Sky Sports saw no point in broadcasting the Mario Viet remacth. He was a the type Felix Sturm made a career out of
You quite rightly didnt challenge my assertion that Brewer, who KO'd Herol Graham and twice beat Ottke on fair scorecards, was a level above Beefy. Veit KO'd Brewer 2 years after Calzaghe beat him on points in a competitive fight. He also beat Jurgen Braehmer. Veit was tailor made for Calzaghe and looked so out of his depth in their 1st fight, I don't blame Sky for not paying to broadcast their rematch. However, Brewer, Braehmer and Graham were clearly better than Beefy.
Viet beat a pre prime Braehmer in a close majority dec. Not long after Viet was knocked out in 4 by Braehamer. Both Beefy and Braehmer have almost the exact same style. Both work behind the jab throwing 1-2s. Hardly any difference between them apart from JB being a southpaw
I see what you mean, but when they skipped SMW who was Jones, Toneyand Jones beating at Light heavy? Above SMW I don’t see many more marquee names than Calzaghe had among their defences either. Thing is SMW was dominated by Europeans and Americans were not good enough to register there for a generation.
Veit & Braehmer are clearly more accomplished than Liam Smith in my view. I understand you may feel differently. We both agree Calzaghe defended against multiple substandard challengers, as have most long standing titlists in the 4-belt era with a similar number of defences. I think Calzaghe has relatively good depth to his resume in fights contested in the SMW division. I'm interested, would you agree or disagree with that?
Calzaghe had a unique style, fast hands very good chin - I rate him up there at 168 top and could have been a great light heavy had he started in that division younger. As far as Hopkins, I felt Joe C won clearly and it was indicative that Hopkins faked a foul (looking for a break) when Joe C. was putting on the pressure. He took his foot off the peddle vs Roy Jones (could have stopped him) but respect to Jones plea was admirable. 46-0 exciting fighter to watch and I think he could have beaten Ward and Froch with his hand speed and excellent movement.
Rather the Euros were not good enough nor did they want to register in America. Ottke and Calzaghe rarely left their homelands. Sturm ducked Pavlik. DM was never willing to leave Euro for Jones Jr. Zolt Erdei put together 10 title defences against non-descriptors in Germany. Arthur Abraham has 25 title defences. In 2004 Calzaghe told Sky he kills himself to make 168 yet didn't move up for another 4 years The sport was thriving in Germany back then and they all competed within their own little bubble. The skill level and talent was greater in America.
And yet Calzaghe has a deep resume in fights contested in the SMW division. Can you name 3 boxers whose 8th, 10th or 12th best wins in fights contested at SMW (I.e. excluding fights pre the creation of SMW) were better than Joe's corresponding # best wins?
Overall, yes, he’s underrated. Overrated by a small amount who think he’s the greatest British fighter ever and/or those obsessed with the modern craze of the “0”.
Pretty much how I see it. He was a fantastic fighter with a unique style and lots of fun to watch. BTW I see Joe's defenses being questioned about their quality, but hasn't every great champ with an astronomical amount of defenses gotten scrutinized this way?
He was severely underrated prior to the lacy fight,slightly underrated before the Kessler fight.Few have underrated him since.People rating him almost at the same level as Lennox Lewis is ridiculous,in fact there are some that rank him ahead of Lewis.These days he is slightly overrated in terms of his achievements, but he was an incredible natural talent.