Shaun George: "Calzaghe, Why Not Fight Chad Dawson?"

[IMDAZED]

I think Shaun George makes a valid point.

You can't complain that boxing is dying when you've just had a fight that many feel was bad for the sport, and you are probably going to turn down a fight that many feel is good for the sport.

And I don't see any problem with Calzaghe-Hopkins, Dawson-Johnson or Dawson-Tarver. Nothing wrong with beating a 40 year old guy if he's one of the best in the division. It's only a problem when the 40 year old guy in question is without a notable win in several years that I'd criticise the matchup(ie. Roy Jones).

You're money in the bank, Clegg.

[patrobas1962]

It seems to me that Calzaghe calls himself a "legend killer" yet the only real credible opponent he has fought in recent years is kessler. If Jones had really fought him, he would have been slaughtered. People like Jones and Hopkins have fought true legends and won, unlike Calzaghe.He needs to fight some of the younger american fighters to really prove himself amoung the greats.

[Pullcounter]

It seems to me that Calzaghe calls himself a "legend killer" yet the only real credible opponent he has fought in recent years is kessler. If Jones had really fought him, he would have been slaughtered. People like Jones and Hopkins have fought true legends and won, unlike Calzaghe.He needs to fight some of the younger american fighters to really prove himself amoung the greats.

calz is a coward and retired, lets stop talking about him.

[FLY TY]

He doesn't need to fight Johnson at all. Again Johnson was not any kind of mandatory, and it was Dawson's idea to give Johnson a title shot becase he wanted one of the big names in the divisions. I'll put it like this, if Dawson needs to fight Johnson, then Calzaghe needs to fight Bernard. That fight was even more controversial.

halfway agree. dawson does not need to fight johnson again tho. this **** makes me sick. glen won maybe four rounds of the fight, hurt dawson bad for a round, but couldn't finish him, and thats all people remember. **** the other 8 rounds where chad boxed his ears off. get over it, the right man won that night.

the hopkins-calzaghe fight was much closer. depending on who you root for, thats who won that fight. i'd love to see them do it again, especially if hopkins comes with the plan of fighting a lil more.....

I think Shaun George makes a valid point.

You can't complain that boxing is dying when you've just had a fight that many feel was bad for the sport, and you are probably going to turn down a fight that many feel is good for the sport.

And I don't see any problem with Calzaghe-Hopkins, Dawson-Johnson or Dawson-Tarver. Nothing wrong with beating a 40 year old guy if he's one of the best in the division. It's only a problem when the 40 year old guy in question is without a notable win in several years that I'd criticise the matchup(ie. Roy Jones).

good points. totally agree.

Why? As a retiring P4P top ten he's entitled to give his opinion of the business, he's got a damn sight more knowledge of the subject than you do and has no reason to pull any punches. Burying your head in teh sand instead of addressing glaring issues in the sport does both the sport and the fans a disservice.

If we continue to Ignore the porblems they will stop being minor problems and start becoming cancers that Kill the sport

I for one would rather complain now and have a sport to watch rather than play dumb and watch the sport go down the swaney.

you mean, killing the sport, as in fighting meaningless fights for no other reason than the payday? like the poster above said, joe's the pot calling the kettle black....

shaun george beats an old and washed up chris bird and thinks that he can call out calzaghe now? wtf lol i agree with what hes saying we need to have some ogs start fighting the young guns. but calzaghe would beat george senseless

i recall shaun mentioning chad dawson too. don't act like you missed that....

[sl333py]

I dont understand how you idiots dont realize that Dawson is a YOUNG champion early in his career and keep criticizing him for fighting OLD fighters like Glen and Tarver...DO YOU ******S UNDERSTAND THAT GLEN AND TARVER WERE THE TOP GUYS IN THE DIVISION!! AND THE TOUGHEST FIGHTS DAWSON COULD HAVE TAKEN??? Tarver had a title and Johnson was a top guy who gave YOUNG Chad his toughest test to date...How can you compare that with Calzaghe hand picking Jones who has been washed up and KOd NASTY TWICE??? And for you damn NUTTLICKING CALZAGHE FANS comparing his little legacy to what dawson is doing now? Dawson is on his way to having more notable opposition on his resume id say in the next 2 years, than Calzaghe has had since his 10 YEAR WBO title reign in EUROPE...Im not a huge fan of either fighter but that is ****ing SAD.....

[dondi330]

Now show us what you got!

