Why is Calzaghes win over Hopkins so underated?

[New England]

It his best win by far. Real far. But way too close for comfort - I think the fact that so many people felt Hopkins win is what took away from it.

it's certainly his best name but i'd say that the best fighter he ever fought was mikkel kessler when he was in his absolute prime.

it's easy to down play it now because we saw how the rest of his career ended up and his limitations became very apparent, but he completely trashed jeff lacy as well. i dont think that's a win on the level of kessler or hopkins, but at the time i was pretty goddamn impressed. i had no idea who calzaghe even was.

i only used the internet to download fights. that is it. boxing was very different to me then. i dont know if i had even discovered the boxrec in '05-'06, or whenever the hell calzaghe - lacy was.
i had ring magazine, TV, books, and a great collection of fights on two computers. mostly classics.


the house was hit by lightening and i lost it all. true story.


calzaghe's got a very lacking resume for a guy who is an eventual HOF lock.

that says more about the IBHOF than joe calzaghe, though. he was a very good fighter.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Because Calzaghe looked **** on his American debut. Fat Yanks tend to ignore his good performances before that because it wasn't in AMUUUURRCCA.

Then there's this false controversy that Hopkins actually won the fight which stems from that.

[1g5a22]

Hopkins did nothing but complain after round 4!!

[IMDAZED]

Hopkins did nothing but complain after round 4!!

Yeah, I thought Hopkins was outmanned that night. Calzaghe looked pretty crappy too but he showed Hopkins' age that night. The fight warranted a rematch, bottom line.

[Lead Cenobite]

One more time to see if anyone will actually take the time to watch it.

[1g5a22]

one more time to see if anyone will actually take the time to watch it.

sorry but i like to watch the entire fight not an agenda driven youtube concoction by a diehard hopkins fan.

[1g5a22]

When will people just admit hopkins could not beat calzaghe fair n square?

Time and again i read how close and controversial that decision was, calzaghe landed 27 times as many punches as hopkins, ok maybe you pick the best 3 punches of the fight and they would all be hopkins but those were the only 3 punches he landed,calzaghe had a bad start, but after that it was clear calzaghe all the way, the only thing controversial about it was that it was a spilt decision and not unanimous.

The fact that Hopkins was allowed to slow the fight down with all his play acting was disgusting. I have always thought Calzaghe did more than enough to get the win. A bad start, but he turned it around. Hopkins seemed to be worn out by the half way mark. Most polls, most journos, most forums favour the decision, there was no ringmag outcry, no sports illustrared cries of robbery, calzaghe became the new ring mag lhw champ that night, its not his fault hopkins wouldn't fight him, preffering to stink out the place.

Just admit it, hopkins could not beat calzaghe fair n square he could not cope with him hence the amateur dramatics...and no one really beats hopkins cleanly do they! He fights too negative, he makes fights awkward to score, everyone knew this beforehand yet they are acting like it was a 'robbery' lol give me one fight in history were a fighter has been reduced to what hopkins was that night yet it was labelled a robbery lol in that respect it was one of the clearest victories over 12 rounds iv ever seen.

Now its not a fight I enjoy watching, quite boring in fact, last big fight on the BBC, put them off boxing forever! but I dont understand how 1 judge even gave it to Hopkins, women officials lol

Ask yourselves this:

1. why didnt Hopkins press the Action after he had Joe on the deck
2. If joes shots didnt carry any pop why did Bernard cover up, tie up and not try to overwhelm joe.
3. Why did Bernard roll about on the floor looking for the ref to take points off Joe if the punches had no power.
4. Why is it ok for Hopkins to use dirty boxing and then when its done back he wants points taken off the other fighter


At the end of the day Hopkins could of put it on the line and put more effort in but for whatever reason he didnt and lost. The thing with Hopkins is if the fights not quite going his way he will not risk getting stopped or hurt to turn the fight around he just does not have it in him to dig deep and take risks, look at the fights he has lost he just will not put in that extra bit of effort needed, he just doesnt like to take shots to land his own and when you fight at elite level somtimes all the difference needed to win is a fighter who can hang it out when needed and that unfortunatly 'aint' Bernard.

On a side note I still do admire the way he lives the life, the mans looks incredible, is still dedicated and old skool but mentally is slightly up himself.

Cazlaghe simply stopped Hopkins game. He should surely get credit for that? And it obviously highlights why the MAJORITY saw Calzaghe win the fight.

I had calzaghe winning 8 rounds to 4 (a couple could have been scored even though) awful fight in which hopkins with all the cards stacked in his favour still couldn't beat a punchless 36 yr old calzaghe in his first venture at 175lbs! Just let it go...reid gave calzaghe a tougher fight.

[yoz]

Calzaghe > Hopkins.


Still, to this day, can't see how people had Hopkins up in the fight.

[tank17211]

He moved up in weight o challenge the Ring champ(unlike Ward)and won...after that Fight Hopkins went on to regain the Ring title ,lineal title and WBC title so he was far from shot.............Joe pushed Hopkins like no 1 ever had and made him not wanna fight.....

It was a split decision. lol

[Smash]

NFL is like America's Rugby, only different. Rugby is a lot or gritty and nasty, but NFL players are, the average player, is far more skilled athletically. Rugby is fun to watch, really wish America would start doing it more. Also, America is good at Baseball, Basketball, Golf, Football, Boxing, MMA, etc.

If you lived in America, you'd see most don't care about Soccer, right or wrong. If more Americans played soccer, it'd be different.

Why you hate on America is beyond me, it's kind of childish.

"Professional soccer is now the second most popular sport in the USA in the key 12-24 age group"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-black/soccer-popularity_b_1328136.html

its been near the top in participation levels for a long time in the states