Calzaghe V Nigel Benn

Icould certainly see JC gettin up off the floor in round one if he has 2 & gettin Benn out of there in the same round (!), its such a interestin fight & u dont really know what would happen. but Benn wont lay down for any body, as he said himself "if some one battered me from pillar 2 post, i will get up. i dont care if im injured or what ever. no one is takin my title away from me unless he really, really deserved it..otherwise, he aint gettin my title". might depend if the referee stopped it or not, becos Benn even out on his feet could find a KO punch (eg Logan fight) !

As a Brit I have followed both fighters’ careers and watched over 90% of both fighters bouts. This is a difficult one for me and I will explain why, Benn is for me without doubt the most single minded fighter of his generation, the only way to beat him was dig deep and either attempt to box his head off knowing there was pain ahead or foolishly go into the trenches with him. There are various problems in each of these plans, to outbox him is no easy thing, as he got older his lateral movement and ability to slip and roll punches became superb, this added against his good jab, body shots and raw power meant that not only would you have to attempt to out-box him but you would need the power and quality of shots to hurt him and keep him away from you, there are very few fighters who could have done that. To go into the trenches with a man who will not admit defeat with the tools that he had takes uncompromising self belief, courage and heart, we saw with McClellan that a man with superior skills and power can be beaten by raw determination and heart. Benn when his back was against the wall was frightening. Calzaghe is a multi skilled box puncher with a great chin, awesome hand and foot speed and good power. We saw against Lacy that when he was faced with a talented rough house power puncher he could use these skills to make his opponent's style look lumbering and awkward; he has also proved he can out box a boxer by defeating the likes of Woodhall and Reid in their primes. That is why I begrudgingly go for Calzaghe over Benn, I feel that he would be just too cute for Benn and win on a close decision over 12 rounds, Benn obviously would always be a huge threat but Calzaghe I feel would keep him off balance and throws fast chopping combo's out of the awkward southpaw stance, make Benn miss and tire him out, don’t get me wrong Benn would have his say in this fight and he certainly would not capitulate like Lacy did but I feel Calzaghe has the skills, speed and power with the chin to beat Nigel. Just my opinion though!

Calzaghe's not very tactical though, he was never the smarest of boxers and often relied on his sharp-handedness. He's too easy to hit to stand with somebody like a Nigel Benn! Calzaghe sure knows his way around the ring well for somebody who isnt a smart boxer. He's a master,I cant believe you would say that especially after his last performance. You saying he didn't look like a smart boxer who knew what he was doing against Lacey,?

more i think about it, more i realise that calz would have 2 knock him CLEAN out- becos benn would keep gettin up, in hypnotised fury, tryin 2 take calz head off benn for me. calz has 2 keep benn off him & i dont know if anybody could do that (this is'nt the slow, average, musclebound jeff lacy we're talkin about here). 12 rounds is a long time, more than long enough for benn 2 land some nasty shit benn takes this, but he would have 2 bring back the old dark destroyer from his fightin days

Could go either way. Benn could out pound him, Joe could just out work him. Im a bigger Benn fan, So Id pick him just on likeing. Overall thought It honestly could go either way.

Calzaghe would most likely win this one by stoppage around the ninth imo. Calzaghe had a better chin, quicker hands, probably better stamina. Benn has a punchers chance. Would have been a great matchup though!

If Benn was in the form he was in for the Galvano,Piper and Gent fights then we have a tactical rumble. Benn cutting off the ring,moving his upper body and placing solid shots while Calzaghe is looking to move in and out of range and make best use of his fast pair of hands. I suppose it would come down to Calzaghe's durability,because your going to be hit by Benn whether you like it or not. Seeing Calzaghe almost out against Eubank,Mitchell and Salem I would have to pick Benn if my life depended on it.

Benn was a wide swinging fighter against Logan, Watson and Barkley, but other than those fights he very rarley used wide, swinging punches - he either used short, compact punches or springing punches (his spring was second to none). It's a nice myth, though. I seem to recall he was using alot of swinging punches against McCleanan.

calzaghe. calzaghe throws those in-tight hooks that would eat up a wide swinging fighter like benn. Spot on with that observation. Thats what Benn was, a wide swinging fighter. Calzaghe would finish him.