Joe Calzaghe is nothing "special"....

[pesticid]

They might be but so are Pacman, Marquez and Cotto. Now, who do you think they'll be able to defeat at 160 or 168?

[Sweet Pete]

Haha no........you didn't put anything into perspective. You simply typed out your opinion on the level of opposition that Calzaghe/Hopkins have faced respectively.

It's great to see that you gave Calzaghe props for beating Eubank..........even though Eubank was washed up and by no means the same fighter he was years before.

Kessler is a protected Dane, who's two biggest wins (Beyer and Mundine) aren't that great in reality. It's ok to "clean out" the division and get credit for that...........but clearly the talent is in the lower weights moving up. I thought that had clearly been established.

Lacy has not been the same fighter since round 1 of the Calzaghe fight. He's fought the exact same way ever since, and the back/shoulder injury might be to blame for that, who knows. Prior to the Calzaghe fight...........Lacy was busy and threw combinations on the inside. Against Calzaghe he showed that opponents can stifle him easily, and the simply fact that he hit some type of celing as a fighter. The struggle with Tsypko and Manfredo illustrated that.

De La Hoya, Trinidad, and Wright are all better fighters than Eubank, Kessler, and Lacy...........any way you slice it.

Calzaghe would destroy the guys you named just as easily though. They are better P4P based on their careers, but the fact that Kessler and Eubank are bigger is one thing to take into consideration. In fact I wouldn't hesitate for a second to say that Kessler and Eubank would handle all 3 of those guys at 168.

[Parody]

Tito I'll give you, but he LOST to two of that list, two of them were at Light-Heavy so it's immaterial to his status as an all time MIDDLEWEIGHT great, and that leaves....



... the two foot Mexican.

Fighters do lose when they step up their competition and fight great fighters...Hopkins did that.

[ßringer]

I'm thinking Hopkins will win by UD. He matches up too well with Southpaws. His right counter finds Joe's face often.

This will happen. I just hope he gets the credit he deserves when he wins. Revisionist historians take up a majority of the board, and if he beats Calzaghe easily Joe will be labelled a "bum" overnight, and people will be calling on Bernard to take on Pavlik or Dawson.

[Orange Sneakers]

True, the age difference is big, but based on that and other things, you would pick the fighter who you think would win, the way I see it, you're picking B-Hop to win, If he wins, he gets all the credit, yet if he loses, it's ok because he was past his prime, either way Calslappy winds up getting no credit. Also, saying Hopkins from before would beat Calzaghe is an opinion, so we can't base it on that.

If we're being perfectly honest, these guys were at their best in the 90s

It's a joke of a fight

You've got Popkins who'll be grabbing and making it messy or running and Calzaghe looking like a ***** trying to fight his way out of spider webs

[Sweet Pete]

If we're being perfectly honest, these guys were at their best in the 90s

It's a joke of a fight

You've got Popkins who'll be grabbing and making it messy or running and Calzaghe looking like a ***** trying to fight his way out of spider webs

Stop posting about boxing please.

[ßringer]

Woodhall, Brewer, Mitchell, Lacy and Kessler > Hopkins's challengers

Echols, Eastman and Holmes are considered Hopkins's best - Brewer was robbed against Echols, Woodhall schooled Eastman in the gym and was beating Holmes with one arm (even the American commentators had him "three or four rounds up" - he was on his way to a robbery), and then you have Mitchell, Lacy and Kessler on top of that!

And in America, maybe Hopkins's victories over Trinidad and Tarver are higher profile than Calzaghe's over Lacy and Kessler

But in Britain, Calzaghe's victories over Reid, Woodhall, Mitchell and Lacy are high profile (his win over Eubank was a Eubank loss, not a Calzaghe win), and all his victories are higher profile than Hopkins's

If Calzaghe walked down 7th Avenue in New York, he'd be recognised by people for sure

If Hopkins walked down Cardiff City Centre, not one person would know who the hell he was

The non bolded part is a matter of personal opinion, but you're obviously joking about the bold right? Please say you are.

Hops would get insane attention from angry Brits, because he told the truth about Calzaghe. There'd be a ****ing lynch mob assembled 5 minutes after he stepped off the plane.

[Orange Sneakers]

Stop posting about boxing please.

For posting the truth?

[Orange Sneakers]

Hops would get insane attention from angry Brits, because he told the truth about Calzaghe. There'd be a ****ing lynch mob assembled 5 minutes after he stepped off the plane.

You haven't got a clue what you're talking about.

Maybe 0.0001% of the British public have ever seen Bernard Hopkins fight.

[Guest]

Did you pull 42% out of your ass? Hate to call you on it but it seems quite random.

44 fights, 18 in Wales. I appreciate "yo, its all da UK" to many Fat Yanks, but if he's fighting an Englishman in England, he's not likely to get the crowd on his side or judges behind him, is he?

How does fighting twice in Germany beat coming to the U.S. to fight a guy like Jones or Hops in their prime?

Well, I never made that direct connection, but certainly he's got more chance of being ROBBED in Germany (cf. Reid-Ottke, et al).

I'm not saying the best fighters are American, I'm saying they fight in America. Something Calzaghe's never done.

But again, it gets back to who was there for him to fight? What SMWs were over in the States for him to fight? (Oh, back to your earlier Jones reference, Jones had left the division when The Blow had only had ISTR 10 pro fights).

Americans acknowledge talent, not Nationality. Miguel Cotto is a huge star in the U.S. The only huge American star in the U.S. right now would be Oscar De La Fishnets, maybe even Moby but not as big. Joe should've pursued fighting in the States years ago, even pre-Lacy. But he's never been willing to risk it.

So instead he calls up a bum in Lacy, and the conversation goes.

Joe: "Ey'a Jeff, eye wanna fight yew in me hometown of Wales."

Lacy: "Yes suh! It's a be the biggest payday of me entire career, and maybe I can finally get known! I'sa be right over dere and whip you good!"

(End of conversation)

Here's the real conversations:

Joe: "Listen, Roy, you want a fight, isn't it?"

Roy: "Pensacolainthehouse... not really, Joe, **** off. Who are you? ****!"

Joe: "Ah, **** it."

The only one anyone could really make a case for is Monson, who had signed to fights that The Blow pulled out of, citing back injuries. your beloved B-Hop reputedly asked for double the money overnight after signing to fight The Blow some years back (when he was in his prime, so this thread would have lost its validity).

Actions speak louder than words. There are no intervews of Calzaghe ever saying he wouldn't fight outside of Wales, because he never has said such.

I'm sure there are, but it's 2am and I need to have a wank and go to bed.

Apples to Oranges, but Hopkins has the better title defense record, and the higher profile victories. That's not open to debate, awfully sorry about that, isn't it?

Why isn't it open to debate? Hopkins had 19 defences (wtf is with that "20" when one was a NC????) and only eight of them as any kind of unified champ. The Blow's on 22 right now, admittedly 20 of them as just one belt.

"higher profile victories"? Again, we're not talking about Howard Eastman, Carl Daniels and Morrade Hakkar here, are we? We're back to a two-foot Mexican that took a dive, am I right?