The Joe Calzaghe leagacy. Why it could have been greater.

[BattlingNelson]

mitchell right? Never seen that fight, but have to give benefit of doubt to mitchell tht he was robbed. lol

Glenn Johnson. No controversy there (at least not by the usual Ottke standards).

[Ryn0]

mitchell right? Never seen that fight, but have to give benefit of doubt to mitchell tht he was robbed. lol

Mitchell was robbed , Brewer was robbed once and beaten fairly ONCE, Reid was robbed BADLY, Johnson was robbed, Mundine was KO'd LOL,

[starjammer]

Mundine was KO'd LOL,

lmao, I hope for that mans sake he took a bribe

[starjammer]

Glenn Johnson. No controversy there (at least not by the usual Ottke standards).

ah right yeah, forgot about Johnson. jesus how did Johnson let that happen...

[SHB]

ah right yeah, forgot about Johnson. jesus how did Johnson let that happen...

A legitimate defeat and all.

Johnson lost to Sheika who then lost to Calzaghe. Before Jones and Tarver, Johnson was nothing.

That article is a real crock of **** though. WTF Has the P4P top #10 in 1996 got to do with anything? He was a ****ing rookie and a raw one at that.

[BattlingNelson]

A legitimate defeat and all.

Johnson lost to Sheika who then lost to Calzaghe. Before Jones and Tarver, Johnson was nothing.

That article is a real crock of **** though. WTF Has the P4P top #10 in 1996 got to do with anything? He was a ****ing rookie and a raw one at that.

A lot actually since these was the top fighters when Joe became WBO champ. So those were the fighters could have fought.

[BattlingNelson]

He wanted to, and was going to fight Johnson but injuries ruined it. He's never been fearful of fighters, but also not the talker, or chaser that he could have been. Just way he is, pro's n cons.

The point is that Frank Warren and in the end Calzaghe himself, is to blame for not going for the harder careerdefining fights at lot earlier than they did. Maybe they didnt have confidence in Joe. Not seeing how good he ultimately turned out to be.

Joe IS a great fighter, but he could have been greater.

[THE REED]

A while ago there was a thread about Joe Calzaghe's legacy. It was stated that he should have fought some better opposition earlier in his career.

The brits kept asking for names as to who he should have fought and I, along with others found it difficult to name more than a couple.

Today I surfed the net and found this interesting piece by Paul Upham from the site where the seconds are out:


PAUL UPHAM ANSWERS: Opening up my copy of The Ring magazine from October 1996, I note the then super middleweight top ten as follows: 1.Roy Jones Jr, 2.Frank Liles, 3.Steve Collins, 4.Vinny Pazienza, 5.Nigel Benn, 6.Vincenzo Nardiello, 7.Henry Wharton, 8.Michael Nunn, 9.Sugar Boy Malinga, 10.Joe Calzaghe. That was exactly one year before Calzaghe won the vacant WBO belt against Chris Eubank.

I note that Calzaghe would not go on to face any of the nine boxers rated above him. Fast forward five years to September 2001 and The Ring ratings at super middleweight were: 1.Sven Ottke, 2.Joe Calzaghe, 3.Byron Mitchell, 4.Antwun Echols, 5.Eric Lucas, 6.Charles Brewer, 7.Thomas Tate, 8.Dingaan Thobela, 9.Mads Larsen, 10.James Butler. Calzaghe would go on to beat Mitchell and Brewer. While it is clear that the super middleweight division wasn’t that strong at times during his reign, there were important fights Calzaghe could have made. After winning the WBO strap in October 1997, he did not win another world title until beating Jeff Lacy for the IBF belt in March 2006. That’s almost ten years where he could have become a multiple belt champion and shown the talent he really did possess.

Full credit to Calzaghe for what he has achieved. He proved what a talent he is in his wins over Kessler and Hopkins. I am still maintain however that he could have taken other fights much earlier which would have shown the boxing world his talent before he turned 33. The key for me is that even if he couldn’t secure a fight with a big name in the USA, he needed to unify and win at least one of the other three main world titles. Sticking only with the WBO belt for so long when it now seems he could have achieved so much more.

hahahahahaa people rippin on roy for fighting bums.. when in fact he fought vinny pazienza and malinga who were both ranked higher than calzaghe at the time... not to mention tate and lucas who were also top 10 smw's

interesting...

[SHB]

A lot actually since these was the top fighters when Joe became WBO champ. So those were the fighters could have fought.

No, it's the list for the year before. And he was scheduled to fight one of them before he "retired". In fact I dare say that list would have been completely different in 1997 and 1998 as you'll notice a lot of those names were coming to the end of their career.

Calzaghe's main issue is, was and always will be timing. He came in at the end of a very good era for the SMW and ruled during a pretty average one where he fought everyone who really mattered within the division and won. Ironically there are some good names in the SMW division now - many more than there have been in the last decade - but none of them are remotely ready to challenge him (Froch, Inkin, Bute even Pavlik) or good enough (Kessler, Lacy).

[Jim Jeffries]

hahahahahaa people rippin on roy for fighting bums.. when in fact he fought vinny pazienza and malinga who were both ranked higher than calzaghe at the time... not to mention tate and lucas who were also top 10 smw's

interesting...

Do you really think Paz was a legitimate opponent at 168? He was a decent fighter at 135, but come on, at 168? And sure Paz was ranked higher than Calzaghe in 1996, what is that supposed to prove? Calzaghe hadn't even won a title at that time.