Joe Calzaghe's career - is it me or is just highly puzzling?

[BattlingNelson]

When and how did he duck Michalchewski? Or Nunn?

Before I answer I'd like to know if you believe that he didn't duck them?

[potatoes]

In 2001, Joe Calzaghe was the No.2 SMW behind Sven Ottke. The other fighters in the top 5 were Byron Mitchell, Antwun Echols and Charles Brewer. Instead of fighting any of them and in that very same year he opted to fight two boxers outside of the top ten who were relatively unknown - Mario Veit and Will McIntyre. Why??

In 2002, Joe Calzaghe became the No.1 SMW, followed by Sven Ottke, Antwun Echols, Eric Lucas and Byron Mitchell. Instead of fighting any of his mandatories he opted to fight Charles Brewer (who had previously lost two times to Sven Ottke), Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Tocker Pudwill. Why?

2003, saw Joe Calzaghe remain as the No.1 SMW, his top mandatories were Sven Ottke, Anthony Mundine, Anthony Echols and Danny Green. In June he fought Byron Mitchell (who had just lost to Sven Ottke). Why not any of his mandatories again?? After this fight he called out Bernard Hopkins, who raised his price. Duck? Not at all - who was Calzaghe at that point to Hopkins? During this same year there was a vacant title, Joe Calzaghe chose not to fight for it and it was left for Anthony Mundine and Anthony Echols to fight for, why did he not fight any of them eh???

It was also in 2003, where Calzaghe made this famous comment - "I could probably give Jones a tough fight, probably the best fight he's ever had," said Calzaghe. "But I know my capabilities and unless I got paid the crown ***els I wouldn't want to risk it."

In 2004, Joe Calzaghe remained at the top of SMW list, followed by Mikkel Kessler, Anthony Mundine, Antwun Echols and Danny Green. Instead, again of fighting any of his mandatories, he fought, boxers outside of the top ten - Mger Mkrtchian and Kabary Salem.

2005, Joe stood high at the top of the SMW list, again followed by Mikkel Kessler, newcomer Jeff Lacy, Marcus Beyer and Anthony Mundine. This year again saw him fight none of these guys but Mario Veit and Evans Ashira (which deserves respect because he did it with just one hand). But again why not any of the top guys!

2004 / 2005 - sees the physical declines of living legends Roy Jones Junior / Hopkins

2006, we see Joe Calzaghe take leaps and bounds as he takes on hype machine and No.4 hype machine Jeff Lacy and slaughter him plus win the IBF belt. Mikkel Kessler and Anthony Mundine still lay in rest as number 2 and 3, near the end of the year we see him take on tough outsider Sakio Bika.

2007, he vacates the IBF belt (why) and fights Peter Manfredo (why?) - for the first time in 7 years he then fights his number two Mikkel Kessler and "his best win" to date!

Brandishing the statement legend killer, he goes on to fight Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Junior.

He retires undefeated

He is now believed by a "very few" to be an ATG / GOAT.

My question are

- why is Calzaghe viewed as such a fighter?

- was Calzaghe a highly 'protected' fighter?

- why did he not fight any of his mandatories?

- can he be accused of taking on past physical prime fighters to make his "not so great" career look brilliant?

Feel free to comment. Please note that this is not a know on JC, I just want answers.

Walterson.

People who ask these sort of questions don't know anything more about boxing other than what they read on the internet. Boxing is a business consequently big fights are hard to make. The risks tend to be high and the rewards tend to be low. Being a superstar boxer is not the same as being a box office star. Oscar De La Hoya had a long list of potential opponents because he was a big draw. Joe Calzaghe had a short list of potential opponents because he was not a big draw. Now you know why Calzaghe didn't fight this guy or that guy.

[IMDAZED]

Damn....usually ladies that gossip behind each others back, Dazie?

You would know.

LMAO @ you asking this on a public forum.

[IMDAZED]

Before I answer I'd like to know if you believe that he didn't duck them?

