Who is the more versatile/adaptable fighter? Mayweather or Calzaghe?

Floyd is better than Calzaghe in every category thinkable.

 

My vote goes to Joe.

 

Calzaghe is slightly better fighting out of the southpaw stance than Mayweather.

 

Not many will agree, but I feel Calzaghe is better all around and better H2H in his weight range. I can see a lot of guys from 135-147 beating Floyd H2H, only a few from the 160-175 region.

Mayweather has a better defence, but he also fights safety first, Calzaghe is very elusive when he wants to be but is mostly a volume puncher.

I'll tell you this much, a 147 version of Calzaghe would have iced Hatton in 5 rounds or less and wouldn't have struggled with Judah or Castillo for that matter.

But again, nobody will agree, because nobody wants to really take a deep look. Floyd's flaws are that he can be overwhelmed, he's weak to pressure and he's overly defensive without the ability to let his hands go like Whitaker could out of a defensive first style.

Calzaghe's weaknesses are being too squared up at times, the openess to a fighter who has great right hand timing and gets wild at certain points.

Floyd is more skilled, but Calzaghe has the better intangibles.

 

That's a scary thought. The speed would be phenomenal.

As I've said elsewhere today, I'd pick Calz for all-round ability. I like the fact that he isn't afraid to go hunting and pressure his opponent. His defence is excellent too, great chin. Maybe his overall defence isn't as good as Floyd's but it's good enough to keep him upright and what he lacks in this area he makes up for in others. Joe not perfect, but that also makes his fights more exciting. He's like Floyd but with more balls. And by that, I don't mean he has three.

 

Joe's timing isn't as good as Floyd's, but the defence could be somewhat comparable if Joe indeed fought in a safety first style, Joe is phenominal at slipping jabs in ways that Floyd isn't. But Floyd has better head movement and guard.

Calzaghe's style is also more potent against a bigger variety of styles, especially pressure guys, in which Floyd is very weak against.

Skills aren't the same, but intangibles and other factors often weigh out over better skilled fighters.

Watch me get flamed for posting my opinion by people who lack and open mind, I'm certainly willing to debate this in a civil manner with Floyd fans though who really want to discuss it.

 

I agree with this.

If people want to flame, fire away! It's only opinions, at the end of the day.

 

This is a tough 1. Joe C. is a great fighter but he is in the end of his career. I'll say Mayweather but I would have like to see Joe fight the best fighters in his prime and see how he would do against a Roy Jones or a prime B-Hop or how would he adapt if he was in trouble against any of these two fighters in their prime.

 

Loses to Jones, as Jones could easily just pot shot right hands all night and has the evasive speed to not get lured into a brawl, also his right's would stun Joe, keeping him at bay. Safety first wide UD.

Beats B-Hop easily, awful style for Hopkins with the frantic workrate and constant movement.

These are my opinions.

If Floyd were a MW sized fighter, he'd beat B-Hop and lose to Jones also.

 

The thing is we talking about who more Versatile and Adaptable fighter between the two. I never saw Joe in trouble against a top fighter. Joe got all the skills but he never been in a fight that he has to bring his greatness out of him. Joe is a great fighter but I wish he could of fought the top fighters in his prime.

 

Kessler is every bit as a 'top fighter' as anyone Floyd has fought, especially the recent fight vs. Hatton where Floyd got immense credit for adjusting over. A 147 Hatton is about as effective as a 170 Winky, so if Floyd gets the credit for making adjustments, B-Hop does also this year at age 43.