Was Calzaghe avoided?

I really dont think people that side of the Atlantic knew much about him either way. 10 years worth of WBO defences left him some what of an enigma. The month after Hopkins KO'd Trinidad to become undisputed middleweight champ, Joe was fighting Will McIntyre in yet another foregone conclusion. Need I say more?

 

As does the pro Joe propaganda.

People are trying to retrospectively build him a legacy.

 

:good I am a certified member of the Joe Calzaghe PR machine baby!

 

I prefer to look at things objectively but whatever floats your boat TFFP.

 

What does that say for your boy who agreed to fight him for 3 million in 2002 but then within 24 hours of the offer being accepted upped the ante to 6 million essentially pricing himself out of the fight :yep

Personally i don't blame Hopkins. All risk no reward. I mean fighting Carl Daniels was indeed a very productive 2002.

 

He is not a nobody he is a damn good fighter which he will prove against hopkins. i think if he had not injured his hands all the time he would have fought both guys maybe 5 years ago, which at the time would have been much better even fights.

 

I wish people would quote citation to that story, it was certainly Warren & Joe's side.

This again is another example of Calzaghe zealots trying to undermine another mans resume to further the standing of their own. Joe fought Tocker Pudwill that year.

Joe was a WBO boy, just admit it. He was happy with his lot & now suddenly he is being restropectively built a legacy by hangers on.

 

Hopkins ducked out of a fight with Calzaghe in about 2002 saying he wanted more money.He also Jumped over SMW to fight Tarver at LHW.

 

Better than Joe who just talked about moving up to 175.

 

Why do you have a chip on shoulder about Calzaghe?

 

Mate you've not been at the forum long but a few months ago when this fight was first proposed there was links and articles all over the place and quotes from Jay Larkin confirming that Hopkins indeed pulled out at the final hour demanding double the money that had originally been agreed...i will try and find a link but rest assured if i don't someone else will provide one

Calzaghe did fight some middling competition no doubt. But who else could he have fought? I don't blame him for going over to Germany to fight Ottke and no way that slimy German was having that fight anywhere else....

Toney? He had already eaten has way into Light Heavy by the time Joe became champ...so that rules him out

Superman Roy? Now i think he could have pushed harder for that fight...and in my mind concessions could and should have been made to fight the p4p king....but we all know what RJJ was like in negotiations...he would have probably asked for some ridiculous 80-20 split to fight the unknown Calzaghe! but alas it is true JC should have tried for this fight more....

Who else? Dariuz? He still doesn't get his due and i would not be surprised that had Joe beaten him he would not have got much credit from the hard to please Americans...

So going through that what could Joe have done? Not much at supermiddleweight. He was avoided by Ottke and Hopkins who to me were the obvious opposition. When top notch comp did rise at SMW the Calzaghe naysayers almost had a field day as he prepared to fight Glen Johnson at LHW and he was accused on these boards of running away from SMW at this time ! Fortunatly these fights did not come off he came down whooped messers Lacy and Kessler(the latter of which is a better single win than Hopkins has ever achieved) and now shows signs of going up to beat up the man most consider the LHW champ

All in all a decent resume is forming....and one of the men he should have fought years ago will be put to the sword soon and the other will be remembered as a German ducker so whats all the fuss?

JC will be remembered as a legend when its all said and done.

 

:good

 

Do you mean why am I not kissing his behind like everyone else?

Right I haven't got time to write a detailed response to this right now because I've got stuff to do but you saying Kessler is a better single win than anything Hopkins has done has to be one of the most ridiculous comments I have ever read on this forum. You have shown yourself up as a Calzaghe fanatic not a fan there & I will not waste my time debating this topic with you any further because it is a waste of time.

If you lot want to believe 10 years worth of WBO foregone conclusions makes a legacy then carry on. You all know deep down who will be more greatly revered in retirement.

 

Kessler taken as a single win is better than any single win Hopkins has ever achieved. That is what i meant. I didn't mean that beating Kessler in itself was better than Hopkins entire resume.

I went into detail saying that i believed Calzaghe whilst missing a few fights had done alright with what he had to work with...the real issue is though i believe there are two fights in particular he missed out on and those are the Hopkins and Ottke bouts. And to be honest the vast majority of the blame for those not happening lie with B-Hop and das phantom...not with JC. Hopkins whether you like it or not avoided fighting Calzaghe for whatever reason and i don't overly blame for it...for i am of the belief that he looked at the risk reward ratio and balked...thus JC was avoided by at least one top name...

When this evidence is presented to you i look forward to seeing what you say then.

 

I have no doubt that Calzaghe has been protected, he really should have got bigger fights, I mainly blame Warren for this, he is trying his hardest for the Hopkins fight not happen, even though both fighters want it, Warren knows now he has a special fighter and is trying to make mega big bucks out of him, after Hopkins Calzaghe should avoid RJJ which Warren will try and get, but he should go for Pavlik, then he will have legend status if he comes out undefeated.