Not Calzaghe bashing - But why do so many people think he's rubbish?

TBF (lol) Toney was weight drained coming into the fight with Jones.

 

No that is your logic or lack thereof. You see Chad Dawson beat 2 fighters that knocked out Roy Jones. Calzaghe just happened to choose to fight Roy Jones instead of taking on the younger, bigger, faster CHad Dawson.

A 6'3 true light heavyweight south paw with power and speed in both hands. When has Calzaghe fought anyone like that? Tocker Pudwill? Jeff Lacy?

First of all, Roy got KO'd once by Tarver, then he was KO'd by Johnson, then lost to Tarver by a clear UD. You saying he was weight drained in all those fights?

So your boy decides to fight a Roy Jones who lost too both men by devastating KO's and cant even stop him, and even manages to get knocked down in the fight, yet he UD's Chad Dawson comfortably? Please.

And there is a reason why Hopkins wants known of Dawson. A young fighter like Dawson would give Bhop hell just like JT did. His punchers arent slaps either, they have pop.

 

thats what tony said about all his loses

 

Yes he probably was, but Roy still produced a performance to pull out a comprehensive win. He looked very sharp and in great shape physically at the weight.

 

Jones would absolutely destroy Joe prime for prime. Joe struggled with Robin Reid for Christ sake!!

Listen no one said Calzaghe was a crap fighter, hes a brilliant fighter , but a very crafty matchmaker.

He faced Hopkins and Jones when it made sense to him! It made no sense giving up his minor title early in his career and cashing in at home.


Listen jones and hopkins have both done a bit of that also through their careers at stages....but Joe did it for 10 years!!!!!!

Jones and hopkins were marquee names...Jones already had beaten Hopkins and toney and been a multiple world title. Jones was the UD light Hevay champ defending all the belt relinquishing none. Clazgahe only became credible after LACY....

and guess what..lhe got his fights with Jones Hopkins....

but if he had balls ala Carl Froch and took a risk early on he would have got those fights earlier!

 

Also jones faced Toney with only his left hand....he didnt use the right in the fight due to breaking it a motor cycle accident.

didnt Jones also beat hopkins with one hand...


a bit diffferent to Joe pulling out vs Glenn Johnson so many times with a hand injury. ROFL

 

Froch just fought his mandatory. And Calzaghe tried to fight Hopkins in 2003 (when he was about the same age Froch is now), so your argument doesn't seem particularly rooted in fact.

 

It's a bit simplistic and illogical to say that just because RJJ didn't stick around at 168 then he wouldn't beat Calzaghe at the weight.

It's a bit like saying Artur Grigorian would beat Floyd Mayweather at lightweight if the measuring stick is time spent at the weight and WBO defences.

 

JC was in pre-retirement stage. He wanted a last big payday and Jones provided that. He had nothing to prove. Dawson can't provide that, hell he couldn't fill a phonebox.

When was the last time Dawson himself took on somebody, young, and stong. His best wins are Adamek - weight drained - Johnson - nearly 40 yeas old, some felt he lost - and Tarver - 40 year old and unimpressive wins. And now he wants 38 year old Calzaghe and 44 year old Hopkins?

The only time Dawson was supposed to take on a strong, young contender was Adrian Diaconu, and he worked his way around a mandatory before dropping his WBC belt and running a million miles.

True light-heavyweight. Something Calzaghe isn't. He's never shown a tendency to struggle going inside bigger guys and Dawson would be no exception. Power? His power isn't great, Calzaghe has faced bigger punches and has a great chin.

Speed? Calzaghe has that in abundance in both the hand and feet department. He would take advantage of Chad's lack of focus and what I perceive slightly worrying stamina, given he took every 3rd round off against Tarver, and outwork and outland him with ease.

He had to drop 18lb of muscle after the Ruiz fight. He put on that muscle because he was supposed to stay at heavy to fight Tyson, before he priced himself out and had to drop back to 175 to defend his belts.

