Frank Warren and Joe Calzaghe to make official statement.... On Tuesday 22nd January

I won't believe this fight is on until an official announcement is made.

I would love to see Joe Calzaghe fight in America and prove his class in their backyard, but I think the mere presence of Frank Warren at the negotiating table fills fight fans with pessimism.

That's the reason why Ricky Hatton ditched him - could never get big fights until the Tszyu fight, by which time Ricky was fed up. His fighters also never have big fights in America, for some reason (and I understand his point but don't agree) stating that fighters don't need to cross the Atlantic to make big bucks. Whilst this is undoubtedly true, there is little prestige in beating jumped up domestic fighters in your home town, which both Hatton and Calzaghe did for years before their first 'major' bout.

Compare Hatton, who has topped the bill in America four times, to Calzaghe in terms of worldwide exposure, and you only have one winner - yet Calzaghe is probably the better fighter!

 

Only by a tad -- the gulf between Hatton and Calzaghe dwarfs the very Atlantic Calzaghe has yet to cross.

 

What is the point in fighting in American when in the past 10 years the priemer supermiddles that is Ottke Kessler and of course Calzaghe have all been european?

No point. The Americans can come over here if they want the SMW title as thats where it dwells.

Jeff Lacy did why can't the rest?

Now for this marquee fight JC is going over there to whoop the disgusting boring conservative overrated limp Bernard 'old *******' Hopkins...which is more than anything Ricky Hatton has done in America anyway.

So things haven't worked out so bad 1# SMW of all time and by the time this year is out...world wide recognition as one of the very best fighters of this era and a top 50 of all time (at least)

 

What's the point of fighting in America?

This is where the money is - why do you think damn near 90% of the Boxers out there want to fight here. The TV exposure - the fame - and money. If you start to name a Boxer's biggest payday - I bet you that more of them have made more money fighting in America than anywhere else. Just ask Ricky Hatton :nut .

 

The point is - the Americans didn't really have a top SMW, and still don't really - but as Calzaghe struggles to make 168, there was no reason not to move to 175 and fight the Yankee doodles, rather than listening to his promoter and beating **** mandatories for the WBO strap, which means jack anyway!

Calzaghe is clearly good enough to have done this, and it is a cloud which will hover over him permanently. You can say what you like about Hatton, but he has always been willing to travel to get the fights he wants, move up in weight to get the fight that he wants etc - whether you rate him or not, different thread altogether IMO.

 

With 10 Post you called us Yankee Doodles - Funny

You need more time/post under your belt before you start the insults.

 

apparently ricky hatton did 500,000 more ppv numbers in the uk at 5am in the morning than mayweather did in america prime time with a 240,000,000 bigger population.

imagine if it went out 3 am to 5 am in the morning american time what mayweather numbers would have been.

mikkell kessler alone nearly got what hopkins and wright did combined fighting in europe.

an amir kahn domestic journeyman jon thaxton a lightwight gets offered $250 k

99% of american boxers have never received the kind of payday that an english journeyman gets.

haye and macranelli getting $2 million each , ding got $20k to fight in russia.

if ding was from europe he would have got 5 times that ammount per fight.

america is still a big boxing playground, but so many americans underestimate how much money europe can bring to the table.

when was the last time a fight went to purse bids in a europe v america situation and an american promotor won with the highest bid ?

 

Sorry - we're not as dedicated to our fighters as you guys are.

Sometimes the following and support that you guys give you'll sports figure is bored line CRAZY.

But if you're going to compare some of your top fighters against our top fighters - we can throw out names like DLH - Mayweather - Tyson - Holyfield. The biggest money makers in this sport resides in America.

Not saying that you're guys don't make good money - which they do - but you're talking about Haye/Macranelli getting 2 million each - when HBO and Showtime throw that kind of money around too. Tarver makes about that much fighting nobody - and I don't even support him like that.

 

the sport in general is bias towards yanks bue to HBO and The Ring.

Theres more money in the states no doubt.

 

That's the only point I'm trying to make :good

As famous as Joe is over there - him fighting here will only help his career - win or lose. It will give the Americas that don't know of him, much exposure. He's already one of the ATG in his division and a future Hall of Famer - but to add something like fighting the best in America to his resume, is something that's he's mainly doing for pride and money.

 

my point is right at this point in time europe is matching any money america has to offer and in most cases pay equivelent fighters a lot more.

for example sven ottke the german spinks earned $8 million a year from purses alone .

if sven was american he would have earned 90% less if he was lucky.


i hate ppv , it ruins boxing , but eventually it will go this way in europe as well and when it does it will be european ppv when european boxers are involved who will dictate over american tv .

my reasoning, america`s current crop of ppv fighters have 8 fights left in them combined and when that is over dlh/mayweather/jones/hopkins/

of the top of my head you are left with

dawson
pavlik
taylor
williams
diaz

all good fighters, but the cuboard is pretty bare compared to the 70`s /80`s 90`s where i would have needed a whole thread to reel off top class americans.

 

It wasn't an insult, just a joke!
I think Americans are less dedicated to their fighters for several reasons:
1. There are so many of them
2. Americans are less passionate about teams and individuals - i.e. parochial pride means nothing - they support someone because they feel like it, whereas a Brit will support someone because their from same city etc

Most of the prestige is in America, and as a football/rugby fan myself, I think beating Manchester Utd at Old Trafford is much better than beating them on your own turf, and can translate this to boxing.
One thing that really annoys me about Americans is that they are so insular, never giving (or appearing to give) any foreigner credit whatsoever for their achievements. Take Calzaghe vs Lacy for instance, wasn't Lacy the best fighter of all time until Joe nearly killed him, after that he was a bum - make your mind up! In truth Lacy lies somewhere in between, probably best described as a fringe contender.
Perhaps the reason why this is the case is because there are so many Americans, whilst Britain, being a much smaller nation, only produces so many decent fighters, most of whom spend too much time listening to Frank Warren rather than trying to crack the worldwide market of HBO and The Ring.

We do actually produce a fair few decent fighters, but the politics over here and the fact that you can earn decent money knocking out jumped up domestic fighters for those stupid international and intercontinental belts means that they decide not to bother.

 

Lacy was world class. Calzaghe is P4P top 25 all time.