After being a Calzaghe supporter from pretty much the begining, over time you get used to the knocks he gets. You also start to understand that almost everyone (except Decebal!) has some kind of agenda. Which is why I'll make the following prediction: No matter who Joe Calzaghe chooses to fight next, he'll be criticized. As soon as it's announced, there'll be thread upon thread created to say he's "going back to easy fights" if it's Hopkins, "taking on blown up, inexperienced smaller men" if it's Pavlik etc etc.. My message to everyone who still doesn't buy into Joe Calzaghe: Shut the **** up, and make the most of the next fight as it may well be the last time you're going to see somebody this good at what he does. That's all I have to say about that.
Amen. Let's enjoy the last 12 months of a true ring great. Whoever he fights it'll be a privilege to watch him in action again. I'm just grateful that we'll see him at least once or twice more.
I have an agenda too! I want to see Joe fight the very best out there from 168-175 and beat him! I think Joe can beat them all, so he should beat the best! At the moment, it looks like it's between Dawson and Hopkins...with Woods and with Pavlik as rank outsiders... ...I also think that it matters who does the criticising and for what reasons...some posters are more knowledgeable and fair than others and want Joe to fight the best, not the biggest name/biggest payday/best resume...others think that Joe should shut the American boxing establishment up by fighting Hopkins no matter what! I will keep on trying to convince people here that Joe should fight the best. We should decide who that is and try and hype that fight... Joe deserves our support. I am confident he will get it eventually, as he got it when he was thinking of fighting Taylor but ended up fighting the man he should have been fighting - Mikkel Kessler. Maybe we can do it again!:good
How about Froch or Bute at 168? Those could possibly be the hardest fights for Calzaghe out there right now. But realistically his next opponent is gonna be: Hopkins at 175 Jones at 175 Winner of Pavlik - Taylor II at 168 Woods at 175 I'd be happy with any of those.
Sakio Bika has been Top 10 since that fight v. Joe...winning the Contender only proved that in the eyes of the people who didn't know about Sakio or who doubted him...
Bute says he isn't ready to face someone as good as Joe or Mikkel yet . He is right. Froch wants to fight Joe but he isn't good enough either...This is what Joe thinks about Froch (and rightly so): "I certainly think he can punch. But defensively he can be very loose and I think he could be caught out against a top fighter..." Joe's hardest fight in Spring 2008 will not be at 168...or against Pavlik...they are at 175 (I am leaving Kessler out). He wants to prove himself there and be a two-weight Champ - good for Joe - let's hope he does it by beating the very best in the division. :good
As for the haters I'm still locked in an argument with some tool over at viv.com (online boxing sim webleague) and its the usual ****-Calzaghe coward blah blah ****ing blah:dead . He completely refuses to believe that Hopkins deliberately priced himself out of a proposed 2002 fight despite the fact its now common knowledge, he also believes that Bika won their their 2006 fight as well ffs!atsch All this from a guy who considers himself a boxing journalist! (fightfan.com) Honestly its no good debating with people like this, the fact that we do is surely the online equivealent of rubbernecking!
Ignore him. He's in the minority now thankfully and very few will take his opinions seriously if he thinks Bika beat Calzaghe :nut
:happy:happy Maybe you'll stop shoving this "Pavlik is a B fighter" mantra down our throats every minute as well!
:rofl :rofl I wish I could man!! Thats where the rubbernecking comment comes in. I can't resist popping in to see what shite he's posted lately and I just get drawn into this sea nonsense that he spouts. The latest is that Prime Hopkins would've raped prime Calzaghe, toyed with him. Tolerable if he was just your average hater but this guy has delusions of being a journalist and co-runs his own website!atsch :rofl
....and maybe the pavlik huggers can stop shitting on calzaghe by comparing him to edson ****ing miranda and jermaine 'i have no brain' taylor with their hilarious 'oh he knocked out these guys therefore he'd obviously blast out calzaghe' bull****.
Pavlik is a quality fighter whos just not quite as good as Calzaghe or Kessler yet. I don't think he's really B' level.
Why do people have a hard time accepting Calzaghe is one the the very best half dozen in the history of the sport. It is there for us all to see. I might just start ignoring these haters who say "Calzaghe is maybe a top 30 ATG".