He was drained against Tarver I have no doubt when he got knocked out, and then got sparked badly by Glen Johnson, who isn't a huge puncher by any means. When has Jones ever been hurt and stunned that badly? Something obviously had a detrimental affect on his chin.

Jones clearly wasn't the fight he once was against Tarver, or Johnson. I have no doubt if he stayed at 175 and didn't make the forage up to heavy, he would of beaten both of them. Losing so much muscle can have a detrimental affect for a long time, it was like he had outgrown the weight after moving up to face Ruiz.

He won every round apart from the first. Don't make stupid arse comments like 'he got knocked down blah blah' and use that against him. If you actually bothered to watch the fight, he got hit full on, full-power flush in the face with Roy's forearm, and got up quickly and carried on.

Hell if Chad got hit with Roy's forearm with his shaky chin, he woulda been on the floor and wouldn't of got up. Like I said, he took every single round against Roy easily besides that 10-8 first round. I didn't say he would dominate Dawson, but I think he comfortably beat him about 8 rounds to 4.

I bet you said the same against Pavlik, who Hopkins dominated and I picked to dominate. Hopkins at 175 is fresh and a rejuvenated fighter, much different to the one we saw against JT. Dawson would have no answer for his experience, overall boxing ability, defence and timing and ring IQ. Power isn't an issue against Hopkins, he has a great defence and a great chin, he's faced far bigger punchers than Chad. He's not a power puncher no matter what you say.

 

Bull****. If Roy broke his hand he wanted of fought, he wouldn't of passed a physical inspection and the fight would of been prosponed.

Calzaghe had hand problems all his career, he broke them in fights a few times. Unfortunately the Johnson fight was discussed just at the occasion when he did happen to break them.

It's similar to why the Jones fight was prosponed at first, having hurt his hands before so it had to be put back.

 

Beat a green Hopkins and weight drained Toney. Great performances, but it takes some sting out of the wins given the career-points and physical condition of these 2 opponents at the time.

Jones admitted Calzaghe was the most dangerous fighter around for him at one time, and as such didn't want to fight him.

In 2002, Hopkins agreed a £6 million fee to fight Calzaghe. Having called his bluff, he then came back the next day and demanded double that, pricing himself out of a fight.

 

The question is a good one. Why DO so many people think he's rubbish? His style looks pretty ugly at times and it's easy to dislike. Most fans prefer somebody with power or a slick, technically sound boxer... or even a combination of both. Calzaghe, though he had decent dig in his punches, was never someone who was going to put people to sleep. I blame a lot of the dislike on the predictability of a lot of his fights. If he faced an opponent with a decent chin then the fight was going to go 12 rounds with Calzaghe flurrying his way to a points victory.

At the weight, there's nobody who could get through as much work as Calzaghe. You'd be hard pushed to find anybody in the history of the sport to match Calzaghe for the intensity of work-rate at 168 or above for 12 rounds. In the Kessler fight you mentioned, Kessler was able to keep up with the pace for 4 rounds - but even those rounds were close. Kessler expected the fight to slow down to the pace that he preferred but Calzaghe showed his greatest attribute at this point - the ability to take a step back mid-fight and adapt his plan of attack to what Kessler brought to the fight. Calzaghe did this naturally. There was no plan B in his head beforehand and it's certainly not something that was worked on in the gym. He had the uncanny knack to do the right thing at the right time.

The other thing about Calzaghe is that he's not in love with boxing. He doesn't know the ins and outs of former champions, legacies, who had the perfect jab and who could deliver the best left hook. Calzaghe was in the game to win, he loved the stage also and was well in his element there. Outside the ring, Calzaghe was uninspiring and almost shy until later on. So given that he had no interest in living up to the history of past boxers, he just did what he did. He was earning decent money and winning. To himself, he didn't need to go to the States to fight, why should he? He was getting the best American challengers at 168 to come to him so why would he want to be away from his family? He was also appearing on Showtime and at that point probably didn't know what HBO was. Frank Warren took care of that side of things.

