Calzaghe and Dawson: a double standard about fighting old opponents

[ACHlLLES]

HAHAHAHAHA, Calzaghe was an old man himself fighting old men!!! That is the other difference. 37 yr old Calzaghe fighting 39 yr old roy?

[optkliluzn]

you do make a good point but lets be honest Calzaghe had the skill to fight younger better fighters than old hopkins and old Roy Jones! If Dawson fought them it would end the same EXCEPT Calzaghe would look better doing it! BUT if Calzaghe fought Glen Johnson that would be his biggest challenge compared to all the other he fought! Dont be fooled by Johnson's record he is a tough fighter. I just think the only fighter out there that has a possibility to be Calzaghe was Dawson and now thanks to Calzaghe we will never know!

Interesting how Joe Calzaghe took so much abuse on this forum for fighting two old fighters, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr.

Chad Dawson will now have FOUR fights in a row against 40 year olds, but the same people who were so hard on Calzaghe are not saying anything - in fact they are making excuses for Dawson.

The age 26 Dawson dropped TWO titles to avoid mandatories with prime opponents (Adrian Diaconu and Tavoris Cloud) in order to fight 40 year olds. As well, he avoided Diaconu in June 2007 and fought clubfighter Jesus Ruiz, and again avoided him early in 2008 to take the first fight with Johnson.

Calzaghe was old himself, he had been an amateur in the late 80s and pro since the early 90s and now is retired, while Dawson is in his 20s.

Why did Calzaghe take so much criticism, while Dawson gets away with it? I'm sure for pointing this out, I will receive a lot of criticism myself - but no one said much about those like bsrizpac who expressed their extreme displeasure with Calzaghe day after day in this forum .

Is there a double standard?

[Heru]

Both are in their primes, but who's still fighting? Calzaghe has little/no ring wear and hasn't lost a step. When Hopkins was still champ at 40+, he was fighting 20 year olds, and Calzaghe is closer to his prime then he was.

Why can't Callzaghe follow suit? He can't because even though people blame Warren for him not facing anyone in his prime, he had a lot to do with it. You don't get rid of that pus mentality that easy.

[mathed]

Both are in their primes, but who's still fighting? Calzaghe has little/no ring wear and hasn't lost a step. When Hopkins was still champ at 40+, he was fighting 20 year olds, and Calzaghe is closer to his prime then he was.

Why can't Callzaghe follow suit? He can't because even though people blame Warren for him not facing anyone in his prime, he had a lot to do with it. You don't get rid of that pus mentality that easy.

I know, he should have been a real man and retired when he was 29 like Money instead of fighting a prime Kessler and then coming to America for his first fight at Light heavy and his first fight in America taking the belt from the American champ....what a chump!

[The Hammer]

HAHAHAHAHA, Calzaghe was an old man himself fighting old men!!! That is the other difference. 37 yr old Calzaghe fighting 39 yr old roy?

Exactly.

And before that, he took on the best young fighter in his division, namely Mikkel Kessler.

[Abstraction]

Exactly.

And before that, he took on the best young fighter in his division, namely Mikkel Kessler.

Tunney, you have not addressed Dawson's age yet.

He is 26.

He faced Kessler at the age of 36. He should have been facing RJJ and Hopkins and toney in their Primes, maybe even Tarver. He didn't.

Dawson still has time

[The Hammer]

Minion, we all know why you hate Calzaghe. No matter who he would fight, you'd **** on him for it.

How many other world titleholders in the 25-30 age range like Dawson VACATE THEIR TITLES to avoid men near their age and fight 40 year olds?

Not that I have a problem with Dawson doing that though. What I do have a problem with, is all the abuse Calzaghe took, for being an old fighter who finished his career against two other old fighters.

Why the double standard?

[Dave Rado]

Tunney, you have not addressed Dawson's age yet.

He is 26.

He faced Kessler at the age of 36. He should have been facing RJJ and Hopkins and toney in their Primes, maybe even Tarver. He didn't.

