Joe Calzaghe, Paper Champ?

[nathan_nall]

I dislike Joe and i think his resume isnt great but Hopkins middleweight resume isnt THAT much better than Calzaghe`s at super middleweight

the division during Hopkins` time was not strong and anyone who says otherwise doesn`t know what the **** they are talking about

you get that, mate

You are absolutely correct. Look, we all hate the belt jumpers... guys who win a title then vacate the belt because they want bigger paydays and bigger fights than mandatories... but when all you do is defend a belt and fight mandatories... you aren't going up against the super powers of the division...you're going against the up-and-comers.... Joe did just that, defended a belt... but Hopkins did the same for a decade. Both guys have a few really good opponents on their resume... and a TON of not so great guys on their records... but Hopkins did not grind it out against the gods of boxing for a decade... he defended his belts against the designated mandatories.

[Abstraction]

You are absolutely correct. Look, we all hate the belt jumpers... guys who win a title then vacate the belt because they want bigger paydays and bigger fights than mandatories... but when all you do is defend a belt and fight mandatories... you aren't going up against the super powers of the division...you're going against the up-and-comers.... Joe did just that, defended a belt... but Hopkins did the same for a decade. Both guys have a few really good opponents on their resume... and a TON of not so great guys on their records... but Hopkins did not grind it out against the gods of boxing for a decade... he defended his belts against the designated mandatories.

Hopkins was undisputed in his reign though.

Calzaghe just had the WBO belt.

Hopkins has much better fighters imo.

Johnson (undefeated), Allen, Trinidad, Joppy, De La Hoya, Eastman, Winky, Tarver and Pavlik that stand out the most.

[Jumpman23]

how is he a paper champ he beat one of the top fighters in the SMW division to take the WBO belt. he the unified the division with wins aginst kess and lacy. so theres no way anyone can accuse him of being a paper champ in the SMW division.

as for light heavy he stepped up and beat the man to beat, hopkins was no.1 in the division. whether or not you think the win os overrated or justified is something else - no-one can accuse him of being a paper champion.

in case you didn't know the term paper champ is given to someone who either inherited the title without winning it in the ring or by someone who is constantly facing unworthy mandatories or subpar opposition (ala sven ottke). imo you can't accuse HC of either of these things.

it was bull**** that Hopkins was considered the man at light heavy, the only legit fighter he beat at that weight was Tarver, who has looked like **** since the 3rd Roy fight...

Joe is a paper champ at Light Heavy, and so was hopkins...

[Brandish]

it was bull**** that Hopkins was considered the man at light heavy, the only legit fighter he beat at that weight was Tarver, who has looked like **** since the 3rd Roy fight...

Joe is a paper champ at Light Heavy, and so was hopkins...

I agree hopkins was not the champ at 175, since tarver had been stripped of his belt. people wanto use ring and lineal, but those terms don't matter if you're not defending a real title WBC, WBA, IBF and people will turn and say well the sanctioning bodies are corrupt, well at least they have mandatories what does ring have.

being called the ring champion is a nice extra title to have but to be considered the real deal you need a real title.

[Testdead]

Hopkins was undisputed in his reign though.

Calzaghe just had the WBO belt.

Hopkins has much better fighters imo.

Johnson (undefeated), Allen, Trinidad, Joppy, De La Hoya, Eastman, Winky, Tarver and Pavlik that stand out the most.

LOL

Calzaghes 168 resume dwarfs that crap.

[Jumpman23]

^^^ ur one of the dumbest mother****ers Ive seen on here

[Testdead]

^^^ ur one of the dumbest mother****ers Ive seen on here

Are you disagreeing? man thats ban able!

[hammerhiem]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Compairing anyone resume to Hopkins and then saying they are a paper champ because they can't match it is ******ed, Hopkins has as good a resume as any current boxer, he's the flag bearer in that reguard.

But it doesn't mean that Cazaghe doesn't have good fighters on HIS resume or that his resume doesn't hold up when compaired to others who will be HoF or are treated as examples of how boxing should be.

Bottom Line: Joe Cazaghe fought just about every single decent SMW during his reign bar two Germans who wouldn't leave Berlin for love nor money, anyone who says otherwise doesn't know the division very well. RJJ and Bhop did not fight in his division while he was champ so to go on about them shows that there are no others he could have fought.

The other name brought up all the time is Glen Johnson, history shows us that with a record of 11 fights, 5 wins and 6 losses, Johnson was neither credible as a title contender or a threat to anyone in the division.

Call the division weak if you will (Dispite Johnsons record showing it wasn't) but enough with the paper champ BS, Joe Calzaghe is and will be for a significant period the best SMW in the history of boxing.

[Derranged]

I think he should fight Dawson.

A Hopkins rematch..... Personally im not interested in seeing that fight, it would be about as exciting as the first fight..........

[daggum]

You are absolutely correct. Look, we all hate the belt jumpers... guys who win a title then vacate the belt because they want bigger paydays and bigger fights than mandatories... but when all you do is defend a belt and fight mandatories... you aren't going up against the super powers of the division...you're going against the up-and-comers.... Joe did just that, defended a belt... but Hopkins did the same for a decade. Both guys have a few really good opponents on their resume... and a TON of not so great guys on their records... but Hopkins did not grind it out against the gods of boxing for a decade... he defended his belts against the designated mandatories.

no we have gone over this many times. i think it's time you memorized it. joe's 21 title defenses 13 of those guys were never ranked in the top 10 ring magazine and out of hopkins 20 only 4 weren't. looks like joe was fighting almost all bums and to say hopkins was too is just wrong and you should educate yourself.