Is Joe Calzaghe underrated? Yes or No?

Top fighter of course, but MOST Fighters today are automatically Hyberbole Overated...

well, because 'today' Everything is the greatest ever... and all of these Media Mouth pieces, especially in a wounded & dying sport, well they just couldn't have it any other way.

Sadly their BS has the opposite effect.

 

I think Joe is a bit overrated in UK and maybe a bit underrated in US. But overall I think he is rated about right. One of the greatest ever UK boxers. Certainly one of the greatest SM champs but the division is not massively deep, at least as far as quality fighters hanging around. IMO he rates below Jones and Toney but above Eubank and Benn. I think P4P his record would rate him lower than his actually abilities. H2H I think he gives any but the very best trouble. One of the few champs whose "legacy making" fights maybe slightly diminished his rep.

I rewatched his Mitchell slug fest and was reminded that Joe had some pop and a lot of guts. Those who acuse him of being slap happy should offer to be punched in the face by Joe and I am sure they would change their minds!

I think Joe suffers due to perhaps over cautious matches and mediocre opposition during his early career and then unimaginative selections for his final super fights against faded greats. I think at LHW names like Tarver, Dawson, Woods would have been more interesting late career fights, although with less name value. There wasn't anyone else that exciting at SMW so I can see why he moved up although Froch would have been exciting. Also Pavlick, Taylor and Abrahams moving up from MW were options (I think maybe getting my dates wrong). I can see why he went for Jones and Hopkins, chasing the money and showy names on his record, nothing else at the time was as good a pay day for the risk, I mean this is what Mayweather has been doing isn't it?

Worth remembering he did unify the division, which carries a lot of weight with me, and beat Bika, Lacy, Mitchell, Eubank, Brewer, Woodhall, Reid (albeit controversially) and Kessler who are all quality decent fighters. Hopkins was still a "live" opponant as he showed in the fight. If Joe had easily beat him like Jones fans would say Hopkins was washed up, as it was a hard fight fans say Joe did a poor job so it was no-win for Joe really!

People forget that many US commentators were very complimentary about Joe's display against Lacy, you can argue about Jeff's qualities now but it was more the way Joe totally took him apart. Anyone who watches that fight and doesn't see a boxing master class needs their eyes tested.

One thing I keep in mind thinking P4P is how Joe does if no SMW division. If he had to fight at Middle or LHW only he may have been a lesser fighter or at least have racked up a few losses, with a career more like John Conteh maybe?

 

Jones and Hopkins were past prime were they not?

 

Yeah he is. You have to remember he was suffering hand problems early on in his career and he was training with his father (not a proper trainer). However his win against Jones means nothing as RJJ was shot.

 

Slightly over I'd say, but I will say it'll take a damn good super middle to beat Joe at his best.

 

I'd say hes rated fairly amongst most non biased boxing fans, hes rated pretty highly based on his skill set. But his opposition during his reign was so-so, and it took him a bit too long in his career to get the big fights. The problem was aswell he missed out on the Benn, Eubank, Watson, Collins, era. And then also missed out on the Super Six Tournament, he was a bit too old and a bit too young for either which is a pity.

 

Joe Calazghe had a few controversial decisions go his way a split against Robin Reid (who didn't get a return) an early stoppage of Omar Sheika and another split against Bernard Hopkins. A side from that he beat two future champions in the ABAs Dean Francis in the Semi Final and Glen Catley in the 1992 Final. He should have gone to Barcelona 1992 to compete on the GB Boxing Team but it didn't happen. Great wins on his resume against Chris Eubank , David Starie , Richie Woodhall, Jeff Lacy, Saiko Bika, Mikkel Kessler and Roy Jones Jr ( although many claim he was 'shot' as a fighter at this stage) still can't take anything away from Joe's achievements as a boxer. At lot of the fans always speculated what the outcomes would have been like if he had fought Andre Ward and Carl Froch but I guess we will never know?

 

I would say of course not, I feel he is pretty overrated on his resume, which contains a lot of Zsolt Erdei level stuff. Most notable wins are a super tight decision over Hopkins that I thought he lost, a seriously dilapidated version of RJJ, and a never-was Jeff Lacy. Kessler is his best win for resume outside of Hopkins. I can't give credit to the Jones win, it was a farce. I think the Eubank fight turned out to be something similar but not nearly to the same degree. I think his style, output and ability gives him a lot of interesting all time level matchups and he never lost which is interesting.

My bottom line is Calzaghe is great, but he isn't even the best undefeated super middleweight that always fought at home and beat Mikkel Kessler, that would be Andre Ward. It's hard to rank him among Benn and Eubank and Collins because he took their playbook to the nth degree of being a domestic star/holding the irrelevant WBO belt. I think people wondered how Benn and Eubank would have done against prime RJJ/Hopkins/Toney in a way that doesn't merit the same consideration with Calzaghe.

 

Worth keeping in mind that Joe was probably a bit faded by the time he fought Hopkins, and also that Bhop is a freakish Archie Moore like phenomenon who is forever young so it was not like Joe was fighting some run of the mill dude.

 

I would also say his stoppage over Mitchell was a bit early, great fight, would have enjoyed a few more rounds of action!

 

While Lacy was a flash in the pan it was a great performance from Joe as pure boxing. Also not Joe's fault Lacy was so highly touted at the time. I also suspect the beating affected Lacy's development as a fighter, both physically and mentally.

 

he is a bit overrated here now. I doubt he would beat a prime Hopkins or Toney as some suggest