Defend Calzaghe's record

[Lead Cenobite]

It's impossible to defend. Literally.

This is a guy who in his entire career fought just 3 fighters who were ranked the in the Top 5 of his division when he fought them.

He will get into the HOF, despite the fact I don't really think he should.

And, when he does, he will probably be the only person in the Hall who fought such little top ranked opposition.

He is NOT an ATG and it's not even remotely close to being arguable either.

This. it's also funny how racist most of his fans are.

[-PANDA-]

I don't blame Calzaghe for the lack of huge huge names on his record but at the same time who was there to beat? Mainly the names mentioned weren't super middleweights.

in his span of almost 10 years of being a champion there were plenty of guys for him to fight...he chose to fight boxers in the lower part of the top 15 and sometimes even unranked fighters instead...also lhw was loaded with talent, as was mw...calzaghe didn't start calling mw fighters out until he saw taylor and pavlik struggle with smaller fighters which is around the time he fought peter manfredo

if froch beats kessler in a rematch which I believe he will, froch will have a better resume already...speaking of froch, he humiliated calzaghe in the media and became his mandatory yet never got the fight. ward has barely fought half as many people as calzaghe had and has already built up a better resume, being more dominant as well...

[Lead Cenobite]

in his span of almost 10 years of being a champion there were plenty of guys for him to fight...he chose to fight boxers in the lower part of the top 15 and sometimes even unranked fighters instead...also lhw was loaded with talent, as was mw...calzaghe didn't start calling mw fighters out until he saw taylor and pavlik struggle with smaller fighters which is around the time he fought peter manfredo

if froch beats kessler in a rematch which I believe he will, froch will have a better resume already...speaking of froch, he humiliated calzaghe in the media and became his mandatory yet never got the fight. ward has barely fought half as many people as calzaghe had and has already built up a better resume, being more dominant as well...

Tocker Pudwill and mgggerere mgggwergetertersn were legit contenders dude

[SirTomJones]

46 tried, 46 got denied.

Hopkins looks at himself in the mirror and now the fearless 'soapy' bum bandit has become a ghost.

[Barry Halls]

About ATG:

It also depends what your criterias are.
On this site it seems synonymous with top100 p4p of all time. If so, Calzaghe is not an ATG.

If we speak about top10 at one given weight historically? Then he is without a doubt an ATG. Granted in a weak division, but still.

I don't think his future inclusion into the HOF is up for debate. He's done enough to warrant it combined with his fame.

Kessler and B-hop remains two superb wins.

Jeff Lacy was at the point a great win. Same as Jermain Taylor was a great win for Pavlik or Judah was a great win for Tszyu.

[-PANDA-]

About ATG:

It also depends what your criterias are.
On this site it seems synonymous with top100 p4p of all time. If so, Calzaghe is not an ATG.

If we speak about top10 at one given weight historically? Then he is without a doubt an ATG. Granted in a weak division, but still.

I don't think his future inclusion into the HOF is up for debate. He's done enough to warrant it combined with his fame.

Kessler and B-hop remains two superb wins.

Jeff Lacy was at the point a great win. Same as Jermain Taylor was a great win for Pavlik or Judah was a great win for Tszyu.

at least u acknowledged it being a weak division

but ur comparisons to judah and taylor are ridiculous...

judah went on to become an undisputed welterweight champion and later a world champion at 140 as well, not to mention he's been the #1 contender at 140 twice in recent years...taylor went on to become the #1 contender for the wbc smw title and was an undisputed mw champion when pavlik beat him

lacy never amounted to anything after he lost to calzaghe which proves the fact he was never that good to begin with

[junior gong]

We've done this before but it appears some new fans have forgotten or dont know.

Okay, please anyone use facts to defend this record:

This is between his fight with Chris Eubank(1997) and nearly 10 years later Jeff Lacy (2006) who by all accounts is a bum but at the time was an undefeated contender that was someone that Joe should have fought. I'm going to comment on some of these but in reality all of these could easily have funny comments next to them:


2006-03-04 168 Jeff Lacy (Bum/Never was)

2005-09-10 Evans Ashira (who?)

