Calzaghe Haters: What Is It You Don't Like?

[Briandl]

Which would you pick?

That's just another reason for people not to like him, fans like fighters that pick the best fights there are, not the ones that pay them the most, that's why people hate guys like Mayweather (if it makes dollars it makes sense)....

[abadger]

The hate that Calzaghe gets makes it hard to have a reasonable discussion about him. I'm very disappointed that he chose to fight Roy Jones rather than Pavlik, but any thread about the issue seems to descend into "over-protected his whole career, always overrated, ducked challenges his entire life etc." and so then I end up defending the guy simply because the critics are coming out with such crap.

Sometimes you see people say that Lacy and Kessler weren't/didn't look that good. I disagree, but they're entitled to their opinion. What I have a problem with though is that those same people are often the ones who act as if fighting Pavlik would be radically different to those fights.

Calzaghe-Lacy and Calzaghe-Kessler were fights that many predicted him to lose. Right now though Calzaghe is p4p#2 in most people's eyes, whereas many do not have Pavlik in the top 10. If you look at the 3 fighters pre-Calzaghe, then on paper Pavlik is the one that Calzaghe has the least to fear from, not the most.

I have no doubt that those who criticise Calzaghe for fighting Lacy, Kessler and Hopkins all picked him to lose those fights. But does he get credit from them for winning? No, instead they act like the wins are meaningless. I've no doubt that many of these people are on their 3rd and 4th account, so as to avoid their previous ******ity being brought up.

I assume that Xplosivo used to be xfiles? Not sure who fightingfigs is, but when you see a Calzaghe hater say "I expected him to demolish Hopkins" and you see that the join date is May 2008...you have to wonder.

Most of them refuse to learn from their mistakes, which is why Kball is so certain that Taylor and Pavlik would beat Calzaghe. He picks against Calzaghe is almost every fight. Sorry, but if you picked Manfredo to beat Calzaghe then you should probably be in rehab rather than making more fight predictions.

Great post as usual. Actually I'm pretty sure xfiles was a $in alt, as $in mysteriously vanished while he was around and returned immediately after the Hopkins fight. Also xfiles only paid me my bet points after I harassed $in about it, ha.

The points you make about picking against Calzaghe are quite interesting. I too find it surprising that so many fail to modify their opinions of him after he beats every guy they pick to beat him. I think his fans realised a long time ago that in fact he always does win so picking against him is somewhat unwise, I mean I suspected Kessler might beat him but I learned my lesson there. Also, I would have no problem if they were picking someone like Dawson or even Tarver to a lesser extent, because that would have at least a degree of realism, but when its Pavlik and Jones you just know something ain't right!

As for his wins being 'meaningless' that is exactly how many appear to see it. In this thread I argued with a Pavlik fan who naturally felt that Joe was obliged to fight Kelly "Miranda and Taylor" Pavlik, but felt that Joes wins over Hopkins, Kessler and Lacy, let alone his many other defences, meant precisely nothing. Hey ho.

[abadger]

That's just another reason for people not to like him, fans like fighters that pick the best fights there are, not the ones that pay them the most, that's why people hate guys like Mayweather (if it makes dollars it makes sense)....

I would prefer to see him fight Pavlik too, but only because it would (theoretically) shut up some of Joe's critics. Pavlik isn't really the best opponent Joe could face right now, and he doesn't really have any more chance of beating Joe than Jones does, though I'm sure he would perform better. Pavlik is a tailor made Calzaghe opponent I'm afraid.

I would most like to see Calzaghe fight Dawson or Tarver or both, because they would be more competitive fights and because they are the other beltholders in his division and unifying a second weight class would be pretty incredible. I don't mind him fighting RJJ though, the notion that Calzaghe has to fight anyone relies on the idea that he is still somehow unproven, which he isn't, he has proven everything he needs to prove IMO. There will always be another fighter out there who might beat Calzaghe but he beat every single other one in his career and he has to stop somewhere.

[slicksouthpaw16]

Joe Calzaghe is a beast. I just rewatch Calzagzhe/Lacy again. This guy went out and brung the fight to a power puncher from the opening round, fought his fight and put on a display of boxing brilliance. He is truely a special fighter. The only problem that i would have with him is if he actually retired without fighting a younger threat like a Kelly Pavlik or Dawson ectera. He beats either of them, then his legacy is pretty much sealed IMO.

