was calzaghe beatable ?

Its one thing dropping Calzaghe its another thing to really hurt him. As was said earlier Joe's recovering ability was immense, as was his adaptability. He may have struggled early rounds of a few fights but he never struggled in the championship rounds.

Im not a Calzaghe nuthugger. He should have fought better opponents and he should have fought abroad more often. Much of the underrating of Calzaghe is his own fault.

 

All if's and but's. Does a younger Calzaghe have better hands in this fantasy prime version fight?

 

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Yeah, Joe knew how to win = adaptability, better than anyone else. He could take a punch, recouperate and come back to dominate. And noone could outwork joe. He was pretty unique in this boxing era. ATG.

 

the real rjj would nail calzaghe. so would have les darcy.

 

Maybe Darcy, as he liked to fight as much as Joe does. But RJJ didn't like to fight, only to dominate.

 

Joe was certainly beatable but it was his own confidence that would have been the one to conquer him , Joe basically lacked confidence in his own ability for a large part of his career and stunk the joint out on quiet a few occasions , then you witness him fight live v Byron Mitcheal , Charles Brewer & Jeffrey Lacy you realise he had the makings of unified champion entering the Kessler Fight , probably a prime Roy puts paid to Joe's unbeaten tag but Hopkins ducked a fight with him after getting all his terms agreed ( purse and location ) , Bernard skipped 168lbs for a reason and the reason was Calzaghe . Forget age lads it still took nuts to fight the then best around @ 175lbs in his own back yard with three American judges and a yank ref . If Joe was beatable @ 168 lbs by anyone other than himself then I have yet to remember that other guys name .

 

an excellent response as usual josey, there never seems to be anybody in the middle when it comes to joe, he is either hugely underrated or hugely overrated by people, yours is a great opinion on the man from a known fan. I agree that probably the only man who could have beaten him in his own era was jones , but thats not a slight on the guy as jones imo was the greatest talent to ever step into the ring

 

Thanks for the props D mate but it's like you said I have been a fan of the lad since he was just that (a lad losing to Smyth from Barry Town in the Ams ) Joes confidence in himself ( not his boxing ability ) let him down on a few occasions before a few fights Glencoffie Johnson springs to mind , that was around the time he almost quit because of personal problems ( divorce ) and injury problems (hands as always and on this occasion a back problem ) the Lacy fight was the last time I saw him not 100 per cent though and it showed straight after that Lacy fight in the crazy way he fought Sakio Bika for the first half a dozen stanza .

 

Ewwww, an interesting nerve I've touched there.
In fact, you're probably right. Boxing training and technique has advanced to a point where many favourite ol' timers would be hard pressed to beat a good modern day fighter. My comment was based on Darcy's character as much as anything, as it's been passed down. Joe's character is what impressed me, as much as his boxing ability. RJJ's character never impressed me, as good as his skills were.