So who did Joe Calzaghe duck?

[Dirk Diggler UK]

To my knowledge, Hopkins has never ducked anyone. Look at his resume, just look at it. Calzaghe was protected by WBO - Warren's Boxing Organization.

I can only apologise for your lacklustre knowledge

[yoz]

Hopkins blatantly ducked the fight in 2002, it seems a lot of people are unaware of this fact.

This ^^^^^.

[DeadLikeMe]

Calslappy gets hated on so much on here I would consider him underrated. Dude was pretty good and he won his fights. Sure there were some stoppages that were a bit premature, but if you're getting someone else to lock up against you by sheer work rate they're pretty much out of the fight anyway.

[I Love Jesus!]

Lets hear it, should be good

15 of his defenses were against guys not ranked in the top ten. you figure it out.

[IMDAZED]

Calzaghe get ****ted on because his lovers make up crap like "Hopkins ducked him in 2002." More like, Hopkins ducked what would've been a bad business deal with King and Showtime. Or are we to assume he ducked Harry Simon too? He was part of that same deal.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Calzaghe get ****ted on because his lovers make up crap like "Hopkins ducked him in 2002." More like, Hopkins ducked what would've been a bad business deal with King and Showtime. Or are we to assume he ducked Harry Simon too? He was part of that same deal.

But he fought Morrade Hakkar who was also part of the deal!

[IMDAZED]

But he fought Morrade Hakkar who was also part of the deal!

Doesn't matter who he fought. Sometimes you sacrifice short term for the longer. The bottom line is, it was a three fight contract with Showtime, not Joe Calzaghe. And using the logic that, by refusing to sign on with Showtime at the last minute, he therefore was ducking Calzaghe, you could say he avoided Harry Simon, who was part of that Showtime deal. In essence, the argument is pretty ******.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Doesn't matter who he fought. Sometimes you sacrifice short term for the longer. The bottom line is, it was a three fight contract with Showtime, not Joe Calzaghe. And using the logic that, by refusing to sign on with Showtime at the last minute, he therefore was ducking Calzaghe, you could say he avoided Harry Simon, who was part of that Showtime deal. In essence, the argument is pretty ******.

Not really when you consider who he fought instead. When you turn down your highest purse to fight lesser fighters, its a duck.

[slick23]

Technically speaking its hard to apply the word "duck" in its truest sense to any of the top fighters today. Its simply because a lack of commision oversight and one legitimate set of rankings. That's why these guys go for the biggest purse, you can hardly blame them. B-Hop pulled out of the fight in 2002, that's true, but why wouldn't he? Then he wants to fight Calzaghe in a rematch later on? Simply because he knew it would pay more at that point than a Dawson fight would. It wasn't like Calzaghe was a household name in the states at that time in 2002. Same for Calzaghe fighting Jones later on instead of Pavlik, more money. Same things Pac and May do or anyone for that matter. These cats feel like they have proved themselves and they want to get paid.

Its pretty rare you see a legitimate fight with guys in their primes anymore, they basically have to have no where to go. Kahn has had that problem recently so he's forced into the tough fights for good money but not great money.A reasonably big name but not in demand in the states like Del la Hoya or Trinidad were. That's why Bradley backed out with a fight with Khan. HBO doesn't talk about how they guaranteed him a second fight on their network for a million if he agreed to fight Alexander which he did. HBO turns around ans says ok now your fighting Kahn , Bradley says no I'll fight someone else that your contractually obligated to pay me for and go to Top Rank. worked out for him didn't it? The "Duck" is a myth.

[IMDAZED]

Not really when you consider who he fought instead. When you turn down your highest purse to fight lesser fighters, its a duck.

Well if you're short-sighted, yes. You missed the part about long-term. By keeping himself out of a contract deal with a network, he was able to secure a career-high payday and his second PPV against William Joppy. And that third fight of the deal that would've come against Calzaghe (on Showtime) would've netted him far less than the two fight (both pay-per-view) deal he signed with GBP immediately after Joppy. So, you're right if you look at it with short-sighted eyes.