is calzaghe's resume hand-picked?

[SkillspayBills]

He's the best who were wiling to face him. Remember, Hopkins backed out of a fight a few years ago, and Jones avoidedJoe, although both want to fight him now.

There are a few bums like Manfredo on Joe's resume, but he's never really ducked anybody. He would have fought everybody if they had been willing.

If Joe hand-picked his opponents, right now he would be fighting Jones instead of Hopkins: easier win, even bigger name, younger than Hopkins. B-Hop will be a more difficult opponent, and Joe will be given little credit for beating him because of his age.

Jones never wanted Calzaghe and only Jones wants the fight now. Calzaghe was quoted as saying Jones is one fighter he never wanted to face.

[The Hammer]

Jones never wanted Calzaghe and only Jones wants the fight now. Calzaghe was quoted as saying Jones is one fighter he never wanted to face.

Do you have a link to where Joe said that? I don't believe it.

[iron mike tyson]

how can joes resume be hand picked??
he fought and beat every champion or legit challenger in the super middlewieght division barring sven ottke. won all 4 major belts in the divison beating eubank lacy and kessler for the belts and with good defences against brewer reid sheika plus he went to germany to beat veit again and went to denmark to fight a mandatory.
all that doesnt bare the hallmark of a handpicked resume to me

[Haterfree]

Joe has earned the right to be regarded as 1 of the best fighters in the world. That being said his 2 biggest victories are Jeff Lacy & Kessler. I dont think anyone would say he has a better resume than Jones or Hopkins but the Hopkins fight will tell us alot about Joe C.

[QuCongee]

Calzaghe was quoted as saying Jones is one fighter he never wanted to face.

He never said that.

[boxingknight]

He edited his post, he thought calzaghe was irish. The dumb mother ****er

[big paulie]

never fought out of the UK, only fought world champions like kessler, and who else??

Look his record up on boxrec and judge for yourselves.......15 years a pro, only 3 names yet a ****in shedload of names barely heard of.

[War For 94]

He edited his post, he thought calzaghe was irish. The dumb mother ****er

L M A O

[Guest]

Look his record up on boxrec and judge for yourselves.......15 years a pro, only 3 names yet a ****in shedload of names barely heard of.

Does that mean that his opponents are unknowns, or that you lack an education?

[SkillspayBills]

Do you have a link to where Joe said that? I don't believe it.

"Hopkins has the option of fighting light middleweights, middleweights or moving up to my weight division. I think he shocked everybody when he said that he wanted to fight James Toney at cruiserweight. I would have thought super middle would have been a far more sensible weight class to move up to, but maybe he thinks Toney is a slower fighter and he'd have more of a chance. Maybe he doesn't want to fight a fast guy and I'm very fast. I know it was a long time ago, but look at how Roy Jones beat Hopkins. As far as I'm concerned, he did that one handed. Jones just out boxed him. I think that Roy Jones is the best fighter pound for pound in the world today. I think John Ruiz would have destroyed any other light heavyweight in the world."

"I'm a big Roy Jones fan and to be honest, he's the only guy in the world that I really don't want to fight. He seems to be the perfect fighter and you just can't hit the guy. Look at what Jones did to Richard Hall who then fights Dariuz Michaelczweski and bashes him up for 11 rounds. I like to watch Jones fight and see his moves. He carries an aura that he takes into the ring with him. It's 100 percent confidence and he knows he's going to win. You can tell that he doesn't take his talent for granted though because he obviously trains very hard and keeps in tremendous shape."

Hopkins is a particularly bitter subject for Enzo Calzaghe, due to statements about his son made by the undisputed middleweight champion. "Hopkins is nothing," said Enzo. "He's a 38 year old man. What makes Bernard Hopkins pound for pound best fighter in many of the media's eyes? Beating Felix Trinidad? That's it, is it? Well, we're crying out to fight Mr. Hopkins. We're crying out to fight him because we would beat him from one side of the ring to the other. Hopkins talks big but talk is cheap, very cheap. He's trying to box at cruiserweight for a quarter of the money he would have earned if he had fought Joe. Now why is that? He's scared stiff to fight Joe Calzaghe. He knows that it would be a good payday but he would be retired by that fight. He would take a beating like he never took in his life and he knows that."

"I'm going on about Hopkins because of a simple reason. He puts a lot of baloney in the papers and hides behind false statements. Things like, Joe doesn't belong in the ring with him or that Joe hasn't boxed anyone yet. If a fight with Joe and Hopkins ever happens, the day of the fight I will tell Joe off if he knocks Hopkins out. I want him to take the guy and just smack him for 12 rounds because I hate fakes. Hopkins was offered four million English pounds to fight Joe and he still wouldn't take it, so what's the crack? If Joe doesn't belong in the ring with him then that four million pounds should be pocket money. According to Hopkins, he could just come and collect it, so what's the big deal?"

According to their website, the fight with Byron Mitchell will mark the seventh time that a Calzaghe match will be screened on Showtime in America, due to Frank Warren's deal with the giant subscription cable network. There have been at least a few fights of Calzaghe's that have not been shown however, during the lifetime of the Warren-Showtime deal. While Joe's last fight, against hopelessly outmatched last minute replacement Tocker Pudwill last December, wasn't aired due to Showtime already having spent it's boxing budget for the year, the Calzaghe's feel that they aren't a priority in Showtime's plans. "I think that's it a very complex situation," said Joe. "We feel that they've shown other British boxers more although if that is the case, then it could very well be financial in nature."

"Most of the other British fighters featured on Showtime hold lesser titles than my WBO belt and the TV companies, if given the opportunity, will put on fights that cost them less rather than to have on a genuine world champ like myself who's going to get paid much more. Frank Warren has taken very good care of us, ensuring that we're well paid for our efforts and the TV companies want a champion like myself to fight a decent fighter if they're going to fork over that kind of money. Situations occurred in my last two fights that caused me to be in the ring with guys, Jimenez and Pudwill, that shouldn't have been there. For the Jimenez fight, I had been scheduled to fight Antwun Echols but he pulled out before signing the contract."

Joe Calzaghe is banking on the idea that a win over Mitchell will help him get the defining fights that he, Enzo and Frank Warren have been working so hard to make happen. "I want to fight the top ten pound for pound fighters that are near my weight class as well as the best in my division," he said. "The only way to do that is fight respected fighters and former champions and go in there and do a job on them basically.

Hopefully doing that against Mitchell on Saturday night will open up a big fight for us in America. I told Frank Warren that I really want to go to America after this fight. To be fair, I feel that I haven't really been shown that much on American television. I've had 35 fights and as far as I know, only 3 or 4 were broadcast on Showtime. Because of that, people can't make up a true assessment of me because they haven't really seen me. Over here in Britain, they've seen me win everything in the amateurs and win everything as a pro. One of my early Showtime fights, against David Starie, was my worst fight ever and anyone who saw that wouldn't really have seen what I'm all about. Everyone has bad fights at times, even the best fighters. I've just turned 31 and am at the peak of my powers, so it's now or never and I really want to go to America. I hope to go there after putting on a good performance against Mitchell, and fight the best fighters I can there."

**********.com would like to thank Joe and Enzo Calzaghe, as well as Mr. Frank Warren and Richard Maynard for making this article possible.

Direct all comments and questions for Curtis McCormick to thomaspointrd@aol.com

There we go......