Poll: Jones Jr Vs McClellan @ 168

that's exactly right.
i use to be on a predominantly british boxing board and they still talk about calzaghe as one of the most dodged fighters of his era.

but saying that shows that you don't understand (i hate labelling people in my posts but it's true in this case, i think) how the business side of boxing works.

you court the fans, the networks, you fight on an internationally televised (or least prime time US) fight - in calzaghe's KO'ing a guy like joppy on P4P in the US would have gone a long way to him getting jones or hopkins.

calzaghe knew this, warren knew this too.
but they chose to milk the british public. i have no problem with a fighter doing that except if you choose to crow about being a fighter worthy of jones and hopkins, which JC did.

i'm not american by the way for anyone who thinks i'm being biased.

calzaghe's carrer is a huge 'what if' becuse he chose a safety net approach mapped out by his promoter. and personally, i don't think losing a split decision to 43 year old hopkins served his 'legacy' in any way. i actually thought it was detrimental and a result of so many years of negative opponent picking.

 

Again, good post. The fact that he had a close win against an old Hopkins, who floored him in the 1st round, doesnt make him look to good at all, it just make you think if it was just 4 or 5 years earlier, Hopkins might just of had his way with Calzaghe, especially since his stamina was alot better then, than it is now.

Calzaghe really is a big "What If", I just dont see him being talked about in the same light as a prime Jones or Hopkins, guys that fought the best there respective divisions had to offer, and usually won in the end.

 

agreed.
for me that's like the mcClennan-jones thread.

giving props to a fighter who, although talented, never earned a worldwide repuation.

 

Yeah but Gerald was not defensive minded at all like Toney with the classic shoulder roll and Hopkins with grab and hold style I don't believe this bout would have been competitve at all. Jones by 7th round KO.

 

Yeah, Zelenoff took the famous youtube video down after people started to make fun of him for crying and **** in the dark, I guess I would be pretty sad to after losing to a guy thats like 1-12.

 

that's like saying we have a kick ass attack in the minor leagues so we don't need defence in the majors.

heresay.

he never mixed it with the majors so we'll never know.

 

If he did'nt need much defense why is he in the state that he is in right now?:think

 

Gerald McClellnan was like Enzo Maccanerlli - he believed in his own hype of his punch power to settle matters every time and as a result he had no defense he simply did not think of defensive moves he never thought he would need to. Too one dimensional while Jones Jnr is multi dimensional and I just think that Jones will be able to hit him so much and cleanly with power it's gonna take its toll after the half way mark for a stoppage.