Calzaghe: "Froch has not matched my legacy and doesn't have ability to go to the US"

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Why would he? Why wouldn't he? Froch was calling him out. Incessantly. Froch was a worthy challenge. Clearly. For some people that's all the provocation needed. You're talking about money. Why didn't he rematch Hopkins then? That would have been a big money fight and Bernard was willing to do it in the UK.

No need for excuses, bro.

Froch had been calling him out since his British title days. Froch was still a relative nobody then in 2008.

Calzaghe-Hopkins II was not a big money fight. The first fight was absolutely horrendous

[-Kev-]

Carl Froch has the better resume, Joe Calzaghe has the best win between them.

IMO, in order for Froch to match Calzaghe's best win over Hopkins was to beat Ward which he failed to do. Even if he beat Ward very closely and contested, it still would have put his win up there with Calzaghe's best win.

But despite this, Froch having more names in his resume makes him surpass Calzaghe IMO. Froch ran away in the resume department with Pascal, Taylor, Kessler*, Abraham, Bute, Johnson, and Groves.

*I thought it was a Draw.

I felt he lost to Dirrell, it was clearly a hometown decision with some corruption going on in the scorecards.

[A-Wolf]

Froch had been calling him out since his British title days. Froch was still a relative nobody then in 2008.

Calzaghe-Hopkins II was not a big money fight. The first fight was absolutely horrendous

Calzaghe Hopkins II would have filled one of the major arenas. Please **** off.

Froch was not what he is now - but look at what he is now. Joe's resume needed some HEAVY padding when he retired. He's been made into a punch line in the years since. Defeating Froch, Dawson, Hopkins and all the other people in the discussion at the time would have cemented his legacy. Instead he's left room for the critics to have their way with him.

Which they do whenever they hear the name "Joe Calzaghe." Are you a fan of Joe's? I was. Until he made it impossible for me to defend or support him.

[-Kev-]

Why would he? Why wouldn't he? Froch was calling him out. Incessantly. Froch was a worthy challenge. Clearly. For some people that's all the provocation needed. You're talking about money. Why didn't he rematch Hopkins then? That would have been a big money fight and Bernard was willing to do it in the UK.

No need for excuses, bro.

When Froch was calling out Calzaghe, he didn't even have the Taylor win yet. His best win when Calzaghe retired was a similarly unknown Jean Pascal, Froch was 23-0 and a win over him would have done nothing in the fans eyes. Froch was literally seen as a cry baby at the time and still didn't have any where near the respect he has now.

I remember reading something like Taylor and Calzaghe hanging out before the Froch fight and they spoke about fighting if Taylor beats Froch. Of course, Taylor was a well known name at the time and some one Calzaghe would have said yes too because of the event it would make in the U.S. It didn't look like Calzaghe was motivated to fight Froch even when he beat Taylor. I don't think he was into fighting domestic fights anymore, he was obsessed with fighting well known Americans who were on the slide.

[artfuL_]

I don't know where you got that from my post.

And are we talking about popularity of who is better. You seem to be confusing the two

Made that statement because you mentioned SMW was pretty bare at the time. Froch could have packed it in and fought at home is all.

[-Kev-]

Calzaghe Hopkins II would have filled one of the major arenas. Please **** off.

Froch was not what he is now - but look at what he is now. Joe's resume needed some HEAVY padding when he retired. He's been made into a punch line in the years since. Defeating Froch, Dawson, Hopkins and all the other people in the discussion at the time would have cemented his legacy. Instead he's left room for the critics to have their way with him.

Which they do whenever they hear the name "Joe Calzaghe." Are you a fan of Joe's? I was. Until he made it impossible for me to defend or support him.