No, I don't. When someone asks me who Jones ducked, I think of one person: Vasily Jirov. Who he clearly avoided. Every fighter ducks - but I find it strange when people just throw names out there. Michalchewski? Yeah right. On what basis?

[Dirk Diggler UK]

You would know.

LMAO @ you asking this on a public forum.

I think the LMAO@ is you bitching about me on a boxing forum Dazie

Also, i dont believe i said either of those things.

[IMDAZED]

I think the LMAO@ is you bitching about me on a boxing forum Dazie

I'm sorry.

[BirdSong]

Its only taken me a few seconds to find quotes from calzaghe telling people over and over that he wants the biggest fights out there

This is from an interview before the mitchell fight

Question: Do you have a time frame for moving up in weight after this fight?

Calzaghe: I suppose I will move up within the next 12 months because I feel I am stagnating and not fighting as often as I want to. I am not getting the opportunity for any unification fights. In boxing, when you win a championship, you want to fight other champions, top fighters and look for other goals. I think it would be a natural progression. I have been fighting as a professional for 10 years, and I have always made this weight, but the older you get, the harder it becomes as you get bigger and more mature. Take Roy Jones out of the light heavyweight division and it is not a great division. Maybe things can open up during the next 12 months. You have James Toney who comes out of nowhere and wins the cruiserweight title. Now, he has a big fight with Holyfield, so anything is possible.

The full interview is here if anyone wants to read it

http://www.********boxing.com/boxing...-interview.php

Im sure i can find lots of other quotes from him, actually i remember reading a quote from calzaghe in which he says the fight he most wants is jones, im pretty sure that warren and calzaghe tried to entice roy jones to wales over the years. You have to remember as well that jones never left LHW

[BattlingNelson]

No, I don't. When someone asks me who Jones ducked, I think of one person: Vasily Jirov. Who he clearly avoided. Every fighter ducks - but I find it strange when people just throw names out there. Michalchewski? Yeah right. On what basis?

This:

** At 175, DM is superior by record. He was the first to lift the titles off of Hill and fought a lot of the same guys Roy did with at least as good of success as Roy.

I like to point to the Harmon/Hall/Griffin fights when both were considered still at peak. DM whacks out Harmon a little earlier than Roy did, and got to Hall twice around the same time as Roy, and got to Griffin a little later, but never dropping a bout to Montell, an indication of the approximate danger each represented to the other.

DM padded record with early WBO title matches, but he's also got some bigger names aside from the overlap like getting to Hill 1st coming off his Maske win and a Thradzi coming off wins over Toney and Scully.

I meant to also include Rocchigiana. He wasn't the fighter he was, but he's a name in the books.

DM was considered the "lineal" champ, whatever that means and traveled to Roy's hometown to drum up the match, but Roy and HBO pretty much ignored him. Odd since he was simultaneously coming up on tying Rocky's 49-0 record and Joe's 25-0 title defense record, both numerically superior to Roy's LH record at the time.

Seeing as how the Germans could have easily have arranged the split loss to Gonzalez to be a split win if they were as dishonest as is claimed, Roy really did lose out on a huge opportunity because of his drunken ego that HBO enabled.
Of course the usual dummies are gonna interpret this as me claiming DM is the better fighter, but that's the price they pay for wearing Roy's used jock straps as nose masks. He was the better LH by record and after a period of he and Roy ignoring each other, DM made the moves to make the fight happen.

Regarding Nunn I'm pretty sure that Boxingscene's Cliff Rold made that argument, but I'll have to do a search.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

I'm sorry.

Theres a good boy

[IMDAZED]

This:



Regarding Nunn I'm pretty sure that Boxingscene's Cliff Rold made that argument, but I'll have to do a search.

For every article you post, I can bring one up. Please note in Tim Smith's NY Daily News article posted in 2002, he noted that - due to Square Ring's inability to negotiate a deal with Universum - HBO stepped in to work out something. And note that they found Kohl's terms unagreeable. Michalchewski was a pretty good fighter in his day but I think to argue Jones ducked him is as simple as arguing Michalchewski ducked Jones. Now Vasily Jirov on the other hand...