If Joe Calzaghe was American and black, would he be better respected?

[hishaam15]

That's a lot of bollocks.

Calzaghe has been through his share of wars, with Brewer, Kessler, Bika, Salem etc. He had an extensive amateur career as well.

He broken his hand several times, and he's not as fast now as he was against Lacy and before.

Joe is retiring because he knows he close to being shot.

He was never cut in any fight before Kessler and Hopkins, and was never down until age 32 against Mitchell. He's been down in two consecutive fights now. He's definitely past his prime.

Nah, he just stepped up from B level to shot A level fighters...

[The Hammer]

Nah, he just stepped up from B level to shot A level fighters...

If Hopkins is shot, what does that make Kelly Pavlik?

[hammerhiem]

calz is closer to age with hopkins, rjj, tarver and johnson, but compared to their ring ages calz is the same age as Dawson.

Fcuk me i've heard everything now...

How exactly to you calculate ring age exactly?

[cassiusthegreat]

let's just put it this way.If it was lennox lewis who dumped the belt in the trash to avoid fighting rid**** bowe then lennox lewis would have been a coward and a disrespectul punk

but because rid**** bowe did it,then it was just his managment looking for the best deal possible


roy jones didn't duck anybody they were ducking them


calzaghe ducked hopkins and jones even though he was calling out jones and offered to go to the states and fight him and actually had deal set with hopkins back in 2002 by which hopkins pulled out


yep those protected euro trash scum


american fighters are never protected never have been never will be

oh and just let me give a quick shout out to me homeboy ANDRE WARD

[xfiles]

No people would say who is this black American slapper who doesn't want to fight anybody. He would never get away with what he's done in America. He only gets away with that crap in the UK because he's a big gay fish in a small pond.

[xfiles]

If Hopkins is shot, what does that make Kelly Pavlik?

A great 43 year old fighters last great fight after looking shot in 4 out of 5 performances in a row.

[Libido Sanchez]

If Joe Calzaghe was an African-American you wouldn't like him.

Oh, man. Classic response.

Actually, even though it was a really funny comment, I think there's a bit of truth going on here. Everybody knows that there's some people (regardless of what nationality you are are) that root for boxers of their same ethnic background. I know there's posters here that think that when fans do that it's ******, but this is boxing and there's a lot of pride involved. It's been that way practically since the beginning of the sport.

Let's be honest, some people think Calzaghe only gets mentioned because he's white (see the definition of "Great White Hope") while others feel he gets hated only because he's white (see claims of "reverse discrimination").

As a "minority" myself, I've never liked the way America has "white washed" history. It's like I wouldn't be surprised if 100 years from now when people talk about hip-hop only Eminem gets mentioned (and it's not Eminem's fault that would happen, it would be the white writers' fault. And actually, he's not a good example here, because the guy can actually rap his ass off, and no way is Calzaghe the Eminem of boxing.)

But, bro, face it, the "hate" has more to do with his weak resume (and the hype surrounding his "0"). Hatton vs. PBF carries much more weight than Cal vs. a shot RJJ (and, yes, he was completely shot... no question).

[Guest]

True boxing fans respect Calzaghe.
BS trolls don't.

[mathed]

No he wouldn't be respected more. Its all about the resume.

There are plenty of people who don't give him credit because of his record, he left without fighting the best or that he shoulda reached marciano's record or whatever.

If he were American....he would be loved and followed like kelly pavlik is and if he were black....he would be a superstar like floyd was or roy jones. I'm sure it is completely different from the english's perspective on him or the welsh perspetive. From america's view he is an outsider, if he lived in america, it would simply be different-home town advantage.

It is also that "blacks" are typically better at sports, genetics or whatever so there is a surplus of "African Americans" (not sure which is supposed to be politically correct) in most sports. This is why when a white guy comes around and excels it seems that they get more love from white fans. There just isn't many great white athletes in sports (when you compare the number of whites in sports to blacks). It is just people trying to identify with their own race, not a racist thing just a fact of human nature, just as if he were blac more blacks would probably identify with him. JMO

[vitali1999]

yes

yes he would, its the same thing i hear from all the black people, theres no good heavy weights anymore, if the brothers were black, then they would be watched so much all there fights would be on ppv