It's crazy to think that in Calzaghe's...

[BG_Knocc_Out]

... first 25 fights, 23 of them ended in a knockout.

A 92% KO ratio lol.
Anyone else ever notice this?

I'd also like to add that only 2 of those 23 were actual KO's.

Now I've only really watched Calzaghe's second half of his career in spurts, but he was regarded as pretty feather-fisted at that point.. which to me, is the crazy part.

Was his decline in power due injuries/surgeries?

If so, I think it's still rather impressive to go from being a guy who can end a fight like that, then turn around and revamp his style to become a boxer who just completely out-fights, out-throws, and out-boxes his opponents (Regardless of a lack of top tier competition we in the SMW division like we have today).

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Most of them weren't proper KO's in the literal sense. Referees over here are notorious for stopping fights quite early especially when the opponent is quite clearly overmatched. Most of those opponents would have been overmatched and Calzaghe would have been dominating them so the ref would have stopped it just to save the inevitable.

He did have more power in his early career with his left hand but was never a concussive puncher. He'd always mix fast shots with hard shots. Injuries certainly affected his power though.

[dan_cov]

The quality of opposition improved and he stopped getting gift stoppage wins for most part anyway.

Not hating on him but I am sure if people are honest they'll admit he had a huge amount of premature stoppage wins.

[SN!PER]

If Malignaggi was British, his KO% would be much higher.

[BG_Knocc_Out]

Yeah, there is a huge number of premature stoppages, which of course is part of it. But at the same time, that certainly couldn't encompass the entirety of his 32 wins.

And, of course, to even get a premature stoppage, you must have at least some kind of power to a degree, right? Especially in 23 of your first 25. I don't believe that there is much film out there at the early stages of a fighters career, and that's where most of his knockouts apparently happened.

I'm not defending him, I'm just rationalizing, ha.

[MRBOOMER]

Yeah, there is a huge number of premature stoppages, which of course is part of it. But at the same time, that certainly couldn't encompass the entirety of his 32 wins.

And, of course, to even get a premature stoppage, you must have at least some kind of power to a degree, right? Especially in 23 of your first 25. I don't believe that there is much film out there at the early stages of a fighters career, and that's where most of his knockouts apparently happened.

I'm not defending him, I'm just rationalizing, ha.

Some guy on YouTube had most of his early fights. he seemed to hit pretty hard but I couldn't tell if it was because he was so fast or actually a big puncher.

[-MAKAVELLI-]

they once stopped a Calzaghe fight after he landed a double jab



true story

[Oasis_Lad]

Remember the stories Juyjuy used to post about Calzaghe's monstrous power? How a young Joe was one-punch Ko'ing Bouncers back in Wales.

[Mikhnienko]

Had enough power to sit iron chinned Eubank on his a#s. As his hand problems got worse he relied more and more on volume and sat down on his punches less.

[GoldenGloveLove]

They actually used to call him Joe "Super Pre-Golovkin" Calzaghe. True story.