Comments Thread For: Daily Bread Mailbag: Canelo-Charlo, Mayweather-Crawford, Stevenson-Martin, More

[wrecksracer]

Ward has the worst record of any champion in any era of boxing. He would have never been able of
beating Calzaghe!

There's a fight I would have liked to see. I liked Calzaghe, but Ward's style of borderline illegal tactics and hometown judging may have beaten Joe.

[1Eriugenus]

Calzaghe doesn't belong on any Mount Rushmore. He had 2 great results v BHop (although I scored it a draw) & Kessler, but his overall record is wretched. He ran from Glen Johnson like a rabbit from a fox, he refused to fight the top US fighters &, having been gifted a decision in a fight he lost v Robin Reid he adamantly refused to fight a rematch. Yes he made a staggering 75 defences of his WBO title, so ****ing what? If Calzaghe's an ATG then I'm a unicorn.

[Oregonian]

Calzaghe doesn't belong on any Mount Rushmore. He had 2 great results v BHop (although I scored it a draw) & Kessler, but his overall record is wretched. He ran from Glen Johnson like a rabbit from a fox, he refused to fight the top US fighters &, having been gifted a decision in a fight he lost v Robin Reid he adamantly refused to fight a rematch. Yes he made a staggering 75 defences of his WBO title, so ****ing what? If Calzaghe's an ATG then I'm a unicorn.

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Calzaghe believed he was not going to get a fair score in the US. It is exactly the same sentiment American boxers have about going overseas. More foreign fighters have been robbed in the US than American fighting overseas.

As for Calzaghe being an ATG, I will agree with you. Beating a shot past his prime Roy is not an accomplishment. The media and fans in the UK believe it was. Just like they believe Floyd ducked Khan.

[1Eriugenus]

Oregonian

I have never heard any commentator that could be even remotely respected say Floyd ducked Khan. That's a joke. Some people have said that the best Khan could've been Floyd's Kryptonite, because Khan had such fast hands & feet, but, in truth, he could never put himself into that position to earn the fight. Amir could only ever put together a couple of impressive wins, after which things went wrong, usually by stoppage.

I agree that a lot of the media in the UK give Calzaghe far more credit than is due & I regularly hear idiots say he was Britain's greatest boxer. (IMO he would squeeze into the top 10). Truthfully, in the UK, most boxing journalists DKSAB. I briefly stayed in the US in 1986 & I thought the sports journalism was much higher quality than in the UK, but, obviously, that was a long time ago.

Strictly, I don't think RJJ was 'shot' when he fought Joe, but he was definitely way past his best & faded. When RJJ fought Lebedev & Green he was completely shot.

[allen23]

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Calzaghe believed he was not going to get a fair score in the US. It is exactly the same sentiment American boxers have about going overseas. More foreign fighters have been robbed in the US than American fighting overseas.

As for Calzaghe being an ATG, I will agree with you. Beating a shot past his prime Roy is not an accomplishment. The media and fans in the UK believe it was. Just like they believe Floyd ducked Khan.

I like how u alluded to rjj being passed his prime yet leave out bhop who got better with age and was still an elite fighter at that time. Calzaghe destroyed him worse than anyone in his whole career. Calzaghes activity alone was enough to beat 99% of fighters he was a force of nature

[1Eriugenus]

I like how u alluded to rjj being passed his prime yet leave out bhop who got better with age and was still an elite fighter at that time. Calzaghe destroyed him worse than anyone in his whole career. Calzaghes activity alone was enough to beat 99% of fighters he was a force of nature

I mentioned BHop as one of Calzaghe's 2 creditable wins. Winning a close decision (I had it a draw) over someone does not constitute 'destroying' them. You are right that Calzaghe could beat 99% of fighters &, by making 112 successful defences of his WBO title he ensured he would always fight those 99%. The great boxers, the likes of Lewis, Lynch, Turpin, Buchanan, Honeyghan, Andries, Hamed, Benn, Lewis & Froch go after the top 1%.

[boxing IQ]

Ward has the worst record of any champion in any era of boxing. He would have never been able of
beating Calzaghe!

Lol go ahead and have yourself another drink.

[allen23]

I like how u alluded to rjj being passed his prime yet leave out bhop who got better with age and was still an elite fighter at that time. Calzaghe destroyed him worse than anyone in his whole career. Calzaghes activity alone was enough to beat 99% of fighters he was a force of nature

I mentioned BHop as one of Calzaghe's 2 creditable wins. Winning a close decision (I had it a draw) over someone does not constitute 'destroying' them. You are right that Calzaghe could beat 99% of fighters &, by making 112 successful defences of his WBO title he ensured he would always fight those 99%. The great boxers, the likes of Lewis, Lynch, Turpin, Buchanan, Honeyghan, Andries, Hamed, Benn, Lewis & Froch go after the top 1%.

Once again your emotional bias shines through. You mention froch, Benn but no eubank Sr and why would that be? As calzaghe beat him of course. And how could you call that fight a draw apart from the early knockdown it was a beat down.

As a predominantly racist sport they asked all black fighters in the maywesther gym who would win a mythical match up between calzaghe and andre ward. Most of the old timers said calzaghe which shows just how good he was.

[1Eriugenus]

Once again your emotional bias shines through. You mention froch, Benn but no eubank Sr and why would that be? As calzaghe beat him of course. And how could you call that fight a draw apart from the early knockdown it was a beat down.

You have misunderstood my point. I wasn't listing my top 10 British fighters. I was listing fighters who actively sought out the best opponents in the world. I could've added Watt, Hatton & Khan who all made a point of going after the best, albeit with mixed results. I didn't include CES because his career was v similar to Joe's with dozens of defences of his WBO title against uninspiring opposition. I included Benn because of the epic, ultimately tragic, fight with McClelland. Believe me, I wasn't seeking to downplay Joe's win over a severely weight-weakened, ageing CES.

As a predominantly racist sport they asked all black fighters in the maywesther gym who would win a mythical match up between calzaghe and andre ward. Most of the old timers said calzaghe which shows just how good he was.

Don't agree it is a racist sport. There are a lot of awful things about boxing but one of the positives is that in many gyms you see White, Black & Asian lads training & sparring together. If you have documentation of this alleged poll could you share it?

[1Eriugenus]

I give Joe credit for his performance v BHop. He realised he wasn't going to outbox him & instead just tried to overwhelm him with sheer volume of punches. The vast majority of those punches were catching gloves, arms & shoulders but, fair play, enough got through to impress the judges. Calling that 'a beatdown' is, frankly, silly.