Is Joe Calzaghe The Greatest British Fighter Of All Time?

Read again, I was praising Joe for those HOF victories, not hating. He unified the titles within only 10 years too. Not many super middleweights have managed to do that quicker than Joe did, except every other Super Middleweight who unified belts; Andre Ward, Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch and Sven Ottke.

 

Can't hate Joe. He's clearly a top five of all time career super middleweight. I rank him at number 4. Ahead of Kessler.

 

he's number 1 and you know it

 

Ward and Froch have had a tougher run of fights in a much more competitive era.

So I'd rank them above Joe, as both of those would have beaten all of Joe's Super Middleweight opposition fairly easily.

Unless you think Rick Thornberry beats Andre Ward?

 

Roy Jones would have easily beat him.

 

No

Perhaps ted kid lewis , jack kid berg , jimmy Wilde or maybe even benny lynch

 

Deleted post

 

Give me Toney or Eubank any day.

Barkley (different animal to Jeff Lacy!!), Thornton, Littles, Prince Charles.

Watson, Thornton, Holmes, Rocchigiani (better than Prince Charles or Kessler).

Or Benn for the Eubank II and McClellan defenses and winning the WBC title overseas in the lions den of Italy against the most awkward man in boxing (ring general/master clincher), not to mention self-managed 6ft4in Morgan (clearly robbed against Tiozzo who had been clearly robbed of his WBA title), or giving rematches to awkward opponents (Galvano, Eubank, Malinga); Joe wasn't going to rematch Eubank or Reid or Bika in a million years, or fighting undefeated WBC mandatory Wharton instead of going for the money against Nunn; Joe avoided young Froch to take the cash against Hopkins.

 

'Experts'?

In 50 years, Toney, Eubank, Benn and Ray Robinson will be thought of in a much higher regard than bloody Joe Calzaghe!! He will be looked back on in disgust

I'm white and half-Welsh. But I'm a realist and a truthster. I can't excuse the disgusting overratedness of one of my favourite fighters Calzaghe.

 

No but he is up there. Great fighters of the past like Ted Lewis, Benny Lynch, Ken Buchanan, Jimmy Wilde etc all have better stakes to the claim with the regularity and quality of opposition they faced. Joe is a great British fighter though, no question about it.

 

he's one of the best but better than lennox lewis, ted kid lewis, jimmy wilde, benny lynch or ken buchanan ??

 

He was a very fine boxer but there are question marks over his legacy and the level of opposition he faced. Just off the top of my head is Lennox, he fought the best, including greats, and beat them. Joe was far too protected and only later in his career did he step up. Had he took the risks that boxers of yesteryear took, then I doubt that he would have still had his 0. He wasn't the best British boxer.

 

I dont even have in top 10 to be honest after giving it some serious thought, Benn, Eubanks, and even Hatton to be honest rate above Joe not to mention the 8 or 9 we have all ready done. I think Hattons victory over Kostya Tszyu trumps any victory of Joes. Hatton fought the best two fighters in the world
in Pac and Floyld, and never seemed to be afraid of travelling to fight. In all fairness if I remember correctly many had Tszyu as p4p material also.

Frochs record tops Joes hands down, and the willing to rematch Groves speaks volumes, when you think Joe had a strict no rematch policy

As I said before no disrespect to Joe he was a good champion but in my humble opinion vastly over rated to be considered Greatest Brit ever.

 

Maybe by yourself, the rest of us will take some pride in his achievements and skills

 

Fantastic fighter, but not the best. I'd rate Wilde, Lynch, Buchanan and both Lewis's ahead of him, so probably not top 5.
Huge talent, and delivered when it mattered, but too protected, which ultimately does affect his legacy.