2005-05-07 Mario Veit (notable because it took place in Germany)

2004-10-22 Kabary Salem (notable because it took place in Scotland which technically is another country lol. Also Calzaghe went down in round 4 and was headbutting intentionally and penalized for it.

2004-02-21 Mger Mkrtchyan (Great name. Who the ****? Also notable for being held in an ice rink in Wales).

2003-06-28 Byron Mitchell (Calzaghe down in the 2nd)

2002-12-14 Tocker Pudwill (i'll let the name do the joke here)

2002-08-17 Miguel Angel Jimenez

2002-04-20 Charles Brewer

2001-10-13 Will McIntyre (Notable for Denmark)

2001-04-28 Mario Veit

2000-12-16 Richie Woodhall

2000-08-12 Omar Sheika

2000-01-29 David Starie

1999-06-05 Rick Thornberry

1999-02-13 Robin Reid (Many people think he LOST this fight. Regardless it was a close fight)

1998-04-25 Juan Carlos Gimenez Ferreyra (Ice Rink hahahaha)

1998-01-24 Branko Sobot

1997-10-11 Chris Eubank (Weight drained, way past his prime)


Really? That makes him an ATG? This record? But wait he was afraid of flying.

Or was he?: Calzaghe only afraid of flying when it came to fighting"

I guess I'll wait for the usual folks to try to defend this.

I can only guess that(luckily for you) Jimmy Savile never answered your request to meet your hero Joe Calzaghe.

[The Big Dunn]

It's impossible to defend. Literally.

This is a guy who in his entire career fought just 3 fighters who were ranked the in the Top 5 of his division when he fought them.

He will get into the HOF, despite the fact I don't really think he should.

And, when he does, he will probably be the only person in the Hall who fought such little top ranked opposition.

He is NOT an ATG and it's not even remotely close to being arguable either.

Agree with this irondan. Its tough to get a true sense of joe because of who he fought. But even though I thought he lost to bhop his beating of lacy was one of the best I've seen and I think calzaghe should get more credit for it.

[WESS]

Cliff also points out that there is really no difference between Ottke's resume and Calzaghe other than beating up a few washed up geriatrics in RJJ and Hopkins.

Is you opinion of Ottke's career equal to that of Calzaghe's?

The best argument for considering him an all time great is the fact that there is very little history at 168 other than Calzaghe. Pretty much any other great fighter regarded it as a bastard division for Europeans to hide out in. If Calzaghe wouldn't fight them, there was no reason to stay.

In a head to head fight I would take prime RJJ, Hearns, Toney and Ward over him at 168. Others I would have to think about.

There isn't much to his resume. If you like him as a fighter you rate him based on what he might have accomplished had he the chance. If you don't like him you refuse to rate him because he ducked the best.

The guy in my sig - Zsolt Erdei - could fight and beat RJJ and Bhop in his next 2 fights and his resume would be the same as Calzaghe's.

Erdei would easily beat Jones - Bhop would be tougher.

ouch.......................

[The Hammer]

The guy in my sig - Zsolt Erdei - could fight and beat RJJ and Bhop in his next 2 fights and his resume would be the same as Calzaghe's.

Erdei would easily beat Jones - Bhop would be tougher.

The version of Roy Jones that Calzaghe fought would beat Erdei, and Hopkins would take his soul even now.

It's insane to bash Calzaghe while praising an EXTREMELY protected mediocre boxer like Erdei, who ducked EVERYBODY at light heavyweight.

Joe was Ring champion in two weight divisions at the same time. He fought the best opponents available: Chris Eubank, Jeff Lacy (who was favored to beat him), Bernard Hopkins, tough-as-nails Sakio Bika, and Mikkel Kessler.

Joe Calzaghe is the most underrated fighter of the past 25 years.