If YOU were Joe Calzaghe, would you come out of retirement to fight Andre Ward?

If i felt like i could still beat ward at this stage in my life then yes i would comeback. If i felt like ward would beat the crap out of me and take my precious 0 away from my record then i would absolutely not come back.

 

So black and white you must have blinkers on.............

 

He beat an amateurish version of Benn, who fought a really stupid fight and ended up getting koed by a jab. SMW Benn was the best version of Benn imo.

A lot of mediocre opponents also did quite well against Eubank, like Thornton(postman), Close And Schommer(stockbroker) and I thought Eubank lost all three of those fights.

It was obvious from round 2 that Watson was waaay out of his depth against McCallum and that fight was a mismatch.

I really don't understand why people here keep referring to Reid as a top fighter

Reid:
Notable wins: Nardiello

Notable losses: Malinga (40 years old), Branco, Calzaghe, Lacy

He beat no one worth mentioning and lost to journeymen like Malinga and Branco. Having a WBC belt doesn't mean much, especially when he became a champion by beating a mediocre opponent like Nardeillo

The Benn he got a win over was basically shot. Benn was never the same after the McClellan fight and would go 0-3 in 06, including the Malinga loss.

So his best wins are not that good and he lost to a ton of ordinary fighters

Being undefeated only means something if you have beaten world class opponents. The only win on Rochhigiani's resume worth mentioning at the time he faced Eubank was Malinga, who was a fringe contender. Rochigiani was not proven at world class level either, he beat a waay past prime Nunn by a controversial split decision and that's really about it.

 

Collins was tough but his overall boxing form was pretty poor, which is why he got beat by world class guys like McCallum, Kalambay and R.Johnson.
They consistently slipped his wide telegraphed punches and landed counters. He was lucky that none of those guys were real bangers.

That version of Benn he beat was shot. Benn had a shadow on his brain after the McClellan fight, which had further deteriorated into a brain legion by the time of the Collins fights.
Source: War, baby: A history of violence

Eubank wasn't world class at smw either, which is why he got outboxed by a fringe contender(Schommer), who had only fought twice in the previous three years.

Eubank always wanted to get the smw Wbo belt back but he knew he couldn't beat Collins so he reluctantly moved up. When he was offered the opportunity to fight a green contender, who hadn't beat anyone worth mentiong he took it. Calzaghe himself was not that good back then either. After struggling with Reid he said himself that he did not want to fight any good fighters:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Boxing...he.-a060444934

A damning confession which explains why his resume looks the way it does

There are now 5 belts in any given division: Super wba, wba, wbc, ibf and WBo. Getting a belt these days doesn't mean much seeing as how there are so many floating around. Who you beat to get the belt has to be taken into account as well. Thompson never beat anyone worth mentioning, outside of Eubank, and lost to ordinary fighters. I can not see how he can be classed as world class because he picked up a sanctioning body belt. Plenty of medicore fighters have had sanctioning body belts.

 

Lacy

Notable wins:
Sheika
Reid

Debatable wins:
Tyspko
Manfredo
Mendoza (robbery)

Notable losses:
Calzaghe
Jones
Taylor

When your best win is Robin Reid then you are in real trouble

 

​

Graham easily has to be one of the best fighters that have come out of Britain over the last 20 years. The only difference between him and Eubank is that he took the sort of fights that Eubank never would of went anywhere near

Kalambay:
He really should have a win over Kalambay, who was a top tier fighter

McCallum:
A very close fight, which easily could have gone Graham's way. Graham boxed and brawled with McCallum on an equal footing. Who out of the British guys could of done any better?

Benn and Eubank refused to fight him
McCallum beat Watson and Collins

Jackson:
Most likely would of beaten all the British guys. Jackson wanted to fight McCallum again, but according to Jackson McCallum turned him down. Eubank would of went nowhere near him. He vacated his belt when McClellan became his mandatory.

Every time he challenged for a belt a top tier fighter stood in his way. Benn, Calzaghe and Eubank had a much easier path to a title shot. Benn beat Galvano. Eubank was basically given the wbo smw belt and Calzaghe fought a Eubank who took the fight on 11 days notice.

According to Graham he tried to get fights with McCallum II, Hagler, Eubank, Collins and Watson and they all turned him down. So he couldn't even get the opportunities to take his career to the next level. His just as good as those guys, if not better imo. He just was not as fortunate as them and that's the REAL difference between them.

