Prior to the Hopkins fight he had never had his nose broken in the ring and the Eubank fight was the only other time I can remember him getting marked up. However he has had to eat some pretty big shots in the Kessler/Hopkins fights to weather the storm. Are his skills on the decline?
Yeah, he is certainly passed his prime. Has been for a few years now. Probably more passed his peak than Hopkins.
Is he past his prime as much as people think ? I feel it's difficult to tell when the quality of his opposition has improved in line with this apparent decline.
Actually, it is impossible to tell. Same with anyone else. I was just contributing to General forum stupidity. Until you come up with an equation with tangible values (numbers), you should not talk of things like "peak".
I don't think his defence was ever that great. A very good chin yes, but with the level of competition he was facing back in the day he was able to throw so many arm-punches at his opponents that it kept them from loading up and delivering their own shots; they just had to cover up. With the bar being raised against Kessler and Hopkins he can't really get away with that kind of approach anymore, although it still works to a certain extent; but he will continue to get tagged at the highest level.
Watch Veit 2 then you'll see prime Joe, note his footspeed and the increased use of the jab + the amazing speed then you'll KNOW he's been in decline for a while - even considering the shitness of Veit.
calzaghe has the best defense of any offensive fighter out there. it is better now through experience, than it was 10 years ago. it is better than cotto`s/better than paq`s/better than hatton`s/etc etc. any fighter prepared to take chances and let his hands go is going to get hit. but calzaghe adapts to his opponents during fights and takes away there main offensive weapons, this is not luck this is defensive skill. yes he still has macho moments as was his norm in his younger days , but if calzaghe wants to , he is as hard to hit as anyone. he fought in the pocket v lacy, and ducked/spun/stepped off/used angles/great upperbody movement/ to totally shut lacy down , even though he was always in punching range. against kessler after round 4 he used angles/head movement /parrying /anticipation to see all the punches coming and avoid them until the 12th when he went macho. kessler has a great jab, but it was completley shut down by calzaghe and it made hard for kessler to get a rythem. against hopkins , calzaghe again adapted , took a step back and avoided the hopkins right hand 4 through 12, and for a fighter who specilises in southpaws like hopkins, calzaghe totally shut down the hopkins left hand to such an extent that calzaghe got hit with less than 1 jab a round in the whole fight. so in 3 50/50 fights v a puncher a stand up boxer a spoiler calzaghe was able to adapt a defense that enabled him to carry on with a high octane offense. that is high defensive skill despite the fact he slaps with his punches and looks awkward at times. also calzaghe also knows every dirty trick in the book/arm pinning/head/elbows/low blows/tying up and hit/rabbit punching/hitting on the break/ calzaghe has x factors on defense that break opponents rythems and gameplans. it might not be conventional/it might not be pretty/but it is effective.
got hit with 2 many overhand rights in his prime and never ducked or slipped anywhere as well as he does now. when i watch the brewer and reid fights , IMO the calzaghe of today would have taken away reids overhand right completely away, also he might fight brewer from the outside today, in and out instead of staying in the pocket for the whole 12 rounds as he did v brewer.
He injured his hand against Reid, it is apparent the difference that made when you compare the first few easy, easy rounds the mid-late rounds. He would have walked through Hopkins and that first round right would not have hit.
I hadn't heard that he broke his nose in the Hopkins fight. I know he had a gash on the bridge of his nose, but where was it reported that he broke it?