Matthew Saad Muhammad vs. Joe Calzaghe

The best fighters Calzaghe has ever faced are Lacy and Kessler, and neither is good enough to have been ranked in the top 10 during Saad Muhammad's era. There is a huge difference between Calzaghe's quality of opposition and the world class lightheavies of Saad's day.

There is no reason to believe Calzaghe could have beaten Saad.

Saad was actually faster than Calzaghe, both on his feet and with his hands. He was much stronger and more powerful than Calzaghe. Saad's technical boxing ability was probably the equal of Calzaghe's.

I don't think Calzaghe could have handled Saad's tenacious combination of boxing and slugging. I think Saad could have won this fight with his left jab only.

The best I could see Calzaghe doing in this bout is surviving. Calzaghe is tricky and elusive, and that might have enabled him to last the distance with Saad.

Again, the big difference here is that Saad and his contemporaries were much better than anyone Calzaghe has faced.

 

Saad wins this fight, probably on a late TKO.

Matt seems to be remembered as a face first brawler by most, which is not altogether that surprising as most of his televised title defenses saw him getting into one war after another when instead he could have relied on his underrated boxing ability to win his fights. Early in his career Matthew was much more of a boxer-puncher who possessed a hard, thudding jab and of course that atomic right hand of his than the slugger he became as his career progressed.

He threw textbook punches and was quick on his feet, and he to this day remains one of the few fighters I have ever seen who`s workrate actually increased as the fight progressed rather than the other way around. Factor in his indomitable wil to win and inhuman ability to absorb punishment and still keep on coming fresh as a daisy and it doesnt bode well for Joe.

Calzaghe would not have the power to get Matthew`s respect either, and if he can`t discourage him from coming in to get his pound of flesh he will have a very long and painful night in store for him. I do believe that Joe would have success in the early going as Saad was a slow starter and needed a few rounds to warm up to the task, but once he got into his groove and started to walk Joe down it would only be a matter of time until he caught up to him.

Kessler had a lot of success the few times he actually opened up with bad intentions and really took the fight to Joe, now imagine Matt with his superior stamina and punching power taking the fight to Joe all night long as opposed to only periodically and to top it off he will be throwing even more punches in the last five rounds than he did in the first ten.

Taking that into account I just don`t see how Calzaghe wins this let alone lasts the distance, and I might add as well that Matt`s straight punches down the middle, especially the right hand will find its mark quicker than Joe`s wide punches thrown in flurrys which will not faze Matthew one bit. I have no doubts whatsoever that Saad would have defeated EVERY fighter that Joe has fought so far in his career, but I cannot say the same vice-versa.

I wholeheartedly agree with Kenmore when he states that Joe would have been nothing more than a contender in Saad`s era albeit a good one, and that is not a knock against Joe in any way. But Saad fought in what was arguably the most talent rich era for lightheavyweights the sport has ever known, and he fought and beat most of the other big names of his time and that to me is a far bigger accomplishment than Joe and his twenty defenses against fighters who wouldn`t even have made the top ten back in Saad`s day.

Joe is a great fighter in today`s era I`ll give him that, but Saad would have been great in any era and therein lies the difference betwen these two. Matt is a class above Joe as a fighter in my opinion, and I`m saying that as someone who considers Joe a damn good fighter, just not good enough to beat someone like Saad who on his best day was better then Joe on his best in my honest opinion. With the fight scheduled for fifteen rounds for Matthew`s WBC lightheavyweight crown, I see Matt falling behind early before getting back into the fight in the middle rounds and finally taking a tired Joe out late, say around round 14.

 

He does technically have superior handspeed and ring generalship P4P, definitely not toughness though.

Ali, even being an 'untouchable legend', had plenty of faults that people don't realise due to brainwashing.

 

After 19,203 posts, you're still a ******! kind of a slow learner aren't you?

 

Ali was fast by the standards of Shanno Briggs etc... but he is an absolute slug compared to Calzaghe. He'd struggle to land a punch on Calzaghe with that handspeed.

 

lets see how calzaghe looks at 175, but as someone who watched the eddie mustafa /conteh/qawi/parlov/johnson /mathhew saad/ era to call the best of todays fighter`s as nothing more than a decent contenders is bollox.

they were all good fighters /in an era where boxers came up the hard way and mixed up more way more than the cherry picked fighters of today do with there opponents but they all had flaws and were not the gods they are being hyped up to be.

 

Two careers that are about as different as night and day.

Saad fought in what may have been the deepest and most competitive division in the history of boxing. Calzaghe's career is defined but what didn't happen as much as what did. The supermiddleweight division of his peak years was shallow and the red headed step child of the boxing world.

Stylistically this would be an entertaining fight. Saad was a walk through you to deliver pain type of guy who actually had the skillset to have been a stylist type of boxer. Bad defense at times but he could take not just a punch but punches and return fire. We got to watch him until the accumulation of busy career's punishment finally eroded this beautiful fighter. He fought wars, something that Calzaghe has never even had a whiff of.

For me it's hard to say the overprotected Calzaghe would even stand a chance because there's only a couple of defining fights in his resume and no one of the calibre of prime Muhammad. But he'd probably do well for a while and maybe even slap and run his way to a decision.

But I think Muhammad was just too big for him and too willing. So not to offend the Calzaghe fans I'll just say I don't know because there's so little to really know about Calzaghe.

 

Marting, nice to see you again! I used to chat with you on these boards as far back as 2001.

I agree with most of what you say above. However I would take it one step further and argue that Saad would have beaten Calzaghe hands down. I don't think Calzaghe has the speed, strength or athleticism to handle MSS.

On the other hand, Calzaghe vs. Mike Rossman would have been a great fight. I give Calzaghe a slight edge in that one.

 

Damn, another old timer! Not many of us left.

Yeah, I sort of think Saad would've been too much but I do have begrudging respect for Calzaghe talents. It's just too bad he hasn't had some real marquee fights.

I also think JC would find a way to deal with Rossman. Rossman was just too easy to hit.

 

Anyone else noticed that the number of votes for Calzaghe goes up by about 10 each time it's daytime in the UK?

 

MSS would have beaten Joe

 

My god! Coming from you thats a litle bit rich isn't it?atsch
Amsterdam makes some contraversial/outrageous statements at times but at least he usually backs it up with a coherent argument.

 

i like calzaghe,but he doesn't win this one.in fact this would probably be his worst nightmare.joe with his great speed and punchrate would have success early on and in fairness as long as he was standing.saad muhammad was as tough a light heavy as they come with good skills and speed,but with the ability to take you out with one shot.not the greatest defence,hence he was in many wars but he simply couldn't be discouraged. he would have kept on coming and coming and coming,and eventually with his superior strength,he would have caught up with joe and stopped him sometime between 8 and 12.

 

If joe can keep his chin, which was pretty good, he coulda went the distance but when he tries to attack he leaves himself open and against a guy like saad that could be lights out. Plus saad had a beautiful jab and woulda disrupted joes rhythm all night. Saad wins big imo