Jones wants Calzaghe for this reason:

It was actually 3-4 fights.

All he said is that he would fight any of the top LHW's, then named them off.

It's not unusual. I think most fighters do that. But he did specifically say Tarver's name directly after Calzaghe's. I don't think he said Johnson's name....maybe he did.

 

AT THIS STAGE, meaning a fighter whose defence was his (now faded) reflexes, who is returning to "championship form" by beating an over the hill Tito who was 20lbs over his prime weight. The only reason Joe didn't have as higher punch output against Bernard was because of the clinching and general Ruiz tactics employed by BHop.
Roy is my favorite fighter of all time but no way he beats Joe nowdays.

 

This is a good post. Does anybody besides me think that one simple question, "Ya got any excuses tonight Roy" is still stuck in RJJ's craw?

It's no secret that I am a Calzaghe detractor, and I have always thought highly of Roy Jones, but I think Joe's insane work rate may be to much for Roy. Calzaghe will make Roy work every second of every round, and I'm not sure Roy can do that at this point.

 

If we ignore the top 15 Lightheavyweights. :rofl :rofl :rofl

 

no he isnt Jones said that HBO wants this fight, he wants this fight and so does Joe Calzaghe. and i quote, " Why would I take a $2M dollar fight when I can take a $20M fight? HBO already made it clear what they want. They want the Calzaghe fight and Tarver needs to stand in line and wait his turn."

 

There's no doubt that Jones wants Joe for what a win would represent... Maybe in the same logic Hopkins beat Tarver ( a 3 to 1 underdog) but we have to put the business perspective aside and ask if Jones has given us reason for beating Calzaghe in a 12 round fight at this moment... If Calzaghe had not beaten Hopkins, I would consider that Jones could have played Bernard's role standing between Joe and american recognition... But now? Does Roy really believe Joe Calzaghe is Tito Trinidad ( of 2008 ) or Prince Badi Ajamu or Tony Hanshaw? Or does he think that he will do better that Bernard Hopkins ( in Cardiff)? Jones just wants big doe and leave the Game on his feet.

 

I really don't know but I do think it will be interesting and as much as it pains me I have to confess Joe is getting noticeably slower each fight, a little more lead footed too; it's really getting me worried..........He got put on his ass by Hopkins & kessler caught him with some peaches; luckily Joe has the most amazingly robust resilience to such things though.

I 1st noticed the drop in speed vs Kessler and put it down to his gameplan but if you watch that fight closely you'll see Joe's punches are quite sluggish for the 1st half of the fight & though faster later never seem quite that fast in comparison to recent prior fights (this unrelated to his tactics, just the overall speed of his punches) and then in the Hopkins fight he seemed yet more slower but luckily his workrate and brains saved the day there - thankfully neither of which seem to be dropping.

Jones is strange though & after watching Hanshaw & Tito I felt he'd ever so slightly adapted (& improved) strategically & defensively to compensate for his drop in speed and reliance solely on it but even then he still maintaned fast enough hands to get the job(s) done problem is he hangs on the ropes alot & if he does that vs Joe even if Joe is slower he'll obliterate him through workrate there; it would be worse than what Johnson did and so that's a big factor + as big as Jones is & as hard as he punches I don't see that bothering Joe because he is not consistent enough with his combos anymore though he does fight from a nice range in that he tends to lean / rock backwards and forwards and given his reach which could be a factor heavily favoring him.

Bottom line is he's only 3 years up on Joe, his legacy is assured, he has everything to gain and zero to lose & he is tricky you can never count him out. I'd go for 70% chance of Joe taking a win but this would be a fight for the ages and if it doesn't happen it was ultimately down to Jones feeling he cannot win after all he has recently said.

Personally for me, there's more questions about Joe than Jones now though.......:think

 

It wasn't about the name of his competition ... he remained pretty low-key for the last few years ... at the time he had his set backs ... he was coming down from HW ... he lost alot of muscle ... he had fought Glenn Johnson w/o having a long layoff (4mo.) since losing the second fight with Tarver ... then he fought Tarver again soon there after (1yr) w/o taking a tune up fight. That was 3 championship fights in a span of a year ...

He didn't do his body any justice ... now when he fought his last 3 fights it was mainly to get his body back to LHW form and to get rounds. He went 36 solid rounds ... he didn't come back and fight 10 or 8 rounders ... he went straight to 12 ... not many boxers do that ...

He's back to his LHW form and has learned from his previous mistakes made.

It had nothing to do with the names ... for the exception of Prince Badi Ajamu ... neither Tito or Hanshaw was ranked at LHW ...

 

Its pointless to fight Tarver again ... he said in an interview that Glenn Johnson is on his radar and so is Calzaghe.

I think Jones knows Calzaghe's weakness and that after the speed - his skills are very limited.

I like Joe Calzaghe and think that he's the greatest 168 pounder ever, but that doesn't say much considering that the division isn't that old and doesn't have much prestige compared to the other divisions in boxing.

LHW is a different game and he's not going to dominate that division ... I don't believe that Joe's going to retire after a couple of fights ... he's just now getting the recognition he deserves and is loving the respect he's getting from America.

He has to solidy his status by getting an alphabet strap ...