 

How many fighters would of outclassed Liles at smw? A question we can not answer because most of those guys ducked him

Littles
As I said before he was a decorated amateur who beat Jones (a top fighter even then) and only came up short against Liles, who was beating everyone back then. The only person Liles has a negative record against is Jones. Liles is officially 1-2 against him, many people believe he should of won their last fight as well. There is a reason he couldn't get a fight with Jones as a pro

Liles I:
Either way when Littles met Liles as a pro they both had a similar amount of pro and amateur experience so I class that as a solid win for Littles. I also class that as the only legit loss that Liles has a smw. The Mitchell loss was garbage.

After that fight Liles go on to fight a journeyman, Steve Littles, to get a belt but Littles has to face a p4p fighter

Toney:
Littles ends up getting stopped in four rounds. Which titlist would of done better than Littles?

Benn and Eubank refused to take the fight

Liles II
After that fight he goes on the get a rematch with Liles and gets stopped in 3 rounds. Which titlist would of done better?

Benn and Jones turned him down. Calzaghe and Eubank would of went nowhere near him
Collins?A fight was agreed to then later fell through

There was talk of Littles facing the other belt holders but it never worked out for whatever reasons.

He was a damned good fighter. Solid combinations. His hand speed was second only to Jones at smw. Good jab and upper body movement. The only difference between him and the other guys is he took on the champions that most of them refused to fight because they knew they would lose. They have more successful careers not just because they beat better fighters, but because they chose to avoid certain fighters as well. I'm sure Littles would of become a world champion if he faced Eubank, Galvano or Collins instead of Liles and Toney.

 

No.

 

Electric Guru,

Haha! Brilliant!

 

How many times do you need it explaining to you, before it sinks in?

Joe said he wanted big fights against the likes of Roy in 2001, and then stayed at 168 in England and fought Brewer and Jiminez.

That was really going to get him big fights wasn't it?

Why do you keep mentioning Grant?

Grant was happy to fight Roy in America.

Grant was happy to fight Roy at 175.

Grant was happy with the purse.

Joe didn't want to go to America.

He didn't want to fight at 175, because his WBO strap was so precious to him.

He wanted the Crown Jewels, so he'd have never have fought for Grant's purse.

To summarise:

Otis Grant = Easy fight to make.

Joe Calzaghe = Just about impossible to make.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND??

Joe could have found himself with the same opportunities as Grant, and he also could have found himself a mandatory challenger like Woods, Frazier etc.

But he wouldn't move up, and he was apparently scared of flying.

How long are you going to persist with this nonsense?

It's got nothing to do with high risk, low reward.

A 168 guy from Wales, who nobody outside of Europe knows, who has a belt that's worth nothing, who The Ring magazine doesn't even have ratings for, was not relevant to the worlds best fighter, who was the unified 175 champ!

Roy didn't duck him.

He DISMISSED him!

Regards, Loudon.

 

Calzaghe and Ward are great fighters that stand on the borders of different eras. Move on...

 

Loudon being pwned part 1

 

Loudon being pwned part 2

Frazier , yeah if only Calzaghe had of done as much as him

But was still willing

Ive given proof you havent

From Jones himself when talking Calzaghe
so I wouldn’t take the risk, and why would I? Why would I meet that challenge when I’m already the best?

Jones knew of him, as did Hopkins

“I saw Joe as a potential opponent a long time ago,” Jones said. “But I had my eyes on higher things, such as winning the heavyweight title, so it was nothing against Joe

Belts dont make the fighters Loudon, its the other way around.
Look at what W Klitschko has defended and Barrera in his unfiiction with Morales

Whats the Ring got to with it?
Its a magazine where anyone just has an opinion and isnt even based on results, they have said that themselves. America were doing little at SMW so they didnt focus on it. If you look at Boxing Monthly or Boxing News its a different story.
You are obviously like a gullable child who thinks because the Ring calls itself the bible it must be gospel atsch.
Try watching boxing with the sound down in future Loudon, I dont want the commentary swaying you

Well I agree Jones was not interested because he wanted the HW title. Nothing wrong with that

He chose not to fight him, high risk low reward and no HW title

Like he did so many challenges. Probably because they didnt have HW titles, like Eubank, Benn, Michalczewski, Collins, Erdei, Tiozzo, Maske and of course Calzaghe

:hi: