From RTE
“I like Joe, he's a nice, shy guy and all that. But he still hasn't fought anybody. He just hasn't fought anyone!
“The fact that Robin Reid and Omar Sheika are considered two of his best wins says it all. I knew (Jeff) Lacy stood no chance having seen him at the MEN Arena struggling for his life with Don Wiggins.”
“Joe Calzaghe meant nothing. I came back from holiday and suddenly he was the challenger for my title, this guy who had hardly even been on TV.
“There was no way I could get motivated for a guy who meant nothing.”
“Joe wouldn't have been an easy fight but he only looks great against guys who charge at him.
“I'd have waited for him and that's where he struggles, where straight punches will get there before wide punches.
“He gets low and throws punches in the clinch and there's where I want him.
“I'm smarter than him, I'd have known when to release some punches, went to grab that left arm and when to wrestle my way out of clinches and release some more.
“I'd have got rounds in the bag, frustrated him, rallied late and stopped him.
“I was too strong for him but the case was that I could only get motivated for Roy Jones at that point - Joe wasn't a payday.
“He has that hard winging left hand of course, but if the Bodysnatcher's left hooks to the ribcage couldn't stop me alnight and Nigel Benn's best left hook couldn't blink my eyelid then what could Calzaghe do to tame me?
“To this day, he's still unproven and really didn't mean a lot until last year. But I like Joe, he's one of the nicer guys.”
“If you want to compare the Eubank fights, there's no comparison. Joe was struggling for his life against a Chris who took the fight and had to lose 20-lbs in a week.
“I thoroughly outboxed Chris at Millstreet and lost two or three rounds. Even when he knocked me down, I had a huge grin on my face before I even hit the deck and was looking over at Freddie King laughing.
“Remember this was Eubank at his physical peak, no complains of being weight drained with the Board of Control monitoring his weight and no excuses of having fought six weeks earlier on the 'World Tour' of Britain and Ireland.
“Of course I won 10 or 11 rounds by a landslide in the second (Eubank) fight, which is crystal clear proof that I can (/could) work more effectively on the offensive than Joe.
“Joe has fought some tough fights like Kabary Salem, Byron Mitchell, Evans Ashira and Sakio Bika but if Nigel Benn was in the opposite corner on those nights then I daren't think what might have happened!”
'I was a 16-fight kid going in against one of the all-time greats and deserved atleast a draw'
Steve's a fucking nutjob if he thinks he deserved a draw against McCallum - just watched that fight again and McCallum made him look amateurish
All three judges scored the first four rounds for McCallum and the fifth as a 10-8 for McCallum with no knockdown, all three scored the sixth for Collins (his best lunging round/rest round for McCallum) and that was it (some of the rest 10/10 - varying each judge). To me though that was being generous, in my eyes Steve lost every round 10-9 with the sound (drunken Irish/Boston crowd) off bar the sixth which he scraped even, his work was just so sloppy compared to McCallum's all over, you could see such a gulf
Not 6 of the greatest champs ever.. I admit it.
But if he wanted to base his comparison on facts alone..
To be the best, u have to beat the best. Kessler is not the best. Clazaghe is. Based on the fact he is undefeated, has been champion for 10 years, along the way beating 6 previous world champions.
There is no comparison between them in achievements and status at 168.
I guess Calzaghe's 6 were all prime top fighters then? - oh wait - no:puppy_dog
If you subtract ½ a year of preparation for every WBO "Manfredo-style waste of a defense" Calzaghe has made, even the 10 years can be discussed. LoL
He's right though.
Why did Calzaghe wait till he was a million years old to start calling out the big names and fight on US Tv?
Whatever validity there is in Collins point is negated by the fucking hypocrisy of making it.
Why has he waited til he's 2million years old and out of the game before he starts talking trash about calzaghe.
To be honest his ranting comes across as insecure self reasurrance, you don't tell the fans how good you were, you let them watch you and judge for themselves. As for suggesting he fought eubank and benn in there peak, anyone who fought eubank after the tragic ending of the watson fight can't claim that.
The benn, eubank, watson years were a great era in british boxing but collins was at best on the periphary of that.
Dingaan Thobela
Julio Cesar Green
Manny Siaka
Anthony Mundine
Eric Lucas
Markus Beyer
I never realised just how unimpressive the "Kessler has fought 6 former world champs" statement was until you posted that list.
For the last time on Kessler-Calzaghe
1) Kessler deserves his shot at Calzaghe within 2 fights, either next up or after Taylor. if Calzaghe fights anybody else next then he may as well retire.
2) kessler is proving to be as difficult to negotiate with as Calzaghe/Hopkins/Jones have. To be truthful, all 4 of them and their promoters have done little to promote boxing as a combat sport where the best fight the best.
3)Calzaghe has completely wasted the opportunity he had after beating Lacy, a win people discredit now but actually have myopic boxing knowledge. Fighting Bika and then Manfredo was a joke, but Kessler should realise he is the challenger, not the champ. Suck it up, come to Britain and take 40-45% of the purse, like a challenger does.
This fight needs to get made by early next year.
Dingaan Thobela
Julio Cesar Green
Manny Siaka
Anthony Mundine
Eric Lucas
Markus Beyer
Thobela? Green? Well you live and learn. You ain't having Mundane though.
That's a pretty shitty list though by anyone's judgement and shows how weak some of the champions in this division have been.
Dingaan Thobela
Julio Cesar Green
Manny Siaka
Anthony Mundine
Eric Lucas
Markus Beyer
Theres only Markus Beyer thats really any gud and he was shot at the time.
OMG how much roids is Kessler on in ur sig? :O
there are no legends at middleweight....Hopkins wouldn`t beat Calzaghe, he's too old and struggled with 'bad decisions' Taylor...
Calzaghe has Kessler, Taylor and Hopkins....none of which are great
Kessler is undefeated, and has already beaten 6 previous world champions, I'm happy it hasn't taken him 10 years...
Who are these 6 previous world champions then?
He's right though.
Why did Calzaghe wait till he was a million years old to start calling out the big names and fight on US Tv?
He means Calzaghe didn't mean a lot in BRITAIN until last year
To be the best, u have to beat the best. Kessler is not the best. Clazaghe is. Based on the fact he is undefeated, has been champion for 10 years, along the way beating 6 previous world champions.
There is no comparison between them in achievements and status at 168.
Kessler is undefeated, and has already beaten 6 previous world champions, I'm happy it hasn't taken him 10 years...
It doesn't matter what age he is, he's still the best that 168 has to offer.
He needs to beat Kessler to prove that.
I think its Kessler who needs to beat Joe.
No. Because you can't claim Calzaghe as the undisputed best at 168 unless he beats Kessler.
To be the best, u have to beat the best. Kessler is not the best. Clazaghe is. Based on the fact he is undefeated, has been champion for 10 years, along the way beating 6 previous world champions.
There is no comparison between them in achievements and status at 168.