Is Hatton a "Calzaghe" that actually stepped up?

I personally never heard of Lacy before the Slappy fight. Who did he beat? Was he rated anywhere near the top 50 p4p? How many defenses did he have? If he even relevant in boxing? Was the Super Middleweight division even a highly regarded division after James Toney, RJJ, and Michael Nunn left? :think

And this is Slappy's top 3 best win?

 

No he's not better than Calzaghe.A few fighter arguably beat Otke like Reid and Charles Brewer.Cal beat Brewer clearly in a competitive fight.The tape also suggests Calzaghe was the better fighter with superior handspeed,punch variety and power.Ottke avoided Calzaghe like the plague after he destroyed fellow German Mario Veit.

Also answer this.If Cal was so bad why was he the number 1 rated Super middle in the world by Ring magazine for over half a decade.You cant do anything more than be the top dog in your weight class.The reason Lacy travelled to the UK is because he wanted that title.

 

That's the whole point.

The fight was never viable, because Joe never put himself in a serious position to fight Roy.

If he'd have been serious about fighting Roy as much as he's claimed, then he'd have moved up to 175 and fought in America at around 2000.

But he was happy defending his WBO at 168 in Britain. Which of course was fine, but that was never going to give him the opportunity to fight Roy for the big money he wanted.

 

FACT Joe was the number 1 fighter in his weight class for a number of years.Could only beat who was put in front of him and when he stepped up he destroyed Jones and Hopkins.

 

Could only beat who was put in front of him?

He could have left Frank W whenever he wanted, like Hatton did, but he didn't. He was more than happy re signing the contracts.

Destroyed?

 

Thats beyond hindsight.Calzaghe may not have had the size to step up to 175 back in 2000.How far are you willing to go back to suggest Joe avoided Jones.Did he avoid Jones in 1998.

 

Okay,say its 2005-06 and Joe wants meaningful fights,who could he have fought?Who did he avoid at that time considering he was the number 1 rated super middle in the world according to the bible of boxing.

 

Ottke held the highly regarded IBF belt and made 21 defenses.. whether he got gift decisions or not is irrelevant since Slappy got all those bs stoppages in the UK. Ottke was the money man and wanted Slappy to go to Germany to fight him, why would he go to the UK to fight for the shitty WBO belt?

Also, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam was the top rated Flyweight for more than 10 years and made 20 plus defenses of the highly regarded WBC belt. Top in a division for 10 years more respected than Super Middleweight.. would you rate him above Joe? :think

 

Joe knew his limitations.

Hatton did not.

Respect for Hatton >>>>> Not looking for tough fights.

 

I don't think Loudon is accusing Joe of avoiding Roy, but not doing much to make the fight happen. I read that Roy "ducked" Joe on here a lot, and I think that is mostly what he is talking about.

Joe didn't "duck" Roy, but he didn't chase him either.

 

Size has nothing to do with it. He could have gone to 175 whenever he'd have wanted to. The last 4 years at 168 were a living hell for him. He was starving himself to make weight. His camps for Roy and Hopkins were two of his best camps. They're his words.

With regards to Roy, in 1999 Joe said he wasn't chasing him, and he didn't want tough fights.

In 2001, after McIntyre he said he wanted to fight Roy. But after the dust settled, he just continued fighting in Britain in a different weight class.

Then in 2002, he said he thought he could give Roy a great fight, but knew what his capabilities were and he'd want to be paid the Crown Jewels.

But the problem was, he was relatively unknown outside of Europe back then, and no network or promoter would have paid him big money to fight Roy.

Joe himself claims that he chased Roy for 5 or 6 years. But it's complete nonsense, because we know what he said in 99 and 2002, and we know that he never fought in Roy's weight class or in America until 2008.

So if he'd wanted Roy as bad as he liked to tell journalists, he'd have made more of an effort to fight him. He was all talk and no action.

He turned down the opportunity to fight in America in 99, when Lou de Bella had the door open for him, and he became content on defending his WBO belt against sub par opposition.

So in truth, he was lying. He never really wanted or tried to fight Roy at his peak.

Then in his 2007 autobiography, he said a fight with Roy would be pointless because Roy was shot, and had been since 2004.

Then early in 2008 before he fought Hopkins, he gave an interview on Setanta Sports and said that he'd be disappointed if Roy was to be his last fight later on in the year, because he was no longer great.

Then in November he ended up fighting him, and you seem to be bigging up the win.

Joe has contradicted himself throughout his career, and he even tried to pull out of fighting Lacy at the last minute until Frank threatened him, and managed to talk him around.

A guy in that mindset would never have gotten in the ring with a peak version of Roy Jones.

 

There are a number of reasons why Calzaghe is ESB's favourite son

All roads always lead to Joe Calzaghe, every major victory in boxing leads back to Joe, he is top of the ESB food chain (much like the Team Elite Corporation), he is 46 and 0 - there was never a blueprint to beat the man and there never will be. Silly billy haterz are always gonna hate.