 

Taylor didnt even want to fight Froch...Hennesy forced the fight if you remember!

Joes Manadories are as bad as Kesslers...Freeman Barr...David Starie rick Thornberry?

 

Jones at no point said Calzaghe was a dangerous fight for him. Calzaghe was never a dangerous fight for Jones until Jones was shot.


Interesteting Calzgahes signature performances.


Tavrer/Johnson Kod Jones.....Calzaghe faced him 4-5 years later gets put on his ass....and barely hurts jones.

Taylor beat hopkins twice when hopkins was 4 years younger and frsher....Joe fights hopkins struggles like expected when hopkins is older and less in condition

 

Oh and Calslappy was such a massive draw. Had ****ing Don King in the streets of Manhattan trying to sell tickets for Roy and Calzaghe bull****. Its sad when your promoter has to get his hands dirty to sell a fight.

What the hell was Calzaghe retiring for? Its not like he had been in many major battles. Spent his career defending the most useless strap in professional combat sports. Fought a limited Jeff Lacy who was proven to be a fraud shortly after, fought Kessler to this date hasnt proven the elite status some European promoters had crafted around him, fought ****ing contender superstar Manfredy lol, nearly lost to an old Hopkins, many feel he did and then took on a Roy Jones Jr that he himself claimed he would never fight because "he was knocked out too many times"

Please. I've seen the Calzaghe nuthugger hand book before. Calzaghe fans claiming lack of gate sales. Dawson was willing to fight Calzaghe in England, nobody would show you fink?

What is this weight drained bull**** by revisionists? Adamek had fought his entire career at light heavy and when Dawson beat his ass he's suddenly weight drained? Please. It wasnt Dawsons fault the best fighters in his division were old timers. However it points to his pedigree in the fact that only Tarver and johnson were willing to fight him, and Calzaghe and Hopkins ran for the hills. Btw, Dawson also called out your boy Kessler, he said he was "too big" :rofl

Who the **** is Adrian Diaconu?

Calzaghe has never faced a puncher with both power and speed. And I'll reiterate, Calzaghe has never fought anyone as big as Chad Dawson. The only guys he beat were super middleweights and unnatural light heavyweights like Hopkins who he struggled against. Chad Dawson is 6'3 a good 2 inches taller then any fighter Calzaghe has ever fought. Not too mention a 77 inch reach. Which is 3 inches longer then Hopkins reach and 4 inches longer then Roys. Not only that, he is strong, bullied Adamek against the ropes at certain points in the fight, an Adamek who is now fighting at crusier. I say again, Calzaghe has never faced anything this man. If Kessler could take 3 rounds off of Calslap, then thats an automatic 5 for Dawson before the fight is even made. :good

Chad Dawson matches him in every department in terms of speed. Calzaghe hasnt fought anyone that could say that.

Exactly. So why did Calzaghe fight such a shot version of Roy, who he too admitted was shot eh? Embarrassing fighting a guy you said yourself was past his best then trying to make it seem like you were taking out a legend of the sport. atsch

If a shot roy jones could put Calzaghe on his ass, if a old Bernard Hopkins can knock down Calzaghe who hasnt knocked out anyone in years, I shudder to think what a prime young Chad Dawson who has more power and speed then both would do.

Complete and utter nonsense. Styles make fights. Pavlik was a come forward guy with very little defense and if you turn him can virtually nuetralize his attack. Jermain Taylor doesnt use his moment so he is a perfect target for guys like Pavlik, Hopkins on the other hand knew that if he turned Pavlik and kept him spinning he'd nuetralize his right hand and go to work, not too mention Pavlik was going up nearly 12lbs in weight. This all worked to Hopkins advantage. AGainst fighters that provide a high work rate, with speed, Hopkins struggles because he cant time them as easily, AGAIN why do you think Hopkins is calling out Froch and Adamek and not Dawson? He knows.


Just face it, your boy fought nobodies for 10 years, then took on a bunch of past it guys to finish his career, and left the young prime hungery fighter in Dawson alone. :yep