Jeff Lacy. The myth. And why Calzaghe is WAY short of being a legend.

Yeah,thats surprising given Warrens record.
When you have a golden goose,you must "feed it correctly" to keep producing for you.:good

 

Calzaghe is a great fighter.

NOT because of Lacy. Lacy is not and never was anything spectacular. In fact Lacy never at any point in his career beat a true top 10 fighter. The closest is Tsypko or even Manfredo and both came AFTER the Calzaghe fight. However, all in all - Lacy is a gatekeeper at best.

Lacy should not be used to embellish Joe's resume - nor should it be used to belittle his resume. Joe has a great resume but it has nothing to do with Lacy.

 

Joe Calzaghe ducked every fighter who had a chance at beating him and only fought tomato cans in his backyard. What else needs to be said about the Sloppy One?

 

Thread = Fail.

 

None of the above.He was a rising prospect ruined by a bad loss and an injury.

 

Calzaghe is a brilliant fighter, who beat the best fighters at smw of his time and also won vs american boxers roy jones, hopkins, lacy, manfredo, mitchell and brewer.

He retired Undefeated with 46-0-0 and is top 15 p4p of all time.

 

Great post. Quite correct and clear to everyone who was there to watch all of the fighters from the 70s to the present. There are only about a dozen guys on all of ESB that know their head from their ass IMO (so how did I miss your posts?).

Joe got off to a good start (first four) and then struggled landing little while catching but shaking off punches with his face for the last eight rounds against an old worn exhausted Eubank. Joe didn't win that fight in any sense except he was younger and fresher and his work rate covered up his sloppy lack of clean punches landed and his chin just held up as he had never seen a decent fighter up until that fight (and wouldn't again for a long time) and he just toughed it out (as he couldn't figure out how to stop himself from walking into the same right hand again and again) and absorbed Chris' intermittent punches and was only finally rocked and holding on as the seconds ticked down as the 12th ended. If Chris had landed just a little earlier Joe might not have seen the bell in the 12th. That fight should have been called a draw.

Frankie Liles was on a higher level than Joe. If Joe had been thrown in with more fighters merely equivalent to that past peak ring worn version of Chris Eubank from '97 he would have had his chin checked and rechecked and finally cracked. Joe was good but not at all great. He was an overall fair sized super middleweight who had decent hand speed with only average to modest power whose offense technique is borderline ******ed as he chops like a spastic child. When in the ring with lesser athletes (poor comp) his better handspeed covers up his shortcomings and he rolled up the wins (but the majority of the post-Eubank fights were still struggles for Joe and he stopped nobody cleanly or without obvious controversy). When in the ring with better athletes they were always old and he looked deficient and/or amateurish in the aggregate.

Joe was fortunate so many big names went through SMW to bigger and better fights or retired in the mid to late 90s. Joe is idolized on ESB due to the board's "demographic" majority. Any good athlete can see what Joe brought to the table and what he simply didn't have vis-a-vis the real talents that deserve their cred due to actual performances in which they faced other PRIME athletes in the ring not merely in the fantasies of a bunch of non-athletic internet posters who spend their lives posting ABOUT boxing or athletics.

There are dozens upon dozens of less well considered fighters (on ESB) that fought MUCH better comp in their careers and I don't mean fighting 40 year old versions of great fighters. The obvious huge names would have crushed Joe as they would have been landing easily on Joe and not been taking punches like the weak sisters he has looked good against.


At middleweight, Hop was past prime before Trinidad. A prime Hopkins was IMMEASURABLY too TOUGH and skilled for Joe. Nuthuggers want to delve into fantasy based upon Joe's horrible struggle with an ANCIENT BHOP and his win over RJJ (both in 2008!) yet don't imagine Joe showing up to call out BHOP (yes, out of his character as definitely no version of Joe - especially not a 26/28 year old - would have had the balls to contemplate facing an early 30s Hopkins) in the late 90s right after fighting Eubank. Add the eight pounds to the frame of that version of Hopkins at that time and there would be no mystery why Joe was struggling with guys like Robin Reid and certainly not dreaming of facing the real talent between 160-175 across the sea.

Middleweight champ Gerald McClellan (about three years younger than BHOP) had already repeatedly faced real talent like RJJ and Liles in the amateurs in close, tight battles establishing his pedigree and would have ruled SMW with his size, ferocity, and talent if not for his injury (in a world supermiddleweight title fight directly from middleweight) which took down his career just as he moved into his late 20s. GMAN was at a higher level as a fighter. Frankie would have boxed circles around Joe and had the size to win EASILY. Prime RJJ should never be included in any conversation in which Joe's name or David Starie's or any lesser fighter is brought up - he would have worked (embarrassed) Joe and still got to the gym for two hours of ball later the same night.

Your contention is perfectly correct, LordSharpshire.:thumbsup

 

**** thread.

 

Because Lacy was built up by boxing writers who were more or less working as publicists.

Also, some people think every muscular black guy is a great athlete.

 

c

 

Co-Sign :deal

 

Obviously Calzaghe is an all time great.....but he's not in the top 100 ATG....probably top 160-140 range....Hopkins top 40 Jones top 30

 

Calzaghe was a solid fighter with good skills but he chose opponents like he was afraid to lose. He never fought anyone where he felt it was an even match up. He always had to have some kind of advantage be it fighting in Wales or choosing opponents he knew were past their prime. He got out while the getting was good he knew he was eventually going to have to test himself. He retired instead of doing that.