my thoughts on joe calzaghe

Calzaghe doesnt get no respect because he never stepped it up and fought any GREAT fighters in their prime and all becuz hes beaten 2 Past prime ATG{1 he really lost to},he expects to be viewed as a legend???

 

I'm not sure how much being an olympian helped Lewis here but maybe it did. Lewis was a great fighter and he and others may have benefited a little from some left over Tyson fame that kept a little limelight on the HW division even after he (Tyson) began rapidly declining.

 

Why would anybody compare calzaghe to floyd? Floyd gets crap cause he says he's the best boxer ever. You can't compare the fighters thats around floyds division to Calzaghe. Baldomire which is floyd crapy wins is better then lacy. Floyd is fighting for ATG. Calzaghe is no where near that. HOF for sure but ATG he is not.

 

Sorry but he beat both. get to your optician son.

Please tell me when these fights where supposed to take place?

Were people crying out for Joe to fight Toney, Jones and Hopkins before he beat Lacey? No they weren't, don't pretend these fights could have ever been made untill the time came when they needed Calzaghe on their resume.

 

Calzaghe was concidered a protected bum prior to the Lacy fight. People didn't damand a fight with the top names cause he really hasn't fought anybody with a pulse at the time. But atleast he proved all of us wrong. The only think is he only scratch the surface. He should have fought Pavlik, Dawson and Glen. They where the only names at the time. It would have given him an argument to be mention by all the other ATG. He would have beat Pavilik and Glen easy IMO. Dawson would have been his best win.

 

Fair enough. I would have liked to see him fight on. There would have been some interesting fights from a hardcore fight fans point of view. But when you've been training like a pro since a kid, and you see the state of fighters who went on too long, it's hard to crticize him for calling it a day.

 

I agree. I would have loved to have seen a couple more fights, maybe Dawson and Glen Johnson, but I think most fighters should get out while they have all their faculties. He walked away from some money though.

 

The problem with Calzaghe's career is that people do not know enough about the ranks of 168 from 1995 (When Jones Jr left) to 2004 (when Calzaghe beat Lacy)

The guys in the middle there, like Veit (beat Brahmer, gave Inkin all sorts of problems) and Woodhall, Sheika, Starie, Mitchell, Mkertchian simply aren't well known enough by people who say they're trying to be objective.

They're the same callibre of fighter as the guys Hopkins feasted on, too.

 

Just watch Calzaghe vs. Kessler. Fantastic stuff. Calz. was getting the worst of it early, but he turned the tide against a very good fighter. How Kessler does in this super-6 tourney will add a great deal to Calz. legacy if Kessler wins. If Kessler does poorly, Calz. legacy will take a small hit.

 

Calzaghe was fantastic!!!!!!!

 

I think you are right for the most part and I'm not a big Hopkins fan. Also he lost to RJJ when they were 'in their prime.' It seems impossible to speak authoritatively about who is better than who untill they fight, and sometimes it is even debatable then.

For arguments sake Hopkins does have a tko 11th round over Glen Johnson in '97, a 12th round tko over Trinidad in '01, and a 9th round KO over De La Hoya in '04. I don't know enough to comment on the guys in between. I think it is possible to say that Calzaghe, was all the while, comparable to Hopkins. Nobody knows.

 

Joe is a ledgend

he fought 46 times,46 times he could have lost and didnt.
it doesnt matter who he fought........46 people had the chance and none of them could do it.Joe Calzaghe deserves all the respect for his career.

 

Hopkins priced himself out of a fight with calzaghe years ago but that seems to get forgotton conveniently by some .
If hopkins was so confident of beating an unknown welshman he would have said "here son have all the purse im going to knock you spark out and then go home to philly".
The fact he found a way out of a fight no one beleived calzaghe could win at the time is very telling, but Joe is the one being blamed for ducking which is funny.
Joe C wanted big fights and I blame his inept promoter Frank Warren for the pathetic excuses he sometimes placed in a ring they didnt deserve to share with joe. I blame Warren for his handling of Joe and the fact he didnt push all out for the mega fights that Joe deserved to have.

 

Hopkins didn't want Calzaghe in 2001 because he didn't want the risk factor against a guy that no one would know should Hopkins lose against him.

Jones Jr didn't want the risk factor and also Frank Warren didn't want the risk factor.

The biggest problem is that 168 was not a marketable division until the arrival of Lacy. Once it became a marketable division and the dollars were there, you saw Joe fight everyone he was supposed to fight.

That should tell you something.

 

I think alot of people have a tendency to underrate Calzaghe. I think its caused by his unorthodox style or styles which were highly effective..he had incredible speed and the heart of a lion. It did not always look great...like RJJ in his prime. But I regard Calzaghe just as highly as RJJ. RJJ was past his prime when he fought Calzaghe, but so was Calzaghe..and a prime Calzaghe would have won with an even bigger margin. Calzaghe deserves the utmost respect from all fans of boxing.