The 17 Fighters of Calzaghe's Era Who Were Better Than Him- are there more or less??

Fighters of Joe Calzaghe's generation (Pernell Whitaker definitely cannot be included in this, he was at his peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Calzaghe didn't win a world title til 1997. Whitaker belongs to the era before, along with Chavez, Azumah Nelson, the young Holyfield and Tyson, McCallum, Camacho etc etc- guys belong to the era where their peak was) who were DEFINITELY better than him in my opinion, but others could be argued to be too, guys like Naseem Hamed, and current fighters like Miguel Cotto (who will overtake him soon). I rate them as greater on three counts: ABILITY, ACHIEVEMENT and RESUME:

(not in any order, but obviously RJJ is the clear no1)

ROY JONES JR
MANNY PACQUIAO
LENNOX LEWIS
BERNARD HOPKINS
JAMES TONEY
ERIK MORALES
SHANE MOSLEY
MARCO ANTONIO BARRERA
JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ
KOSTYA TSZYU
FELIX TRINIDAD
OSCAR DE LA HOYA
RICARDO LOPEZ
WINKY WRIGHT
FLOYD MAYWEATHER
JOHNNY TAPIA

There's 17 greater fighters from his own generation alone. Joe had talent, but he doesn't have the resume to back it up. Nine years from 1997-2006 doing nothing except beating up nobodies like Pocker Tudwill and Rick Thornberry while his contemporaries (that I have just mentioned) fought the best and each other.

He will never be considered top 10 of his own generation by the boxing world for this reason.

Thoughts??

 

I knew Tapia would be the one most people would disagree with. World champion at 3 weights, fought the best around. I think he is right up there with Calzaghe. And I definitely think Winky Wright was better. Undisputed light-middleweight champion, went undefeated for 8 years, again always fights the best, has 2 wins over a prime Shane Mosley and a dominant win over Felix Trinidad on the resume.

 

Glad to see people are agreeing with the other 15 though.

 

Dear God, look at the standard of fighter Barrera faced throughout his amazing career! Naseem Hamed was established in the top 10 P4P when Barrera beat him, he was a KO artist at featherweight, a beast, a higher quality and more dangerous opponent at the time than any challenge Calzaghe has taken on. And Barrera dominated him in a career virtuoso performance. Because of Hamed's subsequent loss of desire and retirement, people forget what a sensation it was at the time.
And Barrera won the best trilogy of the 21st century (aside from maybe Vasquez-Marquez, but I do prefer Erik-MAB personally) 2-1. Three 50/50 thrillers, both men putting it all the line, 2 ATGs, and Barrera coming out with the wins.
As if that wasn't enough, but the guy also had wins over excellent opponents like Paulie Ayala (a former Ring fighter of the year), Johnny Tapia (3-weight world champion), Kennedy McKinney, Rocky Juarez, Kevin Kelley, Robbie Peden, and he floored and pushed the top 5 P4P Juan Manuel Marquez all the way in the twilight of his career.

He is 1 of the 1s definitely better than Calzaghe.

 

Bcoz Dusty Trunks beat Calzaghe on points in the amateurs, Joe ducked him when the Trunkster wanted a shot at his WBO title back in '97. Dusty was so frustrated he quit, and went on to manufacture unique boxing gloves that give the palms of the hands extra protection when used as a slapping device.