Its clear that the majority of haterz on esb are blinkered fanboys of Jones, Hopkins, and Toney, gullable fans who grew up believing the delusional brainwashing that HBO and Ring magazine forced down their throats on how great their idol is, they clearly lost touch on reality and when Calzaghe despatched their idols in their own backyard, they cling to every excuse in the book, crying like little bitches with sand in their vagina's.

When the likes of Jones and Toney were scared to fight off a level playing field, juiced to the gills, Calzaghe was busy training harder as a clean athlete

When Hopkins and Jones were cleaning out the terribly weak 160 and 175 divisions infront of gullable, blinkered HBO audiences, Calzaghe was cleaning out a far superior 168 division.

When the likes of Jones, Hopkins, and Toney were busy being clowned by mediocre fighters like Tiberi, sanderline Williams, Thadzi, Mercado, Jermain Taylor, Tarver, and Glen Johnson etc, Calzaghe was busy showing remarkable consistency

When the likes of Jones, Hopkins, and Toney were showing zero adaptability against the likes of Tarver, Taylor, and Tiberi etc, Calzaghe was showing supreme adaptability against the likes of Robin Reid and Kessler

When the likes of Jones, Hopkins, and Toney were folding like lawn chairs when faced with adversity, Calzaghe was getting up at the count of 2 and immediately facing fire with fire, no holding, just rising to the occasion in the heat of the battle when it mattered most.

When the likes of Jones, Hopkins, and Foney were busy trash talking and insulting opponents with shear arrogance and racism, Calzaghe remained down to earth, true to his roots and showed respect for all opponents.

When the likes of Hopkins were stinking the arena's out, feigning injuries and trying to rob fight fans of their hard earned money by getting bouts called off mid-fight, Calzaghe was busy trying to put a show on for the fans, wanting to have a tare up with every opponent.

When Jones, Hopkins, and Toney were fighting in their backyard, Calzaghe was wanting to fight Hopkins in 2002 on foreign soil only for the cowardly Hopkins to be turning down a record payday.

When the dust was settled at 175 and Hopkins was the king of the division, Calzaghe moved up weight, and despite fighting on foreign soil, with corrupt judges, and the corrupt Joe Cortez refereeing, Calzaghe simultaneously became the main man at 168 and 175 by literallty butt-****ing racist crybaby Hopkins in his own backyard sandwiched inbetween the most impressive winning streak of Hopkins entire career.

When Jones was granted the opportunity to fight the new king at 175, many experts throughout the world of boxing predicted that Jones would beat Calzaghe due to Joes fragile hands not having sufficient power to further shatter Roys glass jaw. What we got instead was a boxing exhibition from Calzaghe, clearly demonstrating a far superior skillset.

When Jones and Toney continue boxing to this day, mumbling in their speech and not having a pot to **** in, Calzaghe is happily retired, a wealthy man with all his faculties in tact.

Lets be honest, there is so much to hate, the bitterness, the envy, the jealousy of fanboys trying to throw stones at their idol's master because no one was ever good enough to do their talking in the ring with Joe Calzaghe.

Delusional haterz are gonna hate but the facts will never ever change. Team Elite will continue to educate blinkered fanboys, all roads will always lead to Joe Calzaghe.

 

In 2005-2006, the 168 division started hotting up with Lacy and Kessler emerging.

But between 99-2006 the division was weak, and he could have moved up to 175 where Roy, DM and Tarver etc were.

I think the best time to go up would have been when he couldn't unify with Ottke.

It was his right to stay at 168, but he was continually telling journalists etc, he wanted big fights and recognition. All the bigger fights were in America at 175.

But he was in a catch 22.

At 168, he was the big fish in the small pond. He was the man. He wanted big fights, but he was reluctant to give his WBO belt up to have a crack in a new division.

He was too good to hang around at 168 fighting the Woodhall's etc (no disrespect)

But his ambition never matched his skills.

I genuinely believe that he could have been a two weight world champ.

I think he could have beaten Tarver, and he could have maybe fought Hopkins earlier, or enticed Roy into a fight, especially if he could beaten Dariusz M. Although the WBO wasn't respected back then, it was the only belt that Roy didn't have at the weight. Joe had the potential to go up and impress and move up the rankings. He may even have become a mandatory to Roy like Woods. He spoke of going up a lot, but he never made it until 2008.

He had a great career, but it could have been better.

 

Calzaghe stepped up at the end of his career, fighting the p4p #3 when he was p4p#2. The only fighter out there regarded as better was Pacquiao at the time.

Hatton stepped up and lost, that's the difference. Of course, the guys Hatton steppe up to were more dangerous than Hopkins, but your point still sucks.

 

Hatton is not worthy of carrying Calzaghe's jock strap!!!