Calzaghe vs Wright - My money definitely on a Calzaghe points win
Hi, Calzaghe would beat Wright with comfortable points decision. Why I think this is simple:
(1) Calzaghe, like Hopkins is a great defensive boxer who is good at making boxers look bad. Indeed, if you listen to Kessler's post match comments after losing his unbeaten record to Calzaghe he stated that Cazaghe "spoilt" his boxing. This is very much what Hopkins did when he fought Wright and I guess that Calzaghe would do the same.
(2) Calzaghe at 6ft tall is simply a bigger framed guy than Wright. Winky's best weight is in the 160 range and he looked "fleshy" when he fought at 170. Assuming the 2 fought at 168 it would definitely benefit Calzaghe who is more natural at that sort of weight than Wright as he has fought most of his career there.
(3) Wright has been relatively inactive versus Joe. Indeed, since Wright fought Hopkins Joe has had 2 fights. This will be 3 by December and Wright will be almost 18 months without a bout. With this in mind, assuming they fought in say March 2009 Wright wuld have been out of the ring almost 2 years and would be very ring rusty.
Feel free to disagree with me but I think the facts are pretty concrete!
By the way, if you are reading this, please do me a favour and visit my website www.calzaghe-fight-news.com Is a fansite I am working on in my spare time which provides loads of facts and stats about Joe as well as news about his upcoming fight with Jones Junior.
Cheers,
Gareth
Very difficult one to call
Out of all the posts I have commented on this is the most difficult to give a firm opinion.
Toney had good defensive skills and I could see his style giving Joe great difficulty. The factor in Joe's favour would be stamina if this fight went the distance. I just went on to Boxrec.com and noticed that Toney's weight fluctuated a great deal between fights. Indeed, in the fight before Roy Jones Junior he was 181 lbs! As we saw when Jones Jr struggled against Tarver after fighting at heavyweight, rapid weight loss does a boxer no favours in the ring.
Ok, if they fought at their primes say the Toney who fought Barkley and the Calzaghe who beat Lacey then I would say a Calzaghe late stoppage although not without Toney possibly puttig Calzaghe down in an early round like Hopkins did.
One more thing, please do me a favour if you have 5 minutes and visit the boxing site I am working on www.calzaghe-fight-news.com, a one stop resource for build up to the Calzaghe Jones Junior bout in November. Thanks.
I think B-Hop deserves the best >35 year old
Much as I am a Calzaghe fan I think there are a 3 other boxers who deserve the mantle of best boxer post 35. Though I really dislike the guy B-Hop deserves the #1 position as he beat Felix Tito Trinidad when this guy was at the peak of his powers. Indeed, he was never the same after this defeat. You also have to admire the fact that he pulled off wins (ugly yes) but wins nonetheless against Tarver and Wright.
Two other guys worth mentioning are Lennox Lewis who apart from a flash knockdown to Hasim Rahman secured wins over Rahman in the rematch and also beat Klitschko, Tua, Tyson and Botha (hmm ok not the best) at the age of 35......
The third guy worth mentinoning is Glen Johnson. This guy has had some of his best wins (and some disgraceful decisions against him e.g. Chad Dawson) in the latter part of his career. Indeed, I think the older Glen Johnson would have fared better than the younger Glen Johnson against B-Hop.
We will truly be able to judge Calzaghe's status as best >35 year old boxer once he fights Roy Jones Junior in November. If he wins that and then takes on Pavlik in 2009 (I think he will if he beats Jones convincingly) then he deserves the best over 35 year old title. Please visit my site if you have a moment dedicated to the Calzaghe vs Jones fight
www.calzaghe-fight-news.com . Thanks! Gareth
People have short memories
Back in late 2005 people were saying Calzaghe was avoding all the hungry young fighters, then he opened a can of whupp ass on Lacey.
The comments the were very, very similair to what I am seeing today.
Let's look at the facts:
(1) Calzaghe has beaten Hopkins.Yes, a very ugly win but a win nonetheless with him throwing more punches against Hopkins than any other fighter had managed.
(2) Calzaghe has beaten everyone he has put in front of him including Kessler who is at his peak of his powers who personally I think would hand Pavlik a beating.
(3) Other than Taylor, Pavlik's resume at this stage of his career is not actually as good as Joes. By the age of 25 Calzaghe had already beaten Chris Eubank who at the time was a top middleweight contender.
(4) Calzaghe loves to fight one dimensional come forward boxers. Styles make fights and this one is perfect for Joe.
(5) Pavlik is fighting at 160. I am not convinced that his power will be quite as pronounced if he fights at 175.
I could go on but I hope I have made my point.
It will be very intersting to revisit this debate once Hopkins has fought Hopkins as by then we will have a better idea of how Pavlik fights at higher weight classes.
One more thing, I am building a Joe Calzaghe fansite as a college assignment (HTML course). Please have a look and let me know what you think. Have added a lot of details about Joe's upcoming fight with Roy Jones Junior including video, pictures and training articles. Thanks!
www.calzaghe-fight-news.com