I say he's not.....never has been never will be. Kessler will put him in his place. (not a very phat place!) JC is lonely on the 4th of nov.
People who bash Calzaghe's resume as nothing are just ignorant about his opponents. Granted, every boxing fan knows his resume is far from complete considering his skill and physical gifts, but his resume overall is actually pretty decent. Let's take a look at a fight he normally gets credit for, TKO 2 over Byron Mitchell. Mitchell was a rightful top 10 opponent, coming off of a very controversial close fight with Ottke, had KOed a significant SMW in Frankie Liles, had KOed Manny Siaca when he was at his best, as well as took a close decision on Manny prior to that. Calzaghe blasted him in 2 rounds, much more definitive than Paul Williams' win over the overhyped Antonio Margarito, which was 115-113 and Margarito P4P is really no better than a Byron Mitchell. Now let's take that comparison into consideration, let's say Cotto blasts Margarito in 2-3 rounds if Margarito beats another top 10, his P4P ranking is going to go up because most people consider Margarito a top 10 contender and a tough opponent. Likewise with Calzaghe's blowout of Mitchell, it was rather a good mark on his resume. Now let's add a blowout of Sheika, a definitive wide win over Brewer(whom was robbed against Ottke twice, nearly KOed Echols), a stoppage win over Woodhall,, a competitive win over a peak Robin Reid, a definitive win over Starie and then of course the two big names in Lacy and Eubank, which one was a complete shutout and the other was immensely wide while he was green. Add Kessler on that list and that's quite a nice resume, people need to not rank on reputation alone and start looking into the actual fighters themselves.
He's beaten 7 former world champions, and has had 20+ title defences as well as enough natural talent to beat anybody 175lbs and down. Thats why he's top5 PvP.
Amsterdam...Im callin bull**** on this one buddy. You KNOW I know my ****. AND I am telling you, every other person I have in my top ten has a better resume than Calzaghe....and again, YOU KNOW I love Joe. One of my fav current fighters, but facts are facts... I have him ahead of all of these fighters for the fact of his sheer dominance over that competition. My Top Ten. 1- Mayweather (JLC, ODLH, Chico, Chavez, Augustus, Gatti, etc, etc..) 2- Pacman (MAB, Morales x2, Larios, Sanchez, etc.) 3- Calzaghe (Eubank, Mitchell, Lacy, Reid, Veit, soon to be Kessler :yep , etc.) 4- Hopkins (Winky, Tarver, ODLH, Tito, Johnson, Joppy, Holmes, arguably Taylor, etc.) 5- Hatton (KT, JLC, Collazo, Maussa, etc.) 6- Winky (Mosely, Trinidad, Quartey, McKart, arguably Vargas, arguably Taylor, etc.) 7- Raph Marquez (Vazquez, Johnson, Ruiz, etc....I might lean to this being worse than Joe's, but Vazquez is far better than anyone on Calzaghe's....and Johnson is up there with just about all of them...) 8- JMM (MAB, Sanchez, arguably John, soon to be Juarez) 9- Taylor (Hopkins, Joppy, Spinks, Ouma, arguably Wright, etc.) 10- Vazquez (Larios, Hernandez, Raph Marquez, Gonzales, etc.) Just outside... Mosely (ODLH, Vargas, Collazo, Rivera, soon to be Cotto...LOL) Cotto (the first on my list whose resume doesnt quite stack with Joe's unarguably, but he is still young and you add Mosely to it, with Judah, Quintana and Paulie Ball Z and it becomes closer...too bad Shane's gonna KNOCK HIM THE **** OUT!!!) Joe has some wins vs some good comp...but if you stack it up against others (I also think you could make a case vs Hatton...but JLC, KT, Collazo, Urango and now Floyd...it would be hard), it doesnt quite STACK up. Tho I agree with you that most people sorely underrate who he has beaten....I still cant ignore the fact that he has the weakest resume in the p4p top10. He is highly ranked on dominance and great skill level....not resume...plain and simple bro. :good