than who he did fight... :dead

 

I agree...Calzaghe really didn't duck anyone. But he never, not once, tried to make a fight with the best fighters while he was in his prime. He was content and satisfied to sit on his imitation gold throne and pretend that he was the greatest fighter in the world. Was he great? Fact is, we just don't know. He certainly was very good. But great fighter make great fights, period. Like Leonard with Hagler or Ali with George Foreman...great fighters go out of their was to prove that they are great and thusly they secure their legacies. Joe never did this...end of story.

 

Your post is the joke, son. Are you actually claiming that in 10 year Joe couldn't have possibly found a way to secure a bout with a top fighter in his prime? Joe and Roy in different weight divisions entirely? Is that some kind of a joke? Jones went up to heavyweight to fight John Ruiz, are you saying he couldn't've possibly fought Joe when he was still in his prime? This really is gut-busting stuff.

 

Why did Jones duck Dariuz M Nobody wanted to fight Calazaghe because he was young and dangerous and not worth alot back then. Jones and Hopkins waited to fight him years later when he was woprth money and too bad they were too old when it happened.

 

Joe was a welsh duck. He could have done what ricky hatton did and went to america and the big fights would have happened - just go on boxrec and check his record. Its a sham. The guy fought noone of any real talent except Hopkins and Hopkins was robbed that night. Everyone else he fought was past it, a bum or overrated.

 

You're missing the point. If a fighter really wants to make a fight and take a risk, it gets made...period. Yes, Joe would have had to take a pay cut if he had challenged either Roy or Hopkins when they were young, but it would have made his name...early. But that didn't happen because Joe was content with the WBO belt and 8 or 9 years of perfunctory defenses. :nut

 

totally agree
Ottke was a disgrace,I watched robin reid beat him round a ring for 12 rounds and still lost, in fact got deducted points for ottke headbutting him!!
Jones may not have been in a completley different division but would never have accepted the fight as he turned down fights with Benn and Eubank cause there was no money, and they were bigger money than Calzaghe could have offered when jones was prime
And as for him ducking fights he took on Lacy when no-one gave him a chance. Sure Lacy turned out to be second rate but look back to the time when he was betting favourite and being bummed up as the next mike tyson. Hardly ducking

 

The biggest difference here is the fact that most American fighters at 168 viewed Calzaghe as an "unknown" fighter with a belt who was too much risk for the reward. When Calzaghe was finally called out by Jeff Lacy he stepped up to plate and destroyed him.

Floyd's case is not similar...he is a very well known commodity in the states and all over the world...he fights also in a division which is full of credible opponents.

How many fights did Joe Calzaghe avoid where the opponent was demanded by a consensus? How many fights did Calzaghe avoid which were demanded by the entire boxing public? He cleaned out his division, just like B-hop and Kostya Tszyu...

did Floyd do that at 147? no, that wasn't his original weight class, but one can argue that this is his natural weight class...he seems to be comfortable fighting at 147 in his prime and is incapable of making a lower weight at this time.