Rate The Blow's competition objectively...

[oldgringo]

That is a very credible list to me.

It is indeed a shame the Mitchell fight was stopped, but Byrons legs were jelly when he bounced into the rope. But you cant blame the ref. Its a case where it "looked" worse than it really was.

Hell of a fight though. Byron decks Joe, Joe gets up and all of a sudden the fists start flying. His hands were incredibly fast in that one.

[satori555]

joe has fought some of the best cab drivers ever to drive a cab

[Burning Desire]

... okay, his career could have been better.

Hop priced himself out the first time, he was injured for Glen Johnson, and Roy Jones had already passed through the division when The Blow was just a 14 fight novice.


But I hear about them being a string of tin cans... the question is, were they really THAT bad? Out of his 21 defences, I get eight solid defences:


The Bank - JuyJuy's favourite, even an old Eubank is better than most. A much underrated fighter, while he was in the twilight of his career he was still only 31 and had two hard battles at Cruiserweight after this.

Robin Reid - Not the shot Reid that fought Lacy, this was a 28 (19)-1-1 fighter who had only just lost (on points) his WBC title two fights earlier. Had he not pissed it away with a lacklustre performance, this would have been The Blow's first unification bout.

Omar Sheika - Not a great by any means, but when The Blow fought him he only had one loss on his ledger (to Tony Booth!!!) and had beaten Glencoffe Johnson. Most notably for having a close decision with Lacy and wobbling him.

Richie Woodhall - Two fights earlier Woodhall had lost the WBC Supermiddleweight title to Markus Beyer by a narrow decision. Again, The Blow's chance of a unification bout was thwarted.

Charles Brewer - Okay, this guy wasn't all that, but he WAS a titlist, winning the vacant IBF title and successfully defending it three times before losing it on a SD to Sven Ottke. (which means he really won every round).

Byron Mitchell - This guy was the WBA champ and the fight just before he fought The Blow he was due to unify the WBA and IBF titles against Sven Ottke. While the stoppage here was dubious, Mitchell's legs went, and it's a shame the action wasn't allowed to continue to see a proper stoppage.

Jeff "LOL" Lacy - A 21-0 IBF titlist with 17 KOs who 99% of this forum was saying could crap diamonds and piss lemonade. Only his one-sided beatdown at the hands of The Blow brought out the revisionists.

Mikkel Kessler - A 39-0 (29) fighter with the WBA and WBC belts. No further explanation needed, really.



There are more... Sakio Bika is dangerous, as Contender viewers have seen, and Mario Viet was 30 (18)-0 when he fought The Blow. WTF was he doing fighting Peter Manfedo Jr. though?

With Lacy and Kess I think he's dragged his resume up a couple of notches. Certainly, the concept that Hopkins's resume is miles ahead (when his biggest opponents either beat him or were blown up) is now looking less and less credible.

Most of these opponents looked bad in previous fights to Calzaghe i mean Reid was outboxed by 40+ Sugar Boy Malinga, Charles Brewer got stopped by Autwun Echols in 3 rounds and Brewer is considered to have a very weak chin yet Calzaghe couldn't even rock Brewer or knock him down.

Woodhall was dropped 3 times by Markus Beyer shortly before Calzaghe fight and was considered a shot fighter and past his best which was correct because he never fought again after Calzaghe fight.

Sheika lost to a fighter with a losing record and got a gift decision against Glen Johnson and he looked terrible in that fight plus Johnson was not highly regarded at that time plus Johnson had lost 3 fights on the trot going into the Sheika fight.

Mitchell was goodish at best.

Eubank had to lose 20+ pounds in a week but i will give Calzaghe credit because he was only prospect and he beat respected name like Eubank well.

And Lacy and Kessler were considered major threats at that time so i give Calzaghe credit for these wins even though Lacy was very overrated.

[Easy-E]

Its not a GOAT resume, thats for sure.
But it has its good points, like Lacy, Sheika, Mitchell and of course Kessler.
Joe's legacy is more about his consistant dominance at 168 than it is about beating HOF'ers and world champions.

[Knicksman20]

As always, Knicksman talks sense.

There's a lot of polemic in NSB, and often his career is either "the best ever" or "just full of bum's, lamo, pwn!"

Like most things, the answer is usually somewhere in between.

Thanks man.

[F.O.S]

(Joe The Blow) Calzaghe is a phenomenon who looks as good now as he did 10 years ago.

The list of 8 you have mentioned were all good tests for Joe, each opponent had credentials to have a fighting chance against Joe.

But whom ever he defeats, they (for some reason unknown) are always portrayed as "not all that" !

It does'nt matter who he fights, he is unbeatable at the moment !

[*2TOUGH*]

i really think Sakio Bika should be on the list.. and not just mentioned on the end..

Sakio Bika is a warrior and Joe showed he could fight with a FIGHTER. IMO Bika beat Buyer before Kessler did.

[Guest]

joe has fought some of the best cab drivers ever to drive a cab

How about you don't reply to any more of my threads? You're a total waste of space. :wank:

[Pugilistic™]

he has faced and beat a few solid fighters. so pretty good