Joe Calzaghe or Ricardo López: which had the greater career?

Finito was maybe even greater fighter, but its a minimum weight which is not so strong and popular as other divisions.

 

Calzaghe never admitted to ducking Jones.

He was said in June 2003 he would fight him if he got paid handsomely for it. Bare in mind Jones' most recent fight then was at Heavyweight and Calzaghe was still at Super Middleweight fighting Bryon Mitchell that month so there was no call for the fight.

Jones' run at Super Middleweight also ended before Calzaghe's began. So there was no offers from Jones for Calzaghe to duck. And when they was in the same weight class a shot bloated Calzaghe schooled him.

He also signed to fight Johnson but had to pull out with injuries. And nobody really cared back then anyway, because Johnson wasn't far removed from losing to the likes of Branco, Shieka, Harmon and Gonzalez. Calzaghe has beaten Shieka, and Reid and Woodhall where considered better than the guys Johnson was losing too.

 

Just exposed your self as an alt much? :think

 

I'd say if you just compare what they did at Super Middleweight and Strawweight then it's fairly even.

Both men are clearly the GOAT of the division. Both made the record number of defenses. Both won all 4 titles major titles.

However I think the best competition Calzaghe faced was stronger than what Lopez faced overall. And I think Calzaghe going into Hopkins back garden and beating Hopkins and Joe Cortez in a handicap match (given what Hopkins would go onto achieve) trumps Lopez light flyweight run, and saw Joe collect a second lineal title trumps it in his favor.


(p.s. Berol Gee will be here any minute)

 

Why did Mayweather fight Pacquiao after Pacquiao got ko'd by Marquez and Mayweather claimed it would be a mismatch? :think

A lot can happen in a few years, such as Calzaghe becoming past his best himself (which he was) and Jones blazing the comeback trail and looking imperious against the kind of opposition he fought in his prime (which he did)

 

Granted you call the reigns even and use their work above their initial weight classes as a tiebreaker, I'd say Calzaghe takes it. Lopez may have continued looking dominant in a bogus 108-pound division, but Calzaghe became "the man" at 175 and beat Hopkins, a significantly better fighter than Lopez ever faced.

 

Calzaghe may slightly edge Ricardo out in career due to the ability to get some big name opponents on his resume. But Ricardo Lopez was a far superior fighter than Joe.

 

Very hard to say.

Their styles were opposite and make it hard to pick between the two.

Lopez was a great technical light outs type of puncher. He;s one of my favorites.

Calzaghe was a fast high punch output type that was tough to catch.

I would say Calzaghe fought better option at the very end of his career and give him the nod. If you're a strawweight, there's not a lot of depth. Had Lopez moved up to and won flyweight titles at 112 pounds, you can argue, but he was almost exclusively a straight, and only had three fights above 105 pounds.