Joe Calzaghe's Greatness

[BetterCallSaul]

I often hear him called a ATG & argubaly Britians best ever fighter.

But the one thing that hurts Calzaghe is this.

For 8 years Calzaghe defended the paper WBO title in homeland, leaving just once. Against extremly sub par fighters etc Branko Sobot, Will McIntyre, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Tocker Pudwill, Mger Mkrtchyan, Kabary Salem, Evans Ashira.

Come on for the most part, these fighters were never heard of again. This tell's me there IS ALOT of padding on that record.

His win over Lacy was impressive, but again Jeff never went on to do anything, and now has just been used as a punching pag for a washed Roy Jones.

He beat washed up versions of Eubank, Jones Jr & Hopkins. And yet was still dropped in all 3 fights, even when all 3 were shells of themselves.

His most impressive win is most likely Kessler, who although is a good fighter, is saying alot.

His record is impressive, but if he would of took more risks, fought great prime fighters and fought more out of his homeland, it is highly unlikely that record would be intact.

For 90% of his career he always fought in his homeland, and for the most part continued to defend that paper title. It hurts his legacy.

He was a damn good fighter, but Joe Calzaghe ATG? Come on now, tags like that should just be left for fighters lile Robinson, Armstrong, Langford, Louis, Ali, Greb, Walker, etc.

You fail.

Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins defended their titles in their homeland for 100% of their fights, and made negotiations for a fight with prime Calzaghe impossible.

Bernard Hopkins picked on fighters weight divisions below him, While Roy Jones lost against mediocre fighters like Tarver, Johnson, and Green.

Calzaghe defended his belt against all mandatories, and beat almost everybody in his division.

When Calzaghe was out of prime, he still managed to defeat Lacy, Bika, Kessler, Hopkins, and Jones.

[Tyson.]

Calzaghe lost to Hopkins, even the british media had it as a hopkins win. Enzo was like we need a KO in the last round as well.

Calzaghe wanted nothing to do with Glen Johnson and pulled out of fights numerous times.

[street bully]

You fail.

Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins defended their titles in their homeland for 100% of their fights, and made negotiations for a fight with prime Calzaghe impossible.

Bernard Hopkins picked on fighters weight divisions below him, While Roy Jones lost against mediocre fighters like Tarver, Johnson, and Green.

Calzaghe defended his belt against all mandatories, and beat almost everybody in his division.

When Calzaghe was out of prime, he still managed to defeat Lacy, Bika, Kessler, Hopkins, and Jones.

Jones never lost while he was prime, and his wins over Hopkins and Toney at his absolute peak alone are better than anythign Calzaghe has ever done, and those two guys were also better than Calzaghe ever was.

[Steak]

Dropped in four fights. Not many people seem to remember the Salem KD.

five, actually. He was knocked down against Byron Mitchell, although the Salem KD was actually probably the worst of his career.

Calzaghe is definitely a good fighter, and most likely the best fighter at 168lbs because of his longevity there. I give little to no credit to him for his win over Jones, but he gets fair points for the Hopkins win(albeit slightly controversial) and the Eubank win(although technically Eubank was retired at that point, I still think he was a decent fighter).
Lacy win is really not that big a deal(although of course you should still give him credit for a solid win, Lacy was ranked #3 or so at the time) and the Kessler win is admittedly not looking as hot after his non-dominant performances in the super six, but its still very good.

other good wins on Calzaghes record:
Byron Mitchell
Charles Brewer
Richie Woodhall
Sakio Bika
Robin Reid(although interestingly enough I had Reid winning, but I dont have a problem with Calzaghe getting the nod either, it was a close one)

people overrate it, but his wins actually arent that bad. I have to admit that a large amount of his title defences were jokes though, so dont put much emphasis on the # of title defences.

[street bully]

You fail.

Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins defended their titles in their homeland for 100% of their fights, and made negotiations for a fight with prime Calzaghe impossible.

Bernard Hopkins picked on fighters weight divisions below him, While Roy Jones lost against mediocre fighters like Tarver, Johnson, and Green.

Calzaghe defended his belt against all mandatories, and beat almost everybody in his division.

When Calzaghe was out of prime, he still managed to defeat Lacy, Bika, Kessler, Hopkins, and Jones.

Calzaghe out of prime agaisnt Lacy, kessler, and Hopkins>? He was 33,35, and 36 and was at his absolute best. He retired because he should have lost to Hopkins and was almost ktfo by Roy Jones who hadn't hurt anybody in years.

Also don't bring up the hands, he never had power, it doesn't take much to stop bums early in your career man.

[BetterCallSaul]

Not many people seem to know that Eubank never dropped Calzaghe. It was Calzaghe to dropped Eubank in the 1st round.

[Grimmer]

[boxasmash]

Overrated as hell.

No where near an ATG list with less than 200 fighters.

Leave Floyd out of this discussion.

[Steak]

Not many people seem to know that Eubank never dropped Calzaghe. It was Calzaghe to dropped Eubank in the 1st round.

hmm, I seem to remember Calzaghe falling down at some point in that fight.

perhaps there was a knockdown(or mostly push) that sent Calzaghe to the floor momentarily in that fight, that wasnt called a KD? Its been a while since Ive seen it, but I could have sworn I saw Calzaghe touch the canvas for a short while in that fight.

[boxasmash]

Not many people seem to know that Eubank never dropped Calzaghe. It was Calzaghe to dropped Eubank in the 1st round.

TS obviously never seen that fight.