Personally, I think he's going to get stopped by Jones. But even if Calzaghe wins, he will not fight above 168 again. He learned his lesson against Hopkins: LHW punches are too heavy and he doesn't carry his power up well. If he does beat RJJ, he'd only stick around to fight one last blockbuster, against a marquee name. Maybe after beating DLH, Pac will be interested..lol.
pavlik's worked harder and taken more chances than calzaghe has in his career to get wher he is. [/quote] True statement.
Pavlik hasnt fought Bhop yet. Kelly's only fought Taylor twice and miranda, Calzaghe's fought Bhop,Kessler,Eubank,Reid,Mitchell and Lacy, all better than at least Miranda. You can criticise Joe for lots of things, Staying at home, pulling out of Johnson fights and other fights for the slightest twinge, even taking the jones fight ahead of a Pavlik fight, but to try and say Kelly has a better record than Joe is bollocks.
my mistake on hopkins. my point being is that pavlik has earned his place at the top because he's taken chances on the biggest stage of all. the taylor fight was a fight against a guy who had dethroned hopkins - a fighter who had reigned legitmiately as the best middle in the world for 20 defences - not cherry-picked them from wales which gave him zero leverage to make big fights against the best in the world. the difference between being a legitimate champion with a long reign in the US is that even if you're not a marketing wet dream (which hopkins never was), he is a prime scalp because of his notoriety. hopkins ruled a weak division, sure, and his name was bolstered considerably by beating smaller guys (tito and oscar). BUT hopkins earned that right by taking on all comers on the world stage and this is what pavlik does too. you can't use eubank on calzaghe's resume imo in comparison because he was well past his best. it marked calzaghe's arrival, sure, but that's all. calzaghe is, what, 7-8 years older than pavlik? but he doesn't have a fighter of taylor's calibre, taking into account the age and so on of opposition, on his resume. the reason for that is that pavlik took a chance with the big boys and won - just like ricky hatton did when he moved over to the US. calzaghe was fortunate to have another talented european based fighter who didn't want (or his promoter didn't) US fights in mikkel kessler, who just happened to be the legitmiate heir to calzaghe's throne. calzaghe beat him, got his foothold in the US in the twilight of his career, and decided to cash in on it fighting fading greats. joe's wins against lacy and kessler were excellent, but heø's never done what kelly pavlik did and beat a - yes i'll say it again - proven world class fighter in his prime (taylor). not only that, pavlik gave him a rematch and won that too. now maybe calzaghe would beat pavlik, thats a good question, but the reason why people RESPECT pavlik more is that he puts his balls on the table. that's it.
Yeah, Pavlik fought Taylor twice, that's it. Everyone knows that Miranda is just another Lacy: all punch, limited skills. FWIW, I thought Taylor was ahead in the first fight until the KO, and thought the second fight was a draw until Taylor ran out of gas in the late rounds. It's not like Pavlik outclassed Taylor in either fight.
so who has calzaghe fought with the same ability and resume as taylor? don't forget to take into account if the fighter was in his prime.
I agree Taylor is a world class scalp, no argument, my point was that its his only scalp. I was responding to the first part of your statement that implyed Kelly has a better resume than Joe's. I wasnt questioning Bhop's or Taylor's record. Taylor is a bigger name than everybody on Joes record(taking away Bhop and Eubank), But IMO not a better boxer. If you have to take Bhop and Eubank off Joes record coz of age then I assume if Kelly went on to beat Bhop and Joe you would have to leave them off. Whater anybody says be it hater or nuthugger Joe isnt in his prime.
good post. but the bottom line remains that, even though joe's many years older and many years more experienced than kelly, it's kelly who has a career-defining fight (unless he eclipses it) - and that's why we are talking about them both in the same breath right now despite the differences in experience and age.