History Section: Lets Discuss Joe Calzaghe's Legacy/Achievements?

[Perfect Plex]

Right once & for all.

Post your opinions on Joe Calzaghe's legacy, greatness, resume, title reigns & overall career achievements.

Overrated?, Underrated?, Not given enough credit? To much credit?

Discuss, Discuss & Discuss

[ghns1133]

excelent fighter

but he is overated by many

[Zarco]

I used to hate on him, now that hes gone I have learned to appreciate him. Not ATG because of his resume. Who knows what he could of done if he would of burst out of the UK sooner.

[Scott9945]

Joe had a great boxing mind and excellent skills. He always figured out his opponent and took them out of their game while dictating the pace. His opposition could have been better, but anyone who doesn't recognize him as a top fighter is kidding themselves. He'd be a difficult fight for anyone.

[Welsh Jon]

Right once & for all.

Post your opinions on Joe Calzaghe's legacy, greatness, resume, title reigns & overall career achievements.

Overrated?, Underrated?, Not given enough credit? To much credit?

Discuss, Discuss & Discuss

"Once and for all" If only!

There'll always be some people who call him a fraud, and others who think he's an ATG.

He had awesome hand speed and fantastic workrate. I don't see how anyone who has watched Calzaghe v Lacy or v Kessler can doubt his skill. His wins over those 2 were very good victories in the context of the Super-Middleweight division and his win over B-Hop at light-heavy is looking better with each new triumph for old man Bernard. And yes I do think his win over Hopkins was a fair call.

He had far too many fights against poor quality opposition though the likes of Rick Thornberry and Tocker Pudwell should never have had title shots and Mario Veit should certainly have not had 2. And this was made worse by the fact he often fought down to the challengers level, he would often look at his worst against guys that were not a threat to himBut he did have victories over former champions Robin Reid, Richie Woodhall, Charles Brewer, Byron Mitchell and a past his best but still competetive Chris Eubank. He had decent wins over solid guys like Sakio Bika and the gatekeeper-type Juan Carlos Gimenez Ferreyra as well.

He's certainly the greatest Super-Middle of all-time, but I do realise that is not really saying a lot. He had the WBO Super-middleweight belt for a decade, and added the IBF, WBC and WBA belts. He was Ring Champion at Super-Middleweight and Light-Heavy.

There was an earlier thread on this board showing all his dodgy early KO wins. Yes most of these were stopped to early. But all but one of these (the Byron Mitchell fight) came in fights that Joe had no chance of losing. They don't have any real baring on how Calzaghe should be ranked, cos no-one ranks him as a big puncher anyway.

It really annoys me when Joe gets compared to Sven Ottke. In none of his fights did Ottke display skills comparable to Joe. Ottke's title reign was built on a succession of hometown decsions. The same can not be said of Joe. He had 2 controversial judging decsions in his career, against Robin Ried and B-Hop and 1 of those was against an Englishman in England and the other against an American in America. He had several early stoppage wins, but only 1 in a fight there was actually any danger of him losing. These do not come close to the disgrace that was Sven Ottkes's reign.

[Sugarj]

Without doubt a future hall of famer! An ATG? Its a difficult call, but he does have an argument based on his unbeaten record. History may be kinder to him than we think.......

There are very underated wins too. Robin Reid and Richie Woodhall were former champions with exceptional amateur pedigree for example. Chris Eubank was hardly a spent force.

The Hopkins and Kessler wins look better every year....

He would have been a superstar in the 90s if he had been based in America, hell, look at the support Pauli Mallignaggi gets from the Italian American fans!

Can anyone think of a Super Middleweight or Light heavyweight in the last two decades who would have handled Calzaghe easily?

Prime Jones or James Toney may have beaten him, but these two would be posed with problems......plus they are bonafide ATGs in my opinion.

[wmute]

HoF? Easily. ATG? Not really.

[The Surgeon]

I Hate him. I find it hard to take him seriously and its embarrassing to call him a great or a HOF'er when u see him missing windmills and slapping people, all those phoney stoppages too.

I have to admit he had some attributes though - A great engine and workrate, good speed (not gonna call it great coz im fast as **** when i throw pitty pat shots too, its not hard), a big heart when in battle, tough skin, and a great ability to adapt mid fight along with mental strength


There. Thats all the ****s getting out of me!

[D-MiZe]

Joe had a great boxing mind and excellent skills. He always figured out his opponent and took them out of their game while dictating the pace. His opposition could have been better, but anyone who doesn't recognize him as a top fighter is kidding themselves. He'd be a difficult fight for anyone.

On top of the fact he was fighting most of his career with bad hands. I think if he hadn't any hand problems everyone on this forum would've been on his dick. His best attribute was how well he could adapt and that's what took him to the top and the reason why he stayed there for so long.

[NoLove]

An excellent talent but he never really proved his talent in the ring. He had only three big wins. Eubank, Kessler and Hopkins. Kessler also doesn't rank as great. Weather or not it was his fault or his promoter's, the fact is Joe is not proven as great.

Taylor, Froch, Pavlik, Johnson, Dawson, Wright, Prime Jones are all names Calzaghe could have fought to secure his legacy.

And we can't use the theory that 'Froch beat Kessler so that means Calzaghe beats Froch'. Styles make fights. If Calzaghe wants to prove he could beat all these guys he has to beat them himself. It was very clear that Calzaghe was ducking Pavlik when he was the big thing. He fought a shot Jones instead and let Hopkins expose Pavlik.

Personally, I don't think Calzaghe should be inducted into the hall of fame. Not on three big wins, two of which were past their prime.