How the hell can anyone say that Joe Calzaghe is a ATG?

prob not an atg

but best super middle in history even tho it is a young division

 

Dude, he operated in a very weak division. A division which was boring as ****. It's no surprise he was able to dominate for as long as he did. A few sacrifices and commitments, and he could have got the major fights against the major names AT THE RIGHT TIME.

But he chose not to. Content with staying in his back yard. Feeding on talentless bums. Decorating a WORTHLESS unbeaten record.

Massive underachiever

 

may have been an underachiever but his promoter was the reason he couldnt get the fight and he did try

went for hopkins in 01/02 was it, hopkins pulled out in the last minute for a bigger pay day

 

Deffo not an ATG, his record of opposition doesn't warrant that status.

however he did beat everyone who was put in front of him, so he does deserve a lot of respect.:good

 

His best wins were against Lacy and Kessler.

Kessler, a more experienced and better Kessler, has since lost to Ward. Lacy, although highly hyped and picked by many to win, was proven to be very overrated and hasn't accomplished anything spectacular in the sport. Other then that he beat the corpse of Jones and an old Hopkins who lost to Jermain Taylor twice. in the years leading up to his retirement, Calzaghe was still fighting Manfredo and Bika....that is all you need to konw about the man.

 

he only fought manfredo to gain exposure in america.

its a sad fact that america knew losers like lacy and manfredo better than a man who had dominated the super-middleweight division for 10 years.

says a lot about american people that imo.

 

having a w against bernard is an accomplishment. yeah many people had the fight going the other way but joe gave him one helluva fight either way.

joe is an underachiever for sure who, by his own admission, is more concerned w/ that "0" than much else. there are so many big name fights he could have gotten when he would still be the favorite...pavlik, froch, dawson, etc...that would have done wonders for his legacy. didnt happen.

atg, no. but hof....**** you don't have to do much these days to get in so he's gettin in.

still, for all the what ifs in the world he was a great fighter.

 

I'm not even a Joe fan but he beat Hops clearly. Because Hops only made it close by using every dirty tactic in the book because if he kept it clean, he couldn't compete the same way.

 

Yeah I love that argument! So now all of a sudden "exposure" in America is more important then legacy, but actually coming over to America and beating the top fighters in their prime was out of the question :deal You know what would've gotten him exposure, if he was actually willing to come to America and fight Roy Jones when Roy was on top of the boxing world.

 

Gimme a ****ing break. None of Calzghe's fights were televised in the US before Lacy. Considering his level of opposition, it's not that outrageous. Should HBO, Showtime and ESPN be going out of their way to promote and televise Zsolt Erdei's fights because he's an undefeated champ too?

As for Manfredo giving Calzaghe exposure in the US, that's laughable. It's not like The Contender made him a PPV star over night. Most people still had no idea who the **** he was after the show finished. Joe got a lot more publicity for himself in the States by fighting Hopkins. If he had come to the US sooner or even faced a better level competition in the UK, he would have gotten plenty of exposure.

 

Im a boxing fan from Wales and a huge Calzaghe fan....

But I think you're right dude. Here is one UK fan who can see beyond an over-protected unbeaten record.

 

That's completely incorrect. Showtime showed a lot of Calzaghe fights, starting with the Starie fight in 2000 and were involved in the offer to Hopkins in 2002 that Hopkins initially accepted and then backed away from.

Here is a story from 2003, for example:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/3030004.stm

 

then why didnt roy accept?

 

Are you a moron?

--At 46-0 Calzaghe has one of the best records in the HISTORY of boxing.
--There are seventeen weight classes in boxing. He is only one of 17 boxers to be the BEST ever in their respective division.
--Jeff Lacy was undefeated when he fought Calzaghe
--Mikkel Kessler was undefeated and a world champion when they fought
--Roy Jones is an ATG and in his past three fights before Calzaghe Roy defeated ranked boxers whose combined records were 70-5!
--Bernard Hopkins is an ATG and is still considered to be the BEST Light Heavyweight currently.