Robin Reid v Joe Calzaghe, a defining fight for Calzaghe

The Calzaghe v Reid fight is an example of why Calzaghe is a great boxer.

Calzaghe was bitter that Reid refused to face him when holding the WBC World title, Reid went into the Calzaghe fight with a record of 25 wins and 1 defeat, both boxers disliked each other, Reid was controversially picked for the Olympics infront of Calzaghe, Reid won the bronze, Calzaghe may have won the Gold ? {the authorites did not like Calzaghes flash showboating style in the amateurs, and would not have allowed Joes father in the corner}

When Reid held the WBC title he did not want no part of Joe Calzaghe, but once he lost his title he was happy to have a shot a Joes WBO crown, this is similar to Hopkins and Roy Jones back in their prime not entertaining Calzaghe as the risk reward was not good, yet once they had lost their crowns they were only too happy to take on Joe.

Calzaghe fought Reid in England, although the Brits tend to come together and support each other when a British boxer takes on an overseas boxer, there is huge sporting rivalry between the Celts and the Anglo Saxons, Calzaghe went into the lions den that night, and won.

Calzaghe was reportedly suffering from food poisoning, yet he won.

Calzaghe broke his hand early in the fight, yet he won.

This fight proves Joe Calzaghe to be a great boxer, he overcame a strong highly motivated opponent, away from home, suffering from food poisoning and amazingly with a broken hand he suffered early in the fight, he still won the bout, most boxers even great ones would have lost in the same situation.

For people that like creating 'all time great lists' Joe Calzaghe is hard to rank as people will point out he only beat Hopkins and Roy Jones at the end of their careers in fairness Calzaghe was also at the end of his career.
If people have reservations about his resume, head to head Joe Calzaghe is fantastic, as he always finds away to win, he works opponents out and finds away to win no matter what the circumstances, Calzaghe had won 23 out of his first 25 fights by either KO or TKO before the Reid bout when he broke his hand, {Calzaghe's tenth fight was an eight round points decision and his 23rd fight against Eubank,went to points, although he did knock Eubank down}
After the Reid fight, Calzaghe continued to have problems with his hands, it is at this point that Joes career stalls somwhat, Joe brakes his hand again in the 3rd round of a title defence against Ashira yet Calzaghe still wins, the Ashira fight was the fight before the Jeff Lacey fight, in the Lacey fight Calzaghe famously threw over a 1000 punches, Joe had adapted to his hand problems and went on to use this swarming high volume punching style to beat Kessler, Hopkins and Roy Jones, if Joe had not suffered his hand injury against Reid i wonder what turn his career would have taken ?.

 

The only controversies over Calzaghes two split decision wins, was that one judge scored the fight against him.

Calzaghe beat Reid 116-111, 116-111 on two judges cards, the other judge was totally out of sink and scored it 111-116.

Calzaghe beat Hopkins 116-111, 115-112 on two judges cards, Adelaide Byrd who is known as the worst judge on the circuit who often comes in for criticism scored the fight 113-114, yet again way out of sink compared to the other two judges.

There was no dodgy results in those two fights, Calzaghe won both fights fair and square, i respect peoples opinions, if some people think that Calzaghe lost one of those fights, fine , i would disagree with them as i strongly think like the vast majority of people that Joe won both fights, but anybody that thinks either fight was a robbery is deluded.:roll:

 

80% of posters on this forum gave the fight to Joe Calzaghe, on a forum poll.

''nailed with hard right swings to the head for half the fight'', what 2 or 3 punches a round, and then no punches for the entire second half of the fight, your having a laugh.