Reality Check: Roy Jones Never Ducked Joe Calzaghe

[Silencers]

The Ring may not have recognized the WBO but they did recognize Joe Calzaghe as one of the top super middleweights in the division from 1997 onwards.

[d-1-n-only]

the WBO in the nintees was the equivilant to the WBU today, along with frank warren he can make anyone appear to be a world class fighter

Frank Warren makes the rules for the WBO, after 10 defences(usually gary lockets) you can pick your mandatories. Joe calzaghe should be ashamed that he thinks hes a legend.

[SHB]

It always makes me smile when someone has to mention they have a degree as if it somehow legitimises their argument.

Unfortunately the basic premise of that article is flawed. Nobody is seriously arguing that Jones ducked Calzaghe ... their spheres never came close to each others. To denigrate Calzaghe's reign on the basis of his belt is plain wrong though as he was the man at SMW for most of the last 10 years regardless of which alphabet belt he held.

You could very well argue that the WBO has more credibility than the WBA and WBC have currently, especially with their seemingly infinite variations of the definition of a champion in the same weight class.

[P4P Opinion]

Christ that's a poor article. I agree that Jones Jr didn't duck Calzaghe, but to waffle on about the WBO title not being recognised is spectacularly missing the reasons they never fought. If Calzaghe had really wanted the Jones Jr fight more than anything he had two options:

1) Drop his WBO title and move up to 175. Fight at least two top contenders to make himself the number one contender for one of Jones Jr's belts. These fights I might add would have been for considerably lower paydays and becoming the number one contender would not have guaranteed Calzaghe a shot at Jones anyway.

2) Make himself a huge name at 168, thus forcing the fight. Unfortunately, but understandably this was the option Calzaghe took. The biggest name in the division besides himself was Ottke, who avoided Calzaghe like the plague and as Hopkins shamelessly ducked him (term not used lightly) by accepting an offer one day and demanding double the next, there wasn't much for Calzaghe to fight until Lacy came along.

It was a poor decision if he really wanted a fight with Jones Jr, but a safer decision financially. I don't know if the blame lies with Calzaghe himself or Warren. I suspect the fat ****ney gangster but who really knows?

[SHB]

You only have to read Calzaghe's autobiography to know it was mainly his own fault. The man was riddled with self-doubt and family issues, not to mention his dodgy hands.

Warren's still a**** though.

[BRAVE-HEART]

You only have to read Calzaghe's autobiography to know it was mainly his own fault. The man was riddled with self-doubt and family issues, not to mention his dodgy hands.

Warren's still a**** though.

calzaghe vs khan would make a good retirement fight

[Phatfarm1980]

If the WBO was the WBU of the nineties. Lets hope in ten years time these type of titles (WBU, IBO) aren't considered 'real' world titles!

[IMDAZED]

I tried explaining that before re: the WBO title. Back then it was considered an absolute joke title. And, indeed, Warren & Klaus Peter-Kohl (German's Bob Arum) had an absolute stranglehold on the organization, allowing their fighters to get away with murder. And if one their fighters ever picked up one of the other three titles, they would immediately drop it in favor of the WBO.

That, more than anything, led people in the US to believe certain fighters overseas were hiding behind that belt--rightly or wrong.

[MANGLER]

I never bought into RJ not wantin it wit Joe C.

[DanMan_UK]

Longest most boring thing ive ever read