Brittards need to realize Hatton has ALWAYS been a joke. First off he can't fight, second off he had NO BUSINESS calling himself the Hitman. I was so happy to see him get knocked out by Floyd and Pacman.
I think you are correct. Calzaghe would have lost to RJJ, Toney and Hopkins in their primes and his record would not look so good on paper. Strangely, though, if he had fought well against them and lost, he would get credit for at least fighting them. Hatton lost to two all time greats, and there is no shame in that. I know people will have different views on why the really big fights never happened for Joe, but as you say, he fought a shell of RJJ and a past peak Hopkins and still got knocked down. Fighting them them when he did HURT his resume more than boosted it. I rate Joe as very good, not elite level. Somewhere above Benn and Eubank, but below Toney, Jones and Hopkins.
Once gain: Hopkins declined to fight Joe in 2002/2003. Calzaghe would have never made 160 it was up to Bernard to move up. Joe fought Hopkins at the right time. Hopkins is still doing great things.
It is four years since Calzaghe retired and 3 of his opponents are still ranked in the top 10 of their division.
The TS is obsessed with British fighters, he's literally started hundreds of threads about Lewis, Hatton, Calzaghe & others. Its truly bizarre how someone so obsessed with a nation can spend so much time trying to get attention from British posters.
If Calzaghe came out of retirement and schooled Ward..... .... it wouldnt make a single iota of difference. Bitter haters would continue to hate and claim Ward was overhyped balderdash, much as they did with mini Tyson Super Joe. The Newbridge Assassin. 46-0. No blueprint. Deal with it. :smoke
I have to agree, I became a huge fan of Ricky's because he fought the best at the end of his career (mind you it was for a couple of massive paydays). Joe's fight with Bhop (which I thought he lost) was equivalent to beating Zu (which I thought was with questionable roughhouse tactics). Both guys styles were not great but had useed what they had to the best of their abilities. Ricky was a far more likable guy but everything else is quite similar
I think Hatton was a better fighter than Calzaghe. Unfortunately for him, he fought two atg in their primes. Calzaghe ducked all the prime atg that were around when he was fighting. Hatton was able to beat the same level of fighters that Calzaghe beat, but he chose to test himself, unlike Calzaghe.
Why bother, mate? There are people on here saying Joe is the best ever, now. **** me, he isn't in my top 100 pound for pound!:-(