History Section: Lets Discuss Joe Calzaghe's Legacy/Achievements?

[RubenSonny]

His ring smarts, unique style, workrate, and skills.

I can think of several fighters that would dispose of him with no problems.

I didn't know beating a washed-up legend meant that you'd give anyone a tough fight.

[Scott9945]

I can think of several fighters that would dispose of him with no problems.

I didn't know beating a washed-up legend meant that you'd give anyone a tough fight.

Of course that would be just your opinion. The fact is that he never lost a professional fight.

That "washed up legend" is still the lightheavyweight champion years later. And it's not the only notable credential on his record.

[RubenSonny]

Of course that would be just your opinion. The fact is that he never lost a professional fight.

That "washed up legend" is still the lightheavyweight champion years later. And it's not the only notable credential on his record.

Which is only considered a great accomplishment because of how old and washed up he is, he didn't beat a quality opponent for the title. Calzaghe never proved to be great, and beating old man Hopkins and overrated Kessler doesn't mean you can hang with anyone, in fact the closeness of the Hopkins fight reaffirms how overrated Calzaghe is.

[joseph5620]

pascal's speed only impresses me to any real degree for four rounds or so

and in the latter half of fights he's literally taking the majority of every round off

in my humble opinion pascal had zero business even beating chad dawson, who was :
a: finally coming on
and b: responsible for being behind anyway because he cant let his damn hands go


i'd probably pick a less than great old fighter in glen johnson to outwork pascal
hell, adrian diacanu gave him a rough go. i thought he lost both fights to hopkins.
in short i don't think it really takes a great fighter to beat jean pascal (especially at 175)

you need a good chin to get past his early stuff and a 12 round pace



at bernard's age even being in the ring is impressive.
he's got the deepest bag of tricks in boxing. but one really shouldn't put a ton of stock into a win over jean pascal in my opinion





unrelated: anybody else think dawson has hopkins number for this one?
i've got a bad feeling that it might be bernard's last fight

I'm very confident that Dawson will beat Hopkins. I can't say this is Hopkins last fight but I have been saying since this fight was signed that Hopkins will lose to Dawson.


I think too many people are sleeping on Dawson and Hopkins age will show in this fight.

[rorymac]

I have respect for Calzaghe. Admittedly Lacy was overrated and the
Jones/B-Hop/Eubanks wins were after their prime but the Kessler win stands out as a very good win. If you rank him as an all time super middleweight he is up on or near the top. One thing that might hurt is the fighters the limited wbo chose to rank and perhaps Calzaghe should have went after a bigger "title" earlier. But Calzaghe did Wales proud as a titlist.

This..................

[Scott9945]

Which is only considered a great accomplishment because of how old and washed up he is, he didn't beat a quality opponent for the title. Calzaghe never proved to be great, and beating old man Hopkins and overrated Kessler doesn't mean you can hang with anyone, in fact the closeness of the Hopkins fight reaffirms how overrated Calzaghe is.

It's easy to degrade a fighter's accomplishments when you diminish every single opponent he beat. Sure, Hopkins was old, Kessler was overrated, Lacy was a fraud, etc. I can play that game too. What needs to be considered is that at the time he fought them there was plenty of money on the guy Joe was fighting. Yet he still never lost a fight.

And I don't go on resume when I've seen the fighter in action multiple times. I go on my own evaluation, which clearly makes my opinion more subjective than objective. But I'm not backing down from my comment that (almost) nobody would have an easy fight with Joe Calzaghe.

[Kid McCoy]

Overrated and underrated depending on who's rating him.

I've always found Calzaghe's career had an interesting parallel with Hopkins'; both spent years making lots of forgettable mandatory type defences before finally unifying their division and then moving up to beat the Ring 175lb champion. In Calzaghe's case he unified against two younger champions who were favoured by many to beat him, so I give him credit for that.

I thought Hopkins was a clear win for Calzaghe, made to look less so by the early flash knockdown and Hopkins' spoiling/stalling tactics. Four years later Hopkins still holds a title and is still beating ranked contenders, so he can't have been that washed up against Calzaghe, who at 36 was not exactly a spring chicken either.

The real (and reasonable) criticism is he should have stepped up in class much sooner than he did. He had the talent to do more with his career. Going to Germany to beat Ottke would have ticked a few boxes. Compare for instance to the tough run of fights Carl Froch has taken in the last few years.

A very good fighter who had a good career with some excellent wins, though not the greatest British fighter ever and not an all-time great.

[GJC]

Think he is one of those fighters who divide opinions more than most, he isn't as great as some rate him or as poor as others do. I thought he was a pretty solid fighter but I'd have liked him to have tested himself more, I have the feeling he might have suprised a few

[RubenSonny]

It's easy to degrade a fighter's accomplishments when you diminish every single opponent he beat. Sure, Hopkins was old, Kessler was overrated, Lacy was a fraud, etc. I can play that game too. What needs to be considered is that at the time he fought them there was plenty of money on the guy Joe was fighting. Yet he still never lost a fight.

And I don't go on resume when I've seen the fighter in action multiple times. I go on my own evaluation, which clearly makes my opinion more subjective than objective. But I'm not backing down from my comment that (almost) nobody would have an easy fight with Joe Calzaghe.

The first bit is irrelevant.

Who you beat is important, beating a washed-up legend in a decision that could of gone either way doesn't mean you can give any fighter a good fight, there are many fighters that are so much better than the version of Hopkins Calzaghe fought.

[IMDAZED]

Hall of Famer. Arguably the greatest SMW of all time although that means very little. At his peak, was a top pound for pounder. Certainly not an all-time great and generally overrated by a slew of his ardent fans.