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Out of all the great nights, which one stands out as the best?
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I think the Kessler one. This was when Kessler was unbeaten, destroying his opponents, wasn’t getting injured and was unified. He was never the same but coming in that was the best.
In hindsight the Hopkins win was good. He won very clearly against a man who hadn’t really lost in 15 years, coming off a dominant Pavlik win and even went on to score more good wins. The Lacy one didn’t age well. The folks who swore Lacy was the second coming showed no loyalty. It’s funny how everyone says they picked Calzaghe yet when I would check forums back then (I posted at Max) very few gave Calzaghe a shot.
The Jones one meant nothing. -
BHop beat Pavlik AFTER the Calzaghe fight. BHop was coming off wins against Tarver and Wright, the latter in a fight he didn't really look too good in to be honest. It was a good win no doubt. Wouldn't say it was clear though, very close. After the fight a lot of writers were split on the verdict.
Lacy was a straight beat down that looked much better as it was happening but in hindsight people tend to talk down on the fight as Lacy didn't prove himself to be anything but decent. But that's not fair as at the time most thought he would beat Calzaghe. Then the Kessler win was really good as it had two undefeated top level fighters going at it. That fight was very competitive in the early going until Calzaghe made his adjustments and then took over.
So his best wins are between Bhop/Lacy/Kessler. You would take your pick and make an argument for either of those wins.Comment
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Beating an undefeated Kessler is a good win. A lot of people seemed to be on the fence who would win that. Kessler later had some good wins later, such as beating Froch. So he was a top fighter in his own right.
Lacy is a good win, in hindsight it doesn't seem so but you should judge a fight on when it was signed and the bell rings and at that point, the majority were picking Lacy to win and he was a hyped fighter. We can say that Lacy proved never to be that good, but that also might be a case of Calzaghe destroying his career. I'd have to say it goes down as a good win, considering how many people were picking Lacy.
Hopkins was a good win. Hopkins beat some very good fighters after that fight. It was Calzaghe's first fight at 175 too.Comment
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Yeah, I had a brainfart. The Pavlik showing after the fight enhanced the win for Calzaghe IMO. Showed he's still got it and obviously he'd just dominated Tarver and Winky so he had great form prior and post.
The fight was ass though and Calzaghe didn't look good but I felt he won 8 or 9 rounds. Hopkins looked like he wanted to quit IMO.Comment
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BHop does what he always does, will play the system to buy extra time. I think it was super close, like either 6-6 or 7-5 range. Calzaghe was missing A LOT of shots that HBO was giving him credit for. But still, he was much more active than BHop and if you had him winning, obviously it is understandable.
Yeah, but it's kind of nuts in hindsight that we give BHop so much credit for the Pavlik win when Pavlik was coming up two weight classes lol. At that time Pavlik was undefeated and coming off the Taylor win and BHop had lost to Calzaghe, but that is one of the few times where the bigger guy gets so much credit for the win. And make no mistake, Pavlik was the favorite going into that fight.
I also don't think BHop dominated Wright. Thought that was like a 7-5 or MAYBE 8-4 type of fight. BHop looked bad in that fight. Wright just couldn't physically match BHop and that was the biggest difference there.
But main point is Calzaghe was a bad man. Wish he would have gotten some match ups against prime 168 pounders but it just wasn't to be. Still, one of the best in the late 90s til the mid 00s.Comment
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Kessler. Hopkins was robbed. He landed almost all of the cleaner harder punches in that fight as opposed to Joe's slap punches.Comment
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