[abadger]

Joe Calzaghe is a beast. I just rewatch Calzagzhe/Lacy again. This guy went out and brung the fight to a power puncher from the opening round, fought his fight and put on a display of boxing brilliance. He is truely a special fighter.The only problem that i would have with im is if he actually retired without fighting a younger threat like a Kelly Pavlik or Dawson ectera.

No ****. Against Hopkins he showed it too, I mean he literally was after Hopkins and throwing punches at him for the whole fight, absolutely relentlesly. Nobody else, not even Jones has ever had so little respect for Hopkins threat. Unfortunately Hopkins took away a lot of Joe's threat too, and Joe didn't look the best, point is though, he tried like a mother****er.

On the younger fighters issue, do you completely overlook Lacy and Kessler? I mean he did fight them both, both times in very similar circumstances to the Pavlik one now and beat them easily. Don't get me wrong it would be much better if he fought someone like that again, but it doesn't change the fact that he already has.

[slicksouthpaw16]

No ****. Against Hopkins he showed it too, I mean he literally was after Hopkins and throwing punches at him for the whole fight, absolutely relentlesly. Nobody else, not even Jones has ever had so little respect for Hopkins threat. Unfortunately Hopkins took away a lot of Joe's threat too, and Joe didn't look the best, point is though, he tried like a mother****er.

On the younger fighters issue, do you completely overlook Lacy and Kessler? I mean he did fight them both, both times in very similar circumstances to the Pavlik one now and beat them easily. Don't get me wrong it would be much better if he fought someone like that again, but it doesn't change the fact that he already has.

Hopkins is not a very big puncher and was 43 years old. It looked impressive against Lacy becuase Lacy was the favorite and his only chance at winning was by knockout and Calzaghe made his chancs even better by trading with him like that. He put himself at risk and he didn't even have too, that took guts and it was by far his most impressive performance.

Also, i personally believe that legends needs to fight more than two young threats to have a sealed lagacy. Thats why if he beat a Dawson or Pavlik, then he could always say that he beat the best younger guys that were in his time. He still has unfinished buisness IMO and only beating a shot Roy Jones for his final fight would only draw more critics.

[ALT-Assassin]

http://www.naitazi.com/2008/02/15/uk...-shariah-flap/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ht/4442646.stm

What he doesn't realize is we take blood tests before we get married to see if one of the partners has contracted any transmitible diseases like AIDS. I can't even believe he got baited into a conversation by another troll claiming to be American just to stir up troublee.

[badnewsbrown]

i aint a hater but i dont like the how he's fought so many bums until now and is seen as a legend lol. his best win came against old hopkins which i thought he had lost clearly. i have never rated the robot kessler. he has fought some better fighters before but it's not enough to be considered a legend. 21 defences against most of them being bums is a joke.

also i dont like his slapping punches.

that all being said i still like him as a fighter. he does have talent but has not shown it all throughout the years.

[Dan...]

No ****. Against Hopkins he showed it too, I mean he literally was after Hopkins and throwing punches at him for the whole fight, absolutely relentlesly. Nobody else, not even Jones has ever had so little respect for Hopkins threat. Unfortunately Hopkins took away a lot of Joe's threat too, and Joe didn't look the best, point is though, he tried like a mother****er.

On the younger fighters issue, do you completely overlook Lacy and Kessler? I mean he did fight them both, both times in very similar circumstances to the Pavlik one now and beat them easily. Don't get me wrong it would be much better if he fought someone like that again, but it doesn't change the fact that he already has.

Joe's win against Kessler was without a doubt his best win. Kessler is an out and out elite fighter no question. I watched the fight and I was rooting for Kessler as I am a fan of his but Joe was immense and you couldn't help but be impressed. His wins over Eubank and Lacy are top class also.

Having said that, I don't rate B-Hop as one of his best wins at all. It was an ugly fight against an old man who barely threw any punches. Fighting Roy is not really going to enhance his reputation but I understand why he wants the fight. Roy is an out and out ATG and arguably top 10 p4p all time fighter, a truly great name to have on your resume. The fact that Roy is pretty much a done fighter won't hold as much significance into the future.

[boxa__ali]

the reason i hate calzaghe is because he looks like an ameture with those wide slaps. his style is pathetic, i just wonder sometimes how the hell he made it so far in boxing with his style. Most champs look good when they fight he looks like a retart. i mean i have to admit he does win but its not very fluent or flamboint. when he tries to show boat he seriously embarrasses himself. i just want the **** knocked out and exposed he gives me the ****s when he wins because he looks like an ameture boxer as hopkins said.
BTW hopkins won wat the **** did calzaghe do that fight nothing but punch the air with his ***** slaps.
calzaghe sux