The is J Calzaghe an ATG thread question

Based on his career. No. Did he have the potential? Yes!
He was just the unfortunate inheritor of a bad era during his reign.
He tried to make a fight back in his younger days with hopkins, but
fact is hopkins blew the fight that was agreed upon. If joe had turned pro in 1988 instead of 93' i believe he would've had the fights all fans wanted
and would've been able to prove whether he was ATG or not. As it stands
he will be enshrined into canastota sooner or later.

 

It's not so much the "location" of the fight, it's just that while the BEST competition for him was fighting in America, he chose to stand strong and stay in Europe demanding people come to him....knowing damn well they wouldn't

 

Around the top 100.

 

He wouldn't fight Jones in America. He demanded Jones come to him. This is when Jones was the top fighter in the world too. Don't mention Manfredo, him alone may keep Joe out of the HOF

 

This moron must be talking about joe coming to the states to fight
echols. He just started watching the sport.

 

Dude, i'm not saying he had to. I was knocking the poster you responded to. There was absolutely no reason for joe to go to america to fight other than hopkins.

 

Calzaghe was one of the greatest fighters of his generation.

Better than Hopkins and James Toney - 2 fighters that are considered to be ATGs so therefor Joe is an ATG too.

 

yes he will be.

the fighting in america earlier is irrelevent.
best 168 fighters for 8 of the 10 years calzaghe was ayt the top were europeans.

between ottke and calzaghe they cleared the best of american 168 fighters , and not a single bernard hopkins 160 victim or fighter who came up in weight from 97 to 2005 did anything at 168.

calzaghe and warren should have given beyer and ottke a lot of money for unification matches.

this is where calzaghes biggest fault lies in terms of 168 division.

does not matter that both parties never really wanted it, it should have happened and calzaghe`s 168 legacy is hurt as a result.

should calzaghe have stepped up in weight ?

should bernard hopkins have stepped up in weight ?

some fighters go through weights , some fighters do not, i do not think having 3 belts at different weights means as much as it used to because of the 4 belts and fighters picking and chosing there way through divisions as once they never had that option.

but in 10/20/30 years time when talking about 168 , calzaghes name will alwys be in the mix and history has taught us that fighters abilities and legend grow by boxing historians the longer they are retired.

 

Pavlik. After calling out a MW who called his bluff and offered him a career high pay day, he turned around and fought a guy he called shot on many occasions, including his autobiography FFS.

Kessler, Joe's best win by far, was recently embarrassed so now we are seeing 'revival' threads like Joe WOULD have beaten Kelly if he hadn't turned tail and run. Give it a rest. History already had all it will to judge his career and it won't be all that kind.