Tell me Boxing fans. Do/did you rate Calzaghe and Kessler as stay at home fighters?

It depends purely on who you're comparing them to.

Compared to Ottke and Ward, no, they're not.

Compared to Glen Johnson, practically everyone's a stay at home fighter.

 

They are nothing close to all time great boxers.

 

bailey,

So what? It doesn't mean they were good. Statistics have to be put into context.

But why is it such a great achievement when no other top fighter stayed there as long?

Yes, but not when the division isn't that old, and for the most part it was weak.

You are heaping praise on a guy for having the best SMW resume, basically through a lack of ambition to further his career.

Again, you have to put things into context.

It took him 14 years to unify a weak division for the most part, beating WBO mandos, and then he struggled past Hopkins.

He's got a good resume, and he was a great fighter.

But you use black and white statistics to try and make it seem amazing.

You've recently said that Roy was never the man in any division. So do you believe that Joe has a better resume than Roy and he's achieved more?

If you say yes, then you need locking up for your own safety.

But if you say no, it proves that you have to allow for certain circumstances and you have to put things into context.

You have to put records and statistics into context.

Otherwise, Trevor Berbick would be classed as a better fighter than Muhammad Ali.

 

Mostly yes. Calzaghe finally fought Hopkins and Jones, even though it was when Jones was way past it. But besides those two and lacy, he just stayed in GB and fought stiffs. I liked him though and Kessler too

 

Why does this have to happen in any thread where Calzaghe is mentioned? What does all of this have to do with whether Calzaghe and Kessler were "stay at home fighters" or not?

 

yeah, funny it happens to calzaghe.

you'd almost think it was him to blame for hiding in Britain all those years.

 

Are you not aware of what Joe has said in the past?

If Joe had said that he was content to do what Eubank did, which was to just stay at home and defend the WBO, then I would have respected that. Eubank was open and honest and said he was happy on his ITV contract and he never made an effort to chase guys like Roy and Toney etc.

But Joe plays the victim of circumstances card, and tries to kid people he wanted the best, but he couldn't them.

He said he wanted Roy in 2001. So how was he going to get Roy without going to the U.S. when Roy was at 175, and he was in Europe at 168?

Again, in 2004 he said he wanted big fights for recognition and he knew that he needed to go to the U.S. and he'd done all he could at SMW.

But then he remained at SMW to fight Mkrtchyan and Salem. He also said in his 2007 autobiography that Tarver had done nothing apart from fight a past his best Roy Jones and he wasn't interested in fighting him. But Tarver would have been a big fight for him in 2004.

Joe's whole attitude was - If a big money fight presents itself, I'll take it. But he was kidding himself, saying things like he'd fight Roy, but would want the Crown Jewels, or it wasn't worth the risk. But nobody was going to pay him huge money.

To do the things that Joe supposedly wanted to do, he had to go to the U.S. to do them.

He was asked in a documentary on YouTube - "Would you go to America for less money, but for more exposure?"

His response was "Not for less money, no. That doesn't make sense."

He paid no attention to the second part of the question, because he couldn't see the bigger picture.

 

I have repeated it.

You call me brainwashed, but can't answer a simple question.

You're forever telling us all how Joe wanted Roy.

So why don't you explain how that was possible?

You go the champ. Roy was the champ and if you want the champ you have to go out of your way to try and get him.

The champ isn't going to come to you.

If he was serious about wanting Roy, he had tough decisions to make.

He initially could have taken less, to try and make more in the future. Can you imagine what it would have done to his career had he beaten Roy in the 90's-00's, or even impressed in defeat?

 

Its the funniest crap Cal nuthuggers come out with when you ask them -

So, nuthugger, why DIDNT Joe travel to the US for the big money against US primes early on?
-Oh, because he was making enough money for life fighting in Cardiff, so why travel?

I see, nuthugger thank you. And why did Joe later travel to the US for the big money versus faded fortysomethings ?
- Because he needed the big money he hadn't had earlier so he could retire, so why not travel? ummmmm...

ok nuthugger. and you just pwned yourself. back to school -YOU aint gonna be travelling anytime soon.

 

all this crap on this thread when all you actually need is the famous nuthugger-killer that Joe himself thus spoke but the huggers tried to deny for years and still do, and will forever regret him opening his trap to tell the real truth -

'I'm not chasing Roy Jones, I don't want tough fights'.

 

Kessler has fought in Denmark, Germany, Australia, Wales, England and the U.S.A. how many top fighters have even fought in that many countries?

Calzaghe was more of a home fighter, but the issue was more his quality of the opponents he fought than him travelling or not.

After all, Hopkins has only fought outside the U.S. a handful of times and Jones jr. never did when he was prime and Floyd Mayweather never has - are these guys "home" fighters?

 

That was never an option. Calzaghe wasn't famous enough to get big money fights against US primes early on.

 

so why didn't he try and get famous?

I never even realised who joe was till lacy/kess came along. that's how off the radar he kept himself....... towards the END of his reign, that is.

why was he happy to treat a world title like a commonwealth or national title for so long?

 

He did try but it's not easy. He got there eventually though.