Hopkins Legacy: Calzaghe or Maskaev?

[raymon123]

this is a hard one because if Hopkins moved up weight and defeated a champion he would add a lot more to his legacy but IMO Calzaghe is more the famous and better know of the two and if he beat and undefeated champ it would add even more so im gona go with Calzaghe

No he wouldn't cause maskaev's the paper champion he beat rahman who didn't win anything to get that title.

[Easy-E]

Since Maskaev sucks, a Calzaghe win would be much better for his career.

[realheavyhands]

theres nothing better then being the heavyweight champion of the world. and in the USA nobody knows joe calzaghe

[raymon123]

theres nothing better then being the heavyweight champion of the world. and in the USA nobody knows joe calzaghe

I bet nobody still don't know who maskaev is lol come on man think think. True boxing fans from the usa if they have tv should know who calzaghe is. Unless the fans of the usa don't have cable.

[cupcrazy01]

ARRRGH!! I somehow accidentally voted for Maskaev, but this is a no-brainer.

A Calzaghe win would solidfy Hopkins as a middleweight legend and conquerer of the recognized champions of both the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. The Calzaghe win would probably be his career-best performance, since Tarver clearly wasn't what he used to be and his defining middleweight wins were against welters.

Hopkins also would have beaten three all time greats: DLH, Tito and Calzaghe, (as well as giving Tito and Calzaghe their first career losses) and combined with his Tarver victory, all weight complaints (e.g. why didn't he move up and challenge himself?) would be null and void. People who don't give him much credit for beating Tarver (because Tarver looked past it) would be silenced.

I want this fight to happen. Calzaghe-Hopkins at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff would sell out in minutes and PPVs would sell very well. Oscar and Frank need to arrange this.

[Hurlex]

So maskaev is more well known as calzaghe? lol come on. When was the last time maskeav ever been on tv on main event fights? lol. I bet none of the true boxing fans pay that crappy ppv of rahman vs maskaev 2. Calzaghe is absolutly well known. Calzaghe has been on showtime alot and his next fight is on free hbo so of course right there proves he's well known. A win over cal will be way better then beating a paper champion that is still a bum in maskaev. So if i was hopkins i easily pick calzaghe cause he's more well known, he's still fighting like he is in his prime, he's been the longest reining sm champion and cal is undefeated.

come on man i didnt say maskaev is more popluar than calz but here in the USA most fans dont knwo who the **** he is and dont aprreciated or think of calz as hella good or anything..iam just saying..when the last time you were in a bar and people were talking about how good Calz is? I am not saying Maskaev is good but its sound better ..."oh hopkins beat some guy name calz at middleweight or whatever"...then for people to hear "Hopkins is fighting for the HW title...yeah the guy who beat DLH.."etc and so on. I am just saying as much as i can see around me in the "boxing fan" community they think hopkins beating a HW and taking the title would be HHHUGGGEEE..beating calz..not so much..he doesnt get that much credit. Again its up to him though. I think Calz would be a better fight but the HW win would atract so much more attention.

[potatoes]

With Hopkins hinting of coming out of retirement, what fight would further or better his legacy? Calzaghe or Maskaev?

IMO, hands down, a win over undefeated super middleweight Joe Calzaghe would be huge in defining Hopkins HOF career and legacy. Plus, by all accounts this would be a "super fight" and a matchup many boxing fans today would love to see.

On the other hand, a win(and hopefully dominating performance) over Maskaev would be impressive but not unprecedented(RJJ) and surely not as big a win over Calzaghe.

Thoughts on Hopkins' legacy and who you would want to see him fight.

Hopkins is a businessman and any good businessman would take the easiest fight for the most money. Anybody with any common sense should know that Maskaev is a better style match for Hopkins and the jump up to heavyweight makes the fight a novelty and likely a big draw. For Hopkins, Maskaev is the clear choice over Calzaghe. However, the fight won't be made for at least a year and it is not clear to me that Maskaev will still have the belt. His mandatory is either Toney or Peter, both of whom have a good chance of beating him.

[Abe Attell]

Even if Calzaghe did beat Hopkins, his win would be discredited as Hopkins is an old man on the brink of retirement, and if it was close, it'd get held against him, ala Ricky Hatton/Luis Collazo.

Well, Hopkins is "Old" and not in his "prime"...he is still a good fighter, but hasn't been the same physically for many years.

[Abe Attell]

theres nothing better then being the heavyweight champion of the world. and in the USA nobody knows joe calzaghe

exactly...


Oleg still punches like a Heavyweight and that is dangerous...Joe isn't going to come close in knocking Hopkins out, but his pressure could pose some problems...if it were "Prime vs Prime", I would favor Hopkins...Bernard only had trouble with guys that moved around, like Roy, in his prime...Taylor didn't fight Bernard in his Prime, if he did, Taylor wouldn't have won.

Bernard became more cautious about his punch ouput/conserving his stamina, as the years went on after Tito.

The advantage in facing Oleg over Joe is that Oleg doesn't have the punch output, nor the speed of Joe...Joe's speed and punch output, at this age for Hopkins, might be a real problem.