Dawson still has time

Why do you keep repeating idiotic statements that have been refuted over and over again? Toney was a Cruiserweight when Calzaghe won his first title, FFS. How many times do people have to point that out to you before it sinks into your thick skull?

And as you are well aware Calzaghe wasn't on Hopkins' radar until 2002, when a contract was drawn up for a fight between them, but then Hopkins pulled out at the last moment over money. There was nothing more he could have realistically done to get a fight with Hopkins back then.

And he was never on Jones' radar at all, he just wasn't a big enough name until after he'd beaten Lacy to tempt Jones, given that they were in separate weight divisions; although an offer was made in 2001, but the fact that Calzaghe was tied to Showtime and Jones was tied to HBO stymied it.

You may as well blame Mike McCallum for never fighting Ray Leonard or Hagler or Hearns.

It is possible to make a case that he could and maybe should have done more to try to make a fight with Jones, and that he was only half-hearted in his attempts to make that fight; but to pretend that only had to click his fingers and the fight would have been made just shows you up as a completely irrational hater. And to pretend that he didn't seriously try to make a fight with Hopkins in 2002 and 2003 shows that you have absolutely no respect for facts or for the truth. And to even mention Toney's name in this context, over and over again, when you know full well that there was a 30lb weight difference between them at that time, is beyond ridiculous.

[2501]

i touch on the subject matter here

see, this is the ******ity of this criticism.

The top of the LHW division was Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Glenn Johnson, Antonio Tarver.

These were the NAMES and CHAMPIONS of the division.

So as an up and coming LHW fighter, who is Chad supposed to gun for? Who? If these are the BIGGEST and BEST names in the division who are also CHAMPIONS, what difference does it make that they're also the oldest? Is Chad NOT supposed to call out the champions? Is he NOT supposed to go after the bigger names in the divisions? Is he NOT supposed to go after who is perceived as the best?

The funny thing is that Chad has BEATEN top prime fighters in LHW. One of the is the CURRENT Cruiserweight champions.

When coming into the Adamek fight, who was the underdog? Chad was. Chad completely dominated Adamek. Adamek was weight drained? He wasn't complaining when he was the champion. Its funny how different things become after you lose your belt.

The 2 biggest and best names in the division wont fight Dawson. But Johnson was willing to. It was a hard fight for both of them. Controversial even. But Johnson IS a bigger and better name than Cloud. Chad moved on and everyone began calling him a ducker for not rematching Johnson. Fair enough.

Chad fought Tarver and alot of you Calzaghe fans were picking Tarver to beat Dawson. Dawson dominated that ass and Tarver had a rematch clause. Something Johnson didnt have. And again, "Dawson is ducking Johnson".

Chad beats Tarver again. And now is giving Johnson a rematch. NOW, "Chad is ducking Cloud"? Seriously? Who the **** is Cloud? How is Cloud going to help Chad break into the boxing mainstream?

Explain this to me. You Calzaghe fans, you Hopkins fans, and now all you NEW little Cloud fans that didn't exist before were criticizing inability to draw. His ticket sales havent been spectacular. How the *** is fighting Cloud going to help his name sell tickets when no one knows who Cloud is?

According to you, Dawson doesn't deserve to fight Calzaghe because he cant draw, yet you want him to fight UNKNOWN fighters rather than the BIGGEST names in the division who are all "OLD" now all of a sudden which in turn will not help him become a name at all.

The fact is, Dawson is trying to do what Clazaghe NEVER did. Dawson willing to sacrifice to fight the bigger names. He is WILLING to travel to Wales and fight Calzaghe where as Calzaghe waited 10 years to come to America.

And what did Calzaghe do? He fought Bernard Hopkins at the time when he looked most vulnerable. And then fights Roy Jones Jr, the ghost of boxing past.

Yeah, Calzaghe truly lead by example.

Froch, Taylor, Kessler, Green, Ward > Cloud, ......, ......., ........

Thats what the reality is. If you don't like Dawson because he threatens your favorite fighter, fine. But be real about ****.

[Chr0nic]

pointless thread, this proves nothing considering dawson still is'nt at the end of his career

except dawson is fighting the best as soon as he can while calzaghe waited 10 years