Is Joe Calzaghe a Master Boxer?

**** no. he's a volume puncher

 

Yes.

After Lacy and Kessler, he had beaten all the other title holders.

 

A master boxer he's not, he just knows how to win and his awkward style is just hard to beat, a prime Hopkins would of put on a boxing clinic against Calzaghe, ****, a 43 yearold Hopkins gave him one hell of a fight.

 

No he is not a master

 

When exactly was Hopkin's prime?

He beat De La Hoya 4 months before his 40th birthday

He was 36 when he beat Tito

??

 

His prime was in 2001 when he beat Tito, not 2008 when he fought Calzaghe. It was clear Hopkins age caught up with him late in the fight, his stamina is not what it used to be. After the first 6 rounds I had Hopkins winning by a point, but towards the second half of the fight Hopkins began to slip, though what impressed me was, for a 43 yearold man he gave Calzaghe a tougher fight than a prime Kessler did, I think that tells you something about what kind of fighter Hopkins truly was and still is.

 

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Hopkins didnt give Calzaghe a harder fight than Kessler.

A more awkward fight but Kessler was a more punishing fight.

Kessler is a future P4P entrant.

Hopkins fought to survive......Kessler fought to win.

 

Damn, Calzaghe has worse punching technique than Charlie Zelenoff, master boxer my ass.

 

Kessler had no plan B, and lost his fight with Calzaghe clearly, Hopkins atleast floored him and in the end gave Calzaghe one of his toughest fights of his career, both Calzaghe and the judges there that night would agree.

 

it's very hard to be a master boxer when your a boxer-swarmer.
he doesnt have a super long reach and stands pretty flatfooted...very amateurish to be honest.

but what he does do is using his southpaw stance effectivly comes in with a light not over telegraphed jab and when the guy commits to a punch he smoothly leans out the way of it and comes back with combinations...swarming the guy, keeping his man covered up and keeps him on top in the fight.


he gets overated on levels of skills and ability's but what makes him so special is his awkward style thats hard to reproduce and is usually a one off.




hopkins pulled off a great game plan. using the ropes so you dont get barged around. circled to the right with a cocked right hand and was clearly waiting for joe to swarm him...and when he did he just let loose the right hand and then circled to the right. perfect plan agaisnt a southpaw is a right hands while gettign your man to come to you and a perfect plan agaisnt a swarmer is to use single shots along with movement.

but the plan had a weakness if bernard threw the right hand to early he had shot his bolt and would have to quickly circle to his right to get out the way.

so calzaghe pulled fients and bolos to get nard to commit (which is what im trying to show here) to which the answer was a swarm after barnard had skulked back into his defencive shell...and it worked rather effectivly.




He is NOT a master boxer but has alot of tricks and odd, awkward moves in a very solid, textbook defence and stance.

 

One of the judges gave it to Calzaghe 9-3 (Your score too?).

Another called it 8-4.



(The blind lady called it 6-6)

Kessler was a tougher fight as Kessler was actually trying to BEAT him, and not just survive 12 rounds.




However, I was impressed that Bernard gave him a much better showing than I expected.


But remember, Joe' slide has begun too, and he's not the man he was.

 

I dont remember exactly what I had it, I think I had Calzaghe winning by 2 or 3 points when all was said and done. I think most people would agree, Calzaghe was prime in March of 06 when he fought Lacy, while most people would say Hopkins was prime in September of 01 when he fought Tito. So if that is the case, Hopkins was nearly 7 years out of his prime, while Calzaghe was just 2 years out of his.

As far the match itself, it was highly competitive through the first half, which I had Hopkins up a point. I thought Hopkins put on one hell of a show for a 43 yearold man, and probably could of pulled it off if it was just 3 years earlier.

I thought Kessler didnt do much in his fight with Calzaghe, and I feel he looked worse than Hopkins in defeat, which I feel many ringside observers and fans would agree on.

 

Hopkins is a tougher stylistic challenge though. It doesn't really mean that Kessler is a lesser fighter now than Hopkins, just because Calzaghe looked worse against him.

The scores were about even too.

 

I agree with your post.