RJJ apart, is Joe Calzaghe the best fighter Hopkins will have faced?

Exactly. Calzaghe is bigger (if not better) than Winky, Trinidad and De La Hoya and better than anyone else Hopkins has fought.

RJJ aside obviously.

 

Antonio Tarver, Ronald Wright, John David Jackson, Joe Calzaghe, Keith Holmes, Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Simon Brown, William Joppy, Glen Johnson, Jermain Taylor, Antwun Echols, Howard Eastman, Carl Daniels, Robert Allen, Lupe Aquino and Joe Lipsey in no particular order.

 

Much more dangerous fighting former SMW champions eg. Reid Brewer etc....who were actually real SMW's than fight skilled welterweights dlh and trinidad moving up.

Haha I dont even wanna think what Calzaghe would have done to DLH and Trinidad if he had fought them instead of Hopins.

 

And because Calzaghe is MUCH bigger and stronger than De La Hoya. Calzaghe walks around at 190+ pounds when in 'normal' shape while De La Hoya...........maybe 160ish? Although Oscar probably walks around more than 160 now that is because he is out of shape.

 

Calzaghe TKO4 De La Hoya
Calzaghe TKO6 Trinidad

 

Trinidad yes (and even then a little educated thought would have always suggested B-Hop would probably have his measure).

Tarver and Wright?!

 

P4P Wright, DLH and Trinidad were better than Calzaghe.

 

True, and P4P Pacquiao is better than Pavlik. Who do you think would win that "fight"?

 

I don't really care who would win that fight. It doesn't concern me one bit.

 

Neither do I, but I'm in a mode where I end up thinking that everyone who comments on certain topics have an agenda of sorts. It's what this place does to you.

 

Baldomir would probably beat all of Mayweather's super feather and lightweight opponents but you have to factor in that Mayweather was bigger when he fought Baldomir. Is Ruiz the best opponent Jones Jr faced?

 

I'm not so sure about Tito. Murderous puncher but could be outboxed sometimes.

 

Calzaghe is easily the best fighter that Hopkins has faced outside of RJJ.

Hopkins has faced superior competition to Joe Calzaghe(though not by much)

The key distinction is however, that Hopkins has not always beaten that marginally better competition.

If I was to rank Hopkins competition in terms of who was most a threat to him it would probably look like:

1. RJJ.
2. Calzaghe.
3. Tarver - and there are some that will say he showed signs of slippage against an old RJJ in the 3rd fight.
4. Taylor.
5. Trinidad.

If anybody honestly thinks that guys like Trinidad, Johnson, Echols, Vanderpool, Taylor. DLH and Tarver were more threatening at MW and LHW than Calzaghe shall be at 175 they need their heads read.

Or of course, they could simply study boxing a bit deeper than what HBO, Showtime and ESPN shows them over there and watch these so called Euro-Bums fights then take a look at who Calzaghe beat pre 2006 then actually make an educated contribution.

As it is, most people polled seem to have picked Calzaghe which proves the general forum isn't totally full of clueless morons.

 

What a **** way to put in and a nonsensical comparison.

Trinidad, who was most effective at 147, lost something in moving up to 160 to face Hopkins.

Calzaghe is the more dangerous fight to Hopkins on the basis that he is a big SMW not a blown up MW.

No matter how you try to spin it, Calzaghe is better than the Trinidad Hopkins fought because Trinidad at 160 was hopelessly outsized against Hopkins. The same will not be true of Calzaghe.

Whether or not you think Trinidad is better p4p is irrelevant.