Calzaghe-Manfredo Stoppage Comments

Great post.

The fight was stopped too soon, even though JOe would have eventually beaten him and perhaps stopped him without the need of a ref. Just before Joes last combination...Manfredo threw a punch that missed by miles so he was fighting back but not very well. Those old black and white fights you see on the telly once in a while put Joes fight with manfredo to shame. When the boxers got knocked down nearly unconscious, the fighter would be hovering over the fallen fighter ready for the next onslaught when he got up. And the ref would allow the boxer to knocked down what seemed like 10 times. Obviously you cant see those kind of fights now but...... The irony is, all the backlash against Calzaghe because of this stoppage is bang wrong. The only person who was hurt by the stoppage WAS Calzaghe. He had a legitimate and dominant victory (most likely by KO) taken off him and now people will use it as an excuse not to fight him. Thats was months of training getting into the kind of shape where he would beat anyone in the world taken off him and his credibility once again put in doubt where it ought not to be just because the ref jumped in too quick. Give Calzaghe another round, give him a chance to start throwing some power-shots, he was just getting warmed up, starting to work on bringing down Manfredo's defence. Manfredo on the other hand gets to go away with everyone thinking that he was cheated (which he kind of was with the stoppage at that point, but not with the loss) instead of going home after having been savagely knocked out within the first half of the fight. The premature stoppage was only bad for Calzaghe, it certainly wasnt over-protecting him. It was over-protecting Manfredo.

Lousy stoppage, but I'm more irritated by HBO approving this mismatch than I am for the quick stoppage.

The fight was stopped too soon, even though JOe would have eventually beaten him and perhaps stopped him without the need of a ref. Just before Joes last combination...Manfredo threw a punch that missed by miles so he was fighting back but not very well. Those old black and white fights you see on the telly once in a while put Joes fight with manfredo to shame. When the boxers got knocked down nearly unconscious, the fighter would be hovering over the fallen fighter ready for the next onslaught when he got up. And the ref would allow the boxer to knocked down what seemed like 10 times. Obviously you cant see those kind of fights now but......

the fight was stopped early but Manfredo was not intelligently defending himself and only he is to blame. You cant just sit there on the ropes not moving You got it Juy; everyone wants to blame the ref, but it's Manfredo's fault for not showing up to fight.

the fight was stopped early but Manfredo was not intelligently defending himself and only he is to blame. You cant just sit there on the ropes not moving

ignorant fuckwit, the fight was in Wales not England...youre right about the ref though, but Manfredo was like a boy in a mans world and would have been fucked up in round 4. You dont know the difference between Wales and England or you dont care.....you fucking half-breed immigrants get me mad!

Manfro did get popped couple of times in that fight and he was looking timid...you cant just clam up and except them not to stop the fight...yea bobbing, weaving, and blocking should help but he couldve done more...you could also punch back or taunt from a distance...it's part of the game...when Morales looks like he's about to go (except for the PAcman fights) he punches back immediately...Pacman raises his hand as if to say "is that all you got or bring it" .....you gotta look a live...Manfro should know this...he's a vet...he's starting to get on my nerves...like he's not for real...if he was bout it bout it he'd be asking for a rematch....

Calazaghe Is Joke I just watched the manfredo fight and that was a serious joke, manfredo didn't have the best game plan but did'nt really pay for it either, calazaghe punches have no intent to hurt he wants to score and run away. And that little flurry he put on to end the fight was hillarious i've never really seen a world champion throw so many bitch slaps in a flurry, that stoppage was so bogus manfredo was'nt hurt at all and when the fight was stopped he slipped about 5 6 in a row then the ref stopped it. Never really seen that in a championship fight. JT, WINKY,BERNARD,DAWSON will rape this sucker.

It's funny that so many people are suggesting Manfredo was using rope-a-dope to beat Calzaghe.

manfredo and ali are nothing alike.

Just like Muhammed Ali, right? I can't think of a fighter less like Ali than Peter Manfredo Jr...

yea just the fact that peter was just fine shows he was waitin for joe to gas out.

man, give it a break, most guys(even calzaghe fans like me) accept it was a bs stoppage, live with it...especially when no one is bashing joe.... It was a bit too soon to stop the fight, but Manfredo gave the ref an excuse to stop the fight by not doing anything, whereas Lacy didn't give the ref that excuse. And I still maintain that the ref did Manfredo more favours than Calzaghe by stopping things that early.

Well Lacy was at least still trying to fight. He was active enough to not stop the fight. manfredo had frozen, and I don't think he had the strength to go on much longer or the power to land a lucky punch. man, give it a break, most guys(even calzaghe fans like me) accept it was a bs stoppage, live with it...especially when no one is bashing joe....

strenth or power left? yeah i know when my gloves get hit a bunch i lose all my strength and power bam its gone in round 3, in fairness calzaghe did land a couple rabbit punches to the back of the head good clean rabbit punches too so manfredo was fucking out on his feet by the huge bombs calzaghe was throwing i cant believe he had the strength to do an interview afterwards most men would be 6 feet under ground when faced with that kind of power Manfredo didn't have any strength or power in the first place. Not compared to Lacy.

It was a bad stoppage but I think a lot of people are grossly exaggerating Manfredo's defense. He was eating shots right up until that last volley on the ropes. When the ref stopped while Manfredo was ducking, Calzaghe was missing with his shots. Up until that point, Calzaghe was landing often enough and I think the body shots Calzaghe was landing with his left were hurting Manfredo. They weren't thunderous shots, but each time Manfredo backed into the ropes, he had just been hit with a body shot. You can see on the last one that he got hit with a quick body shot and his feet went flat. The second one, which looked fairly weak made him drop his hands. Calzaghe was landing fairly well up until those last few seconds when Manfredo ducked and covered. I know it was a bad stop to the fight, but a lot of what people are saying has ventured into the land of revisionist. Anyone can watch the fight and see that Manfredo's competitiveness is being exaggerated.

Well Lacy was at least still trying to fight. He was active enough to not stop the fight. manfredo had frozen, and I don't think he had the strength to go on much longer or the power to land a lucky punch.

Ridiculous Stoppage I'm obviously not saying that Manfredo would have had any real chance of winning the fight anyways, but I have never seen a more premature stoppage, that was terrible. The last few punches that Calzaghe threw Manfredo was slipping them. Yeah he was getting outclasses, but give me a break. He was not even the slightest bit hurt. Jeff Lacy was getting severely beat up and they never stopped that fight. I hope that ref is never refereeing a big fight again. Even if the outcome of the fight is inevitable, it is cheating the fighters and the fans to not let it play out.

i saw the encore of the fight today in my dad's house. he was impressed by calzaghe's record. calzaghe threw some good punches combination to manfredo. and when the ref stopped the fight manfredo was smiling. smh