I have a little respect for Calzaghe, he should fight Dawson , if he can beat Dawson THEN and only then will he earn my respect and many other fans, he beat an old Jones, barely beat and old Hopkins, and unimpressive Kessler, and a Lacy that even Tayler beat SO. Beat a young warrior and u got it.

[SalvaDominicano]

I agree. I think it's foul to declare boxing as a dying sport and yet refuse to give young fighters the opportunity to show their skills. JC is part of the problem and if he retires, then that'd be just fine with me. If he chooses to fight on, he has to fight someone who's young and dangerous and that person is Dawson. In my opinion he has no right to open his mouth and say that when he is blatantly making the situation worse.

[Sinicle]

There we go! Finally someone said it! All of these guys are just looking for the $$$, that they dont care about their performance. Take the "dream match", odlh makes more than the winner? And yet pac took him to school... Thats the sport of it, beating your counter part silly... Why dont jc fight a dawson? Wow, you beat an old b hop and roy jr. You also beat an un experience manfredo silly, i will give you the kiessler one but slap boxing is a back yard sport not a in ring method. That tournament idea is not a ad one neither, this sports has turn into the nfl! In college football guys give it 110%! In the pros they dont want to break a nail... Boxing, the up and comers are hungry and the champions who should be defining why they are champions are playing it safe... What happen to the chavez's, the leonards, hearns, ali, and the young dlh, the guys that use to fight for pride instead of $$$. If you fight pride the $$$ will eventually come!

[msagrain]

LMAO at BBP. Now respond to my pm *****.

[Isola]

I have a little respect for Calzaghe, he should fight Dawson , if he can beat Dawson THEN and only then will he earn my respect and many other fans, he beat an old Jones, barely beat and old Hopkins, and unimpressive Kessler, and a Lacy that even Tayler beat SO. Beat a young warrior and u got it.

This seems a very blinkered and all too common bias against Calzaghe.

If he fights Dawson and wins, it will be little different to fighting Lacy and winning. Pre-fight Lacy was a clear favourite to KO Calzaghe and we saw what happened there. Post fight haters say Lacy was exposed, and it was not an impressive win as Lacy was an over-hyped fraud, etc etc. While there's truth in that Lacy was indeed hyped to the tilt, that is just the nature of boxing; hype sells fights, like it or not. Calzaghe still took on the young lion who, prior to the fight, looked highly impressive and very dangerous. And what credit afterwards? Very little.

He then takes on a young fighter Mikkel Kessler, who is in my eyes the clear future of the SMW div and to call Kessler unimpressive, I think shows a very clear lack of understanding of boxing; either that or just a very blatent anti Clazaghe bias.

'Barely beating an old Hopkins', (and I think he did get deserve to win the fight as he controlled the pace through the fight and made it on his terms, making Hopkins struggle down in the championship rounds, something no-one has ever done before), has been put into perspective by Hopkins last performance against Kelly Pavlik. Hopkins a shot old man? Well can't be that shot, eh.

As for taking the RJJ fight, I disagree with it. It was self gratification. I don't think he should have made this fight, at the time I'd rather have seen him fight Pavlik instead, bearing in mind this was before the Hopkins-Pavlik fight. But the same haters were calling Calzaghe a coward then for not doing so. You notice now the latest next big thing has been proved to not be in the class of Hopkins (and surely therefore Calzaghe?), there's not a whisper from these people now mentioning Pavlik.

So let's just move on to the next guy down the road... there will always, ALWAYS be the next guy. So Calzaghe fights and beats Dawson. There will always be another guy who he ducks after that, despite being 37. If he hadn't have fought Lacy, then Kessler. If not Kessler, then Pavlik, then Dawson, then the next guy.

Admit it, 37 is a retirement age. Jones should have already done so. As much as I can't stand Bernard Hopkins as a man, he is truly special to have preserved his condition and adapted his skills to the age he has. 46 fights in Calzaghe's career is a lot of fights. Just ask OdlH - it doesn't last forever no matter how much you want it to. Sooner or later, you'll need it and it just won't be there anymore. Stop letting bias get the better of you and just admit it, Calzaghe has really nothing left to prove.

Yes I am clearly a Calzaghe fan, yet not one who will defend his every move and I always try to be subjective. Whether it was his choice or Warren's (someone I find it very hard to defend at any time), I will criticise him for not getting the fights sooner - that was really inexcusable. If it was Warren holding him back, he should have threatened to leave him long before he actually did.

It does seem quite amusing though, that the majority of the stick that Calzaghe has gotten is after he finally did get it together and fight the big fights. Without wishing to turn this into yet another Euro vs US squabble, I sometimes wonder what reaction he would have if he was american.