Canelo now vs Prime Calzaghe

[whollisboxing]

I think he kinda ducked froch though. Not saying Froch would win.

Froch first appeared in the Ring magazine top 10 in 2006. He was domestic level at that time and Calzaghe fought Jeff Lacy that year. Perhaps Joe could have fought Froch instead but everyone would have accused him of fighting another "Euro-bum". Froch was there in 2007 as well but Calzaghe chose to face his top challenger in Mikkel Kessler. Carl Froch won a vacant WBC title in late 2008 against Jean Pascal and Calzaghe won his career finale in a PPV fight against Roy Jones Jr. a few months after that.

You could argue that Joe could have stuck around a little longer for Froch but then again there is always someone coming up. I think the fight would have happened if Froch had won his WBC title a year or two earlier but the Super Six guys just happened to get on the map as Calzaghe was winding down.

[slicksouthpaw16]

Plus Canelo barely beat both Lara and Trout, Calzaghe is an even bigger southpaw who's faster than both and a volume puncher to boot. Unless Canelo scored a KO, he'd have pretty much zero chance to win any of the late rounds vs Calzaghe because of his work rate alone, especially since Canelo fades when hes forced to fight at a fast pace (like the first GGG fight).

[Marchegiano]

I'll take Slappy Joe to slap the **** out of Canelo for a clear UD.

Eubank would be a hell of an entertaining matchup too.

[ELPacman]

Canelo is more crafty than Joe but nobody can question Joe's heart. He'd get dropped in fights and come back stronger.

[Science]

Calzaghe's last fight took place before the Super Six so I don't see it as ducking. They simply missed each other. You can make an argument that Joe could have come over to America sooner but he destroyed Jeff Lacy and won clean against a prime Mikkel Kessler.

Say what you want about Lacy but hindsight is 20/20 and Jeff was heavily favored at the time. Kessler was clearly Joe's top challenger at 168 and Calzaghe beat him.

Yes, he caught Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. late but I don't blame him for cashing out with those fights. He was getting up there in age himself and everyone has to retire at some point.

Instead of him fighting "the contender" Peter Manfredo, he should have been in there with the likes of Froch, Chad Dawson or Ward

[whollisboxing]

Instead of him fighting "the contender" Peter Manfredo, he should have been in there with the likes of Froch, Chad Dawson or Ward

The only one of those three who had a world title in 2007 was Chad Dawson and Dawson was at 175. Ward and Froch were on the way up but Manfredo had a buzz from “The Contender” as you mentioned and Joe ended up facing Mikkel Kessler for division supremacy in his next fight.

Manfredo was basically a high-profile tune-up.