Who do you rate higher McCallum or Calzaghe ?

McCallum´s got better longevity, better resume, comparable achievements but was less dominant. I´d pick him.

 

McCallum.

I prefer his skills and style, and he fought and beat better fighters.

 

McCallum. Much higher.

 

for instance?

 

He was totally dominant at light middle.

Never had close calls against Reid-type opponents.

 

Unfortunately Calzaghe gets largely over rated by his fan boys, which has caused a knee jerk reaction to extreme degrees by those irritated by his huggers. Hopefully in 5-10 years we can get a more balanced view of him.

I was not really big on him 5+ years ago, but he has kind of grown on me in recent years. McCallum on the other hand has been one of my favorites for years. I agree w/above post by Bodhi that McCallum has an edge for me. I don't think they are as far apart as those on either side may make it sound before we are through!

 

I like both of these guys, and while I have the utmost of respect for Joe Calzaghe, I have to give Mike McCallum the nod. While its true that he did not always beat his best opponents, he both won and lost to better fighters than Calzaghe ever met period. I am not always a huge advocate of rating one fighter over another on the basis of having only one or two better names on a resume, but in the case of this comparison, the difference in depth is somewhat overwhelming.

 

Kalambay for starters. I'd also say Curry probably was better than the Hopkins Calzaghe beat. And he beat him more conclusively. I also think McCallum beat Toney in the rematch and that Toney certainly was better than anyone Calzaghe beat.

Can't say that I'm well versed on Calzaghe, but wins against Kalule, Jackson, Watson, Graham, Kalambay and Toney (on my scorecard) surely must trump Calzaghe's record.

 

McCallum is much higher. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know enough about his opposition/performances.

I actually had him losing x2 to Sumbu. Still, Kalambay eclipses Calzaghe as well.

 

I'm no Calzaghe hater either. I'm British, he's of my era and I was there for the Kessler fight.

Calzaghe is arguably not even one of the best 5 British fighters ever. He's not even the greatest Taffy IMO.

 

McCallum, but I think its obvious tbh. better legacy, string of better opponents, but really only a few debatable losses that Calzaghe would have got had he fought the same calibre - Watson, Jones, Toney and possibly Graham were capable of beating Cal, but theres no opponent of Cal capable of beating Mike.

I'd daresay Mike would do well against him H2H despite a weight disadvantage, having the edge to win it or at least draw.

 

I like McCallum a lot but Calzaghe was much more dominant.

 

Aren't you the same guy that thinks the Whitaker/Chavez draw was a justified decision