I think I understand why Joe Calzaghe is still mocked.

[Kigali]

Joe was a great fighter. But the following quotes sum up his career:


1999: "Be honest, Roy Jones is a good fighter. But I'm not chasing him as I don't want tough fights, I just want to be well paid"

2003: "I think I could give Roy a great fight. Maybe his greatest fight. But I'd want the "Crown Jewels" due to the element of risk involved"

2007: "I have no interest anymore in Roy Jones and no interest in Antonio Tarver. Jones is washed up and Tarver was never that good anyway. He just caught Jones when Jones was shot and Johnson did the same"

2008: "Roy's had 3 great wins and is now back to his best"

2008: I knew when I returned home that people weren't going to give me the credit I deserved for beating Jones"

2008: "Pavlik's done nothing to warrant a fight with me. Also, we tried to fight him in 2006 after I beat Lacy, but he wasn't interested"

2008: "Dawson's done nothing to warrant a fight with me. He doesn't excite me"


If you put the above quotes into context, you can see a very clear picture.

Great fighters do great things.

Archie Moore was great

Bob Foster was great.

Joe was FAR from greatness.

[Scary]

He was actually a KO puncher in the first part of his career, but he had brittle hands and had to change his way of fighting, which is pretty damn impressive.

[robertzimmerman]

Joe wasn't a light heavyweight, only in his last two fights. He was truly a SMW, with 21 titledefences - nothing to sniff at.

Joe walked around at 192-196 pounds.

He had to kill himself to make SMW.

He should have moved up years before he did.

[billeau2]

People actually think that to evaluate Joe Calzighe unfavorably is done out of racial sentiments?
sounds like something Elroy would say...

History is a camera lens. Gradually over time a picture emerges about a fighter...how good, how bad, how consistant, etc... It takes time and patience but the habits, weaknesses and strengths of a fighter do come to the surface.

Joe fought weak competition. Thats just a fact. Joe was competative with two men who were great fighters but were way past their prime...he was dropped by both men, and Bhops won the fight to many people, again: all facts, not up for debate. Just compare the record of Hopkins, JOnes and Calzighe, including when they fought and whom they fought... there is no comparison.

Finally, when evaluating Calzighe's technical abilities, there is hardly anything magnificent. He definitely dominated solid European level competition, but thats not the same as not having a pleasant style and still beating the best. Hank Armstrong was a bit of a volume ouncher himself...but he beat guys who were the best...Joe beat up guys who were solid, and/or past their prime.

Joe did a number on Lacy...turned out not to be that big of a deal though did it? Just the facts.

All one has to do is compare Joe to Ward to understand the difference between a great fighter who dominated competition, fought the best at all times, and a fighter who coasted, fought second best, and needed the judges to affirm victories...With Ward that happened with Kovalev, with Joe it happened often!

Michael Nunn would have had JOe for tea with crumkets! ditto for Toney much less prime JOnes!!

[FinitoxDinamita]

Naw. I dislike calzaghe simple because he slaps like a hoe. His style is extremely ugly to watch, even more so than pac's style.

It's comical when he throws those girly azz slapping combos. He fights like a lil btch.

Fuk joe calzaghe

[lopetego]

Naw. I dislike calzaghe simple because he slaps like a hoe. His style is extremely ugly to watch, even more so than pac's style.

It's comical when he throws those girly azz slapping combos. He fights like a lil btch.

Fuk joe calzaghe

wtf are you talking about, prime Pacquiao was beautiful to watch, he was poetry in motion, violent, relentless boxing poetry, one of the most entertaining fighters ever.

Dont compare him with Calslappy's awkward, ugly, girly fighting style.

[robertzimmerman]

Sources for these quotes