Calzaghe Appreciation

by Rodney Mon 14 Mar 2011, 3:08 pm

First topic message reminder :

Afternoon Gentleman.

Just thought pour a little positive ink on Joe Calzaghe, not to everyones taste I know, but since I've posted on the old 606 a couple of years back and on here, Joe seems to have gathered his fair share of members who are happy to stick the knife in, I think he deserves some slack after being a tremendous champion IMO.

In short I think Calzaghe will be regarded as a great fighter who pulled the super middleweight division together and then beat the man at light heavyweight, before Hopkins dismantled Kelly Pavlik who is far from a finished story. Calzaghe has had an excellent career thus far, and probably will in due course challenge Buchanan for the best post World War II British fighter, and will I suspect comfortably sit in the all-time British top 10 list.

A tremendous fighter who would've gave anyone a difficult nights work throughout history.

Cheers

Rodders

by azania Mon 14 Mar 2011, 6:51 pm

imperialghosty wrote:How many of them were ranked in the top ten at the time Calzaghe fought him and Hopkins is a pure irrelevance

With the exception of the great Manfredo and RJJ, the rest were top 10. Of course that doesn't include the wonderfully gifted Pudwill.

by Imperial Ghosty Mon 14 Mar 2011, 7:21 pm

Nah RJJ was ranked 4 at the time he faced Calzaghe

Going to have trawl through and find the statistics for this, there was a thread on the old 606 which showed Calzaghe only face a few top ten ranked guys.

I'm a huge fan of his and have him well inside my top ten all time brits but to say he dominated for 10 years is a false truth

by D4thincarnation Mon 14 Mar 2011, 7:29 pm

imperialghosty wrote:Nah RJJ was ranked 4 at the time he faced Calzaghe

Going to have trawl through and find the statistics for this, there was a thread on the old 606 which showed Calzaghe only face a few top ten ranked guys.

I'm a huge fan of his and have him well inside my top ten all time brits but to say he dominated for 10 years is a false truth

If he beat Ottke would you say he dominating the divsion?

Why did that fight did not happen?

Do you think Ottke was a product of German corrupt officiating rather than a great champion?

by Imperial Ghosty Mon 14 Mar 2011, 7:39 pm

If he beat Ottke then he would certainly have dominated the division but regardless of the politics that fight did not happen so at no point was he a clear number one. I agree with what your saying D4 Calzaghe was the clear number but didn't dominate which is the point in question.

We should also remember that Calzaghe was also reluctant to travel so isn't blameless in all this.

Ottke is anything but a great champion, from memory clearly his 3 biggest fights but unfortunately that's not what the record book says and we can't go about rewriting it as we so choose.

by BALTIMORA Mon 14 Mar 2011, 8:14 pm

rowley wrote:You've convinced me D4, in fact why bother having people fight at all, lets just let a few fans sit down in a room and decide who is the best, saves all that pesky getting in a ring and proving it.

You are wrong on this mate your original commnent was he dominated the division for a decade and that is just wrong because he did not beat the people out there who had equally as good claims to be the man at the weight and no fighter can claim domination without doing that.

Nothing to add, but this made me chuckle as I sit here pooping.

by GeoffSnapes Tue 15 Mar 2011, 9:47 am

There is a case to be made that JC had deteriorated more than BHop when they met. Joe went on to have one more fight against Jones and then called it a day. BHop is still going strong - and looked to have more stamina than a prime Pascal. I don't think a prime JC gets tagged early by BHop or a past it Jones. Age seems to be a hot topic when discussing BHop, Jones, Johnson etc - but nothing is made of JC being in his late 30's after a long career and amateur career.

How hard do you punch?

by Guest Tue 15 Mar 2011, 6:46 pm

I agree that there is an element of "what if..?" with Joe Calzaghe.
Can't agree that he didn't quite have the ambition. I think the problem was
largely Warren, who should have gotten the B-Hop fight 5 years earlier, as we know,I think the money was the issue there, and doubt we will ever know who was more greedy in the negotiation stages. Calzaghe has been pretty open about fighting for money first and foremost. As a fan I defo agree though that he did underachieve. I reckon Frank Warren should have moved heaven and earth to get that B-Hop fight, however,and I suspect that would have entailed asking Calzaghe to take a smaller cut...
Agree that the B-Hop fight,when it finally happened, was a great win.The RJJ matchup was a crock though.When he fell to his knees and screamed after beating the shadow of his former self, I thought he showed disrespect and wish this fight had not taken place,it did nothing for his AHEM legacy.

by hitmansam Wed 16 Mar 2011, 6:20 pm

Calzaghe had 21 championship fights at super-middle and a mere 5 of his opponents were top-10 ranked super-middles at the time Calzaghe beat them. Sorry but a SD over Hopkins doesn't make you great. How can anyone rate Calzaghe's longevity? Who did he beat? His fans have the cheek to say Sakio Bika!

Clazaghe has Lacy, Kessler and Hopkins *SD. That might make him a great Brit but an all-time great? You gotta be kiddin'!

by bhb001 Thu 17 Mar 2011, 12:20 pm

D4thincarnation wrote:
imperialghosty wrote:We sure will, for the record he fought very few guys ranked in the top ten so blows that argument of yours out the window

Not really.

Chris Eubank
Richie Woodhall
Charles Brewer
Robin Reid
Byron Mitchell
Jeff Lacy
Peter Manfredo Jr
Sakio Bika
Mikkel Kessler

Peter Manfredo Jr is top ten? Really? I thought he was just a reality TV star with a famous manager
Bernard Hopkins
Roy Jones Jr.

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