Comments Thread For: Joe Calzaghe Turns Down Bernard Hopkins Rematch

[CiganoBoxer]

As a fan of both fighters this is such good news....

[Boxingf@n]

To you and all of the other morons:

1. Mikkel Kessler is a damn good fighter. He had JoeCal's number early on, but Joe showed heart and the ability to change in the face of adversity. He took over the fight and did what great champions do.
2. Everyone and their grandma's neighbor was picking Jeff Lacy to win that fight. You probably were too. He wasn't "exposed" until Calzaghe exposed him. He not only exposed him, but he handed him the worst beating of his career. Why? Because Calzaghe is the best boxer 168 pounds has ever known.
3. Hopkins didn't win the fight, nor was he close to doing so. He won about 5 rounds, if we're being generous. They were all at the beginning. When Joe took over, he was landing with his eyes shut. When the sweat started flying and Calzaghe started snapping Hop's face, he pretended to take a low blow to get a rest. He then proceeded to hug Calzaghe the rest of the night.

While people point to the age of Hopkins and Jones, let's not forget that Calzaghe was in his late 30's as well, and had been in the professional game just as long as they had. For someone who relied on speed and volume punching, those are the first things to go, yet he still beat them handily. Finally, stop kidding yourselves; Hopkins is/was still a challenge for anybody. He looks better now than he did during his last 4 years as MW champion. If we're going to turn back the clock on Jones and Hopkins, we have to do the same to Calzaghe. He whooped them while they were all old; he'd likely out-fox them if they were all young too.

This is coming from an American who was pulling for Hopkins and Jones to beat him. The bigger his competition got, the better he fought. Joe Calzaghe should be recognized as one of the greatest fighters of all-time.

Excellent post !

[bearcat]

Bearcat

Good for Calzage to stay retired. Kessler is a bum and so overrated as a fighter. Calzage humiliated Kessler as did Ward and Froch should have beat him also. Kessler would be a sparring partner in the states.

[Steak]

Eubank is way too underrated by U.S. fans, they don't know how good he actually was, which is understandable because he never fought in the U.S., or against any top american fighters (after the Michael Watson tragedy, he took the path of least resistance, fighting only for financial gain.

Make no mistake though, he was one of the best ever UK fighters. Calzaghe said throughout his whole career that it was by far his hardest fight, and that was when Eubank had retired once and came in at late notice.
Don't judge Eubank from the Collins fights - that wasn't the best of him - he had signed an 8 fight in one year deal with SKY for 10 million, unheard of at the time. By the time he got to face Collins he had fought four times that year already and was suffering burn out.
Eubank could have achieved a lot more than he did in his career, and I think it was probably Calzaghe's biggest ever win, amongst several other very good ones.

I know about a prime Eubank, but the Eubank Calzaghe fought was NOT prime at all. and thats why I cant give him a huge amount of credit for the win.

and in reality, Eubank even at his best was still about on par with Watson...who got TKOed while losing almost every round against McCallum. Not that thats an embarressment, considering how talented McCallum was, but it shows the talent difference a little bit.

[IMDAZED]

I know about a prime Eubank, but the Eubank Calzaghe fought was NOT prime at all. and thats why I cant give him a huge amount of credit for the win.

and in reality, Eubank even at his best was still about on par with Watson...who got TKOed while losing almost every round against McCallum. Not that thats an embarressment, considering how talented McCallum was, but it shows the talent difference a little bit.

Not to mention, Eubank took the Calzaghe fight on less than two weeks notice.

[Steak]

You three are wise. It makes no sense. An ugly fight where Hopkins looks good for 2-3 rounds before Joe takes over. Then BHOP pretends to take a low blow to buy some time to catch his wind, and hugs Calzaghe until the fight is over.



To you and all of the other morons:

1. Mikkel Kessler is a damn good fighter. He had JoeCal's number early on, but Joe showed heart and the ability to change in the face of adversity. He took over the fight and did what great champions do.
2. Everyone and their grandma's neighbor was picking Jeff Lacy to win that fight. You probably were too. He wasn't "exposed" until Calzaghe exposed him. He not only exposed him, but he handed him the worst beating of his career. Why? Because Calzaghe is the best boxer 168 pounds has ever known.
3. Hopkins didn't win the fight, nor was he close to doing so. He won about 5 rounds, if we're being generous. They were all at the beginning. When Joe took over, he was landing with his eyes shut. When the sweat started flying and Calzaghe started snapping Hop's face, he pretended to take a low blow to get a rest. He then proceeded to hug Calzaghe the rest of the night.

While people point to the age of Hopkins and Jones, let's not forget that Calzaghe was in his late 30's as well, and had been in the professional game just as long as they had. For someone who relied on speed and volume punching, those are the first things to go, yet he still beat them handily. Finally, stop kidding yourselves; Hopkins is/was still a challenge for anybody. He looks better now than he did during his last 4 years as MW champion. If we're going to turn back the clock on Jones and Hopkins, we have to do the same to Calzaghe. He whooped them while they were all old; he'd likely out-fox them if they were all young too.

This is coming from an American who was pulling for Hopkins and Jones to beat him. The bigger his competition got, the better he fought. Joe Calzaghe should be recognized as one of the greatest fighters of all-time.

you make some good points, and I do think Calzaghe is the best fighter in the history of 168lbs. But...
1. The Kessler win isnt looking as hot nowadays after Kessler lost almost every round against Ward
2. The reason why Lacy was so favoured(and he wasnt as overly favoured as some make him out to be either) was more because of lack in faith in Joe rather than believing in Lacy, who had struggled to win against Omar Sheika of all people. Calzaghe during this period hadnt fought a top ten ranked fighter in ten years, and had hand problems as well. Not to mention getting dropped and significantly hurt by Kabary Salem. Not only that, but Lacy got a gift in his next fight, and then almost got stopped by a bum on ESPN, then easily lost to Jermain Taylor, then got a gift against Otis Griffin...yea.
Point is, lets not overrate the Lacy win too much.
3. I had Calzaghe winning the fight, but theres no doubt it was close.

Oh, and Calzaghe was 36 against a 43 year old Hopkins. Thats a pretty big age gap. and even the Hopkins win isnt looking so great now, since Hopkins' only big win at that age, Pavlik, just got pretty beat up by Sergio Martinez. and Hopkins has looked like awful since then too.

[Sick/]

that was joe's first big fight and only his 22nd fight. his win over Eubank was very good

[Steak]

that was joe's first big fight and only his 22nd fight. his win over Eubank was very good

I agree, its probably his 2nd or 3rd best win, imo.

but lets not overdo it. Eubank was obviously not in his prime or in his best shape for the fight.
A win over Steve Collins would have meant more at this point, although that fight never could have been made since Collins retired right before Calzaghe burst onto the scene.

[street bully]

Not to mention, Eubank took the Calzaghe fight on less than two weeks notice.

Not to mention he was fighting at higher weights as well.

[IMDAZED]

Not to mention he was fighting at higher weights as well.

Agreed. I mean, there was a reason why Calzaghe's win over Eubank wasn't heavily hyped at the time. And that's mainly because Eubank was no longer a super middle and took the bout on extremely short notice. Plus, he was no longer the same fighter anyway.