Hopkins says"Calzaghe would be fighting a legend, I'd just be defeating a champion!"

Well if he was THAT good, why didnt he come out of his shell and take on real challenges in his prime like Ricky's doing ?

 

IMO trinidad is not an elite fighter at 160 and i do not think he would make many peoples top 100 middles if ever a list was drawn up.

the frenchman and joppy are the only 2 middleweights i think he ever beat and was taken apart by wright and hopkins at middle not even being competitive.

this is not the pedigree of an elite middleweight IMO.

winky wright has had 1 single fight in his career as a light heavyweight and lost to hopkins albeit closer than the judges scored it but again he would not be in anybodys top 500 light heavys if such a list was made .

pedigree of an elite light heavyweight IMO no.

tarver was 1-1 v johnson , a limited skillwise but good trier of a fighter who hopkins beat many years previously when johnson was a middle.

johnson then moved to 168 where again he could not cut it losing to sheika and being outboxed by ottke.

he also lost to harding being simply outworked .

i had him beating jones by descion as i thought jones rope a dope meant he got outscored.

tarver IMO is a light heavy version of vivian harris and not an elite fighter.
good fighter but not elite.

all good wins for hopkins just as lacy/kessler /eubank are good wins for calzaghe.

 

Well said!

 

He did, and they responded with the worlds best impression of a commonly found farm animal

If you hadn't noticed, Bernard has been busy taking pay days against rubbish fighters like Jermain Taylor (oops, a proper middleweight, he didn't lose did he?)

He'll announce his latest mega fight against OAP's Trinidad/RJJ soon. Should fund his expedition to the moon, where he can avoid being on the same planet as the Welsh Wizard

 

true
calzaghe should have fitted in
ottke/beyer/lucas/echolls/

no household american names he avoided though.

not sure if he could have fought at 168 in america much as i cannot think of any american names .

hopkins ruled the roost at 160 and hopkins never beat anyone who then traveled up to 168 and did anything at all.

sadly for me and many calzaghe fans warren likes the cheapest opponent because if warren has to pay money to bring in name fighters he wants options on there babies/wives and girlfriends and that led to soft opposition.

easier in america because casino`s fork out 3 to 4 million for american fighters like hopkins and it makes it easier for promoters to pay opponents than it does in europe where everything has to be self financed.

also the fact calzaghe absolutley loves home cooking which puts him on a par with 99% of elite american fighters.

 

Sean -

He could have fought Lucas, but I don't see how Echols is any better than anyone he was beating at the time, Echols is mainly known for nearly getting KTFO by Brewer and of course getting shut out badly by Hopkins in entertaining fights.

Ottke and Beyer were impossible to make, Ottke's promotion and team wouldn't have it in any way.

 

A totally shot McCallum? Then why did McCallum pull out?

 

Bernard Hopkins has got some balls talking about fighting away from home as well

He's fought away a grand total of..wait for it..twice. To put that into perspective, the same as the great Joe Calzaghe

Added to this Joe got **** receptions when he fought in England early in his career