Joe Cazalghe vs. Sergey Kovalev at 175

[Boxingwizard]

uh no. calzaghe was a joke. he kept making excuses saying how pavlik didn't really want to fight him(even though pavlik offered him the fight) and how he offered pavlik a fight in 2006 before he was even a contender? it was pathetic. instead of fighting boxing biggest rising star he fought a completely shot fighter on a ppv that bombed. he even gave jones a 50-50 split for some spastic reason. that shows you calzaghe's character and how badly he cherry picked.

http://www.boxingscene.com/joe-calza...ones-jr--14441

Yeah the Jones fight tarnished Calzaghe's legacy quite a bit. I don't know how Calzaghe can be happy with that win, it was such a meaningless fight.

[Boxingwizard]

Pavlik?? Kelly's team had no intentions of even fighting Arthur Abraham, much less Calzaghe, then got embarrassed by Hopkins. Froch and Ward were nobodies before Calzaghe retired. The only fights there for Calzaghe were Dawson and Johnson. He should've fought Dawson, but how would that make him great? Chad wasn't that good.

As far as this fantasy fight - Kovalev would drop Calzaghe many times, and Calzaghe would win rounds but probably not enough to overcome a points deficit if he could even make it the distance. A 175lbs Zaghe isn't the best Zaghe.

There was a lot of talk at that time of Calzaghe vs Dawson. I think Calzaghe would have beaten Dawson pretty badly. Chad's skills eroded considerably when he left Floyd Sr for Eddie Muhammad. He was boxing so terrible at that time, and Chad was really gunning for the fight without earning his stripes. Just shows how delusional the guy was.

[daggum]

Calzaghe beats him, some people are overrating Kovalev but his resume isn't all that great. Before beating Hopkins his resume just included C and B level boxers. He beat a 49 year old Hopkins who no longer has a high work-rate.

A level boxers like Calzaghe they don't go down from jabs to the body.

kovalev beat 2 other top 5 guys. campillo who should have been unified champ but was robbed twice and cleverly who fights with calzaghe's style. both had no chance. you must have forgot old hopkins shutting down calzaghe with his low workrate and making him hit air. calzaghe had no answer but to keep coming forward and throwing punches in a pathetic attempt to steal the fight on workrate while hopkins landed all the clean punches. kovalev didn't need to do that sh-it. he actually hit hopkins and controlled the fight. enzo calzaghe to joe before the 12th "its over! you need to stop him, you have got to stop him!" but once again calzaghe would never take the fight because he had low self esteem so this is pointless.

[daggum]

There was a lot of talk at that time of Calzaghe vs Dawson. I think Calzaghe would have beaten Dawson pretty badly. Chad's skills eroded considerably when he left Floyd Sr for Eddie Muhammad. Chad was boxing so terrible at that time, and Chad was really gunning for the fight without earning his stripes. Just hows how delusional the guy was.

well dawson was the best light heavy after hopkins and calzaghe and calzaghe didn't want a rematch with hopkins even in wales so dawson was a decent option. obviously pavlik was the better option in terms of a good fight but he didn't want that one either. he dug up roy jones body for some reason and fought it. and he gave him a 50-50 split? that's like floyd fighting whitaker and giving him a 50-50 split. i don't get it.

[daggum]

Yeah the Jones fight tarnished Calzaghe's legacy quite a bit. I don't know how Calzaghe can be happy with that win, it was such a meaningless fight.

he was always a meaningless figther. he had a decent run from lacy to hopkins but the rest was garage fighting retreads and journeyman. he complained all his career about not getting big fights(even though he said he was scared of flying and couldn't fight in the u.s. hmmm) then when he gets to the u.s. he fights one good fight and retires?

[Foreign Soil]

uh no. calzaghe was a joke. he kept making excuses saying how pavlik didn't really want to fight him(even though pavlik offered him the fight) and how he offered pavlik a fight in 2006 before he was even a contender? it was pathetic. instead of fighting boxing biggest rising star he fought a completely shot fighter on a ppv that bombed. he even gave jones a 50-50 split for some spastic reason. that shows you calzaghe's character and how badly he cherry picked.

http://www.boxingscene.com/joe-calza...ones-jr--14441

What offer did he actually turn down? Misleading at best. And do you actually think Pavlik could beat Calzaghe? ... Froch is twice the fighter of Pavlik and Carl would be a serious underdog vs Calzaghe.

[Foreign Soil]

False.

Very false.

Is it?

Is iiiit?

[Foreign Soil]

There was a lot of talk at that time of Calzaghe vs Dawson. I think Calzaghe would have beaten Dawson pretty badly. Chad's skills eroded considerably when he left Floyd Sr for Eddie Muhammad. He was boxing so terrible at that time, and Chad was really gunning for the fight without earning his stripes. Just shows how delusional the guy was.

Agreed. Calzaghe still should've fought either Chad or Glencoffe to finish his career. They were the only two meaningful fights for him at the time.

[IronDanHamza]

Is it?

Is iiiit?

Erm, yes.

The articles presented clearly state it.

I'm guessing you weren't following boxing then because it's common knowledge that Calzaghe chose to fight Roy Jones's corpse instead of Pavlik.

[Weebler I]

I really feel it's too early in Kovalev's career to really give an accurate prediction on this one, I would only trust someone like Manny Steward if he was still around to predict this one as he had a tremendous eye for styles.

Now saying that I will tell you that A level fighters don't fold like Cleverly,etc. and there is no chance Calzaghe gets steam rolled by someone like Kovalev, a prime Roy Jones...maybe? But Kovalev...not a chance in my opinion, hit, hurt, absolutely but when you get to that level knockouts tend to dry up for a lot of these punchers. Now Kovalev is far more than that, but the first example of him stepping into proper elite level against Hopkins and already the first time he goes 12 rounds. People will elude to Hopkins defence, etc. but make no mistake, Hopkins is well past his best. I think Kovalev would have tremendous problems hitting a prime Calzaghe clean, it's a complicated fight for both guys, my prediction is Calzaghe UD. This is based on me foreseeing that Kovalev will eventually start to show his weaknesses at this higher level and in the end the old adage will be true in this fantasy match up, the guy with the speed, skills, adaptability, and brain will 9 times out of 10 win the day.

I'd allude more to the notion that Hopkins has never been stopped, by anyone.

Kovalev has already shown weakness, you don't have to wait for that but I don't buy into the notion that Kovalev's knockouts will dry up. A Ward fight has a chance at going the distance due to his style but that's no certainty.