Did you see Hopkins-Calzaghe I? Nobody wanted to watch the rematch. In fact it was mainly because of that performance that media/trainers called for Hopkins to retire and back out of the Pavlik fight. Both looked terrible in that fight. You see gifs of Calzaghe's performance in that fight, but Hopkins was also pathetic. It was a pretty forgettable fight that TBH I never watched again after watching it live on HBO, and I don't think I could ever get myself to rewatch it. Hopkins vs Pavlik was a great performance and I would not trade that to see Hopkins flopping all over the ring in exhaustion again vs Calzaghe, looking every bit of 44 years old.

[artfuL_]

When Froch was calling out Calzaghe, he didn't even have the Taylor win yet. His best win when Calzaghe retired was a similarly unknown Jean Pascal, Froch was 23-0 and a win over him would have done nothing in the fans eyes. Froch was literally seen as a cry baby at the time and still didn't have any where near the respect he has now.

I remember reading something like Taylor and Calzaghe hanging out before the Froch fight and they spoke about fighting if Taylor beats Froch. Of course, Taylor was a well known name at the time and some one Calzaghe would have said yes too because of the event it would make in the U.S. It didn't look like Calzaghe was motivated to fight Froch even when he beat Taylor. I don't think he was into fighting domestic fights anymore, he was obsessed with fighting well known Americans who were on the slide.

Froch was the mandatory to Calzaghe at the time. An undefeated and untested fighter who if you may recall was alot like Groves when he fought him.

We all know how big that fight got don't we. A fight between Froch and Calzaghe would have been way bigger than any Taylor fight that's for damn sure.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Calzaghe Hopkins II would have filled one of the major arenas. Please **** off.

Froch was not what he is now - but look at what he is now. Joe's resume needed some HEAVY padding when he retired. He's been made into a punch line in the years since. Defeating Froch, Dawson, Hopkins and all the other people in the discussion at the time would have cemented his legacy. Instead he's left room for the critics to have their way with him.

Which they do whenever they hear the name "Joe Calzaghe." Are you a fan of Joe's? I was. Until he made it impossible for me to defend or support him.

Debatable. I'm sure Calzaghe could fill out an arena fighting anyone in Wales. Not really the point.

Calzaghe made 10m from the Jones fight which was on HBO PPV. He had already made his decision to retire after the Kessler fight because of constant hand injuries etc. For him to want to come back, he'd need a huge incentive.

Fighting Froch in what would have been a domestic fight or Hopkins in a rematch of a horrendous first fight or Chad "I have 4 fans" Dawson were not those incentives.

Fighting Froch NOW might be very lucrative to him but not back then.

[Rip Chudd]

@ Not everyone can go out and conquer America.

Pure comedy gold Joe.

[A-Wolf]

When Froch was calling out Calzaghe, he didn't even have the Taylor win yet. His best win when Calzaghe retired was a similarly unknown Jean Pascal, Froch was 23-0 and a win over him would have done nothing in the fans eyes. Froch was literally seen as a cry baby at the time and still didn't have any where near the respect he has now.

I remember reading something like Taylor and Calzaghe hanging out before the Froch fight and they spoke about fighting if Taylor beats Froch. Of course, Taylor was a well known name at the time and some one Calzaghe would have said yes too because of the event it would make in the U.S. It didn't look like Calzaghe was motivated to fight Froch even when he beat Taylor. I don't think he was into fighting domestic fights anymore, he was obsessed with fighting well known Americans who were on the slide.

Yes, I recall. Joe thought Froch was a horrible fighter and had no business in the ring with him. As it turns out he was wrong. Froch knew what he was going to do with his career and to be explicitly honest I had higher expectations for him than most and envisaged him at the time to giving Calzaghe a good stiff challenge. This is the reason I'm commenting to begin with incidentally.

Joe needed more solid wins on his resume before he retired. Would fighting Dawson, "the guy" at the time have been better than Froch? Yes, then. No, now. We have to make decisions in life all the time that involve guess work and projecting an accurate picture of how the future might turn out.

Joe lost out there. He had a chance to fight this guy. Instead he wants to talk **** and we're supposed to respect that? He shouldn't speak. Then nobody would have anything to say.