Beating Eubank dropping him twice to win the WBO Going toe to toe with Robin Reid in a good fight Stopping Byron Mitchell after touching canvas Dominating the hype machine that was lacy to unify with the ibf defeating WBA/WBC Champion Mikkel Kessler Beating hopkins in Vegas at 175 not to mention Sheika, Veit twice, Bika amongst others he didnt have a long glittering career but he was something special
Defeating everyone in front of him. 46-0 Talent (blazing hand and foot speed) unmatched boxing skills (Plus he's a southpaw) Power (when his hands were healthy) A chin made of Pure steel. Workrate (able to thrown 90-100 punches a round for 12 rounds) The ability to adopt to any style. The Heart and will of a Champion. Underrated opposition. Calzaghe has all the requirements for ATG status. You think of it Calzaghe has it in spades.deal
I don't really like Calzaghe, but he beat the living **** out of Lacy. He almost made Hopkins quit. I had never seen Hopkins complain so much in a fight when things started getting ugly in there. This coming from a fighter who I happen to think as one of the dirtiest fighters I have ever seen, yet he couldn't handle it when the tables were turned. Oh, and the white boy did beat his ass. Don't hate, those were Hopkins' own words. Calzaghe did beat up a washed up RJJ, though.
He is considered so good because he is relatively fast, relentless, and has an undefeated record. Oh, and he beat Eubank, which automatically makes him god in the eyes of British fans. However, I don't think Calzaghe would've stacked up against Hopkins, Toney or Jones anywhere near their prime. The ghost of Roy Jones created problems for Calzaghe in the first round, a prime Jones would've jumped on that and had Calzaghe out in 1. I think Toney and Jones make light work of Calzaghe, but I think he always gives Hopkins some sort of a fight.
By 'all' I think you mean 'Manfredo'? And by 'hometown' I think you mean 'England'? I think he was good because...he was good: -3 straight senior amateur UK titles in 3 different weight classes. -Wins his first 9 by stoppage. Wins 1 on points. Wins the next 12 by stoppage. -Goes into his first title fight with Eubank at 22(21)-0. Beats Eubank and puts him down. Eubank. Down. -Makes 17 defenses with 10 stoppages. A lot of them were poor opponents. Too bad nobody wanted to unify. -Whipped Jeff Lacy's undefeated ass to unify. -Whipped Sakio Bika's ass way easier than Ward ever did. -Got a premature stoppage while whipping Peter Manfredo's ass because it was a mismatch that nobody wanted to see anyway. -Whipped Kessler's undefeated ass to unify, didn't cheat, and made it look way better than Ward ever did. -Whipped Hopkins who was p4p#3 at the time (behind Calzaghe and Pacquiao at #2 and #1, respectively) and had the guy looking for any way out he could find. -Whipped the corpse of Roy Jones for money. -Holds the 168lb record for title defenses. -Was a first-ballot HOFer. So....he pretty much never lost, knocked out a whole lot of guys, unified his division, was recognized as p4p, moved UP and beat another p4p fighter who immediately afterward utterly destroyed the lineal middleweight champ, is also an ATG, and is STILL able to hold titles at 175...Why do we need to explain this stuff?
whats the problem , he is good. why is that an issue, that awesome output/stamina overrides the top level fujndamentals that always dropped his landing percentages lower than the top fighters he faced. You have to be good to beat old Hopkins, or injured Kessler, or draw with robin reid, and beat minor contenders by the barrelload to boot - outstanding longevity too. hes just not great. the undefeated record counts against him, if he had tested himself more and thus lost a few fights, he would be considered better than just merely good.
