Joe Calzaghe vs. Dariusz Michalczewski at LHW

He's not the best post war British fighter.Not even the best welsh one imo.

 

He`s the best post war Welsh fighter, please dont even go there & who exactly would you rank over him post war in Britain ? please dont make me fall off my chair (again) by saying Lennox Lewis.

 

He fought Reid in 1999, Lacy in 2006, so pretty irrelevant, it wasnt as if he was fighting anyone good from 1999-2006 anyway.

 

Ken Buchanan and Lennox Lewis were both better fighters. H2H, there is an argument for John Conteh as well.

And many fighters do achieve great things without technical skills being one of their strengths. Joe had a good career and can be proud of his achievements, but in my opinion (many may disagree, fair enough) his success was founded on physical and mental strengths, he was not a particularly skilled boxer and never displayed any great technical skills.

 

Lets pretend for a miniute you're not a Calzaghe nuthugger and want an honest discussion

1. The controversy was many thought Reid won

2. Excuses for losing to Reid :yep

3. Unless the Welshman is a Frank Warren fighter and therefore the home fighter by default, the judges are hardly going to go against a Warren fighter

 

Lennox took on top3 rated fighters in his divsion year on year from 1992-2003, Calzaghe went a space of 5years only facing one top10 fighter in his division despite being a WBO belt holder, not to mention nearly all of his opponents were coming off loses within a year or 2 of facing him:

Woods/Reid/Mitchell/Brewer - all lost a year prior to facing JC
Eubanks/Jones - lost 2-3years prior and had no good wins after those losses
Hopkins lost -2-3years prior

I think Mantequilla is saying he ranks Jimmy Wilde over Calzaghe

 

Lewis >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Calzaghe

How many heavyweights can you name from the post-Ali era that were better than Lewis?

A sensible answer range is between none and two.

How many fighters from 160-175 from Europe alone were better than Calzaghe in the same period.....

DM, Maske, Benn, Eubank, Watson, Graham - all possibles, none certainties of course :good

 

Fair enough, to each their own I suppose.

Possibly Buchanan could be better but not Lewis, he`s became terribly overrated in the last few yrs, terribly.

 

None of those guys were better than Calzaghe, now its getting silly (as it always does because of the hate for JC on ESB)

Only Tyson & Holmes were better at HWT than Lewis since Ali IMO, I take nothing from LL, I just dont think he`s as good as some of you think in ESB land.

 

Holmes I can accept, but don't really agree with, ditto Holyfield.

As I said, those were only possibles.... I see Calzaghe having trouble with DM, and Maske certainly until the mid-late rounds. As for the other Brit fighters, I think Graham would stand Calzaghe on his head until being caught at some stage - JC always looked **** going forward against decent oppo (see Hopkins, rounds 1-4 vs Kessler)..... not really thought too much in detail about how potential matchups with Watson, Benn and a peak (1991) Eubank would go.

 

Calzaghe achieved more AND would beat all those guys h2h, Ive no doubt there.

Lewis was a far better HWT than Holyfield but not quite as good as Holmes & Tyson (all primes of course)

 

That Calzaghe achieved more is debatable, certainly in some of those cases.

 

Lewis achieved far more, and if you want to talk about actual talent I doubt there's been a better British post war fighter than Conteh.
However JC is still excellent and I would comfortably pick him against DM.
Benn, prime Eubank and Graham would all pose dificult challenges but I'd make him the favourite against all of them.

 

:rofl

 

Lewis's resume and achievements are both significantly better than Calzaghe's. End of argument, as far as I'm concerned.

Buchanan and Conteh were better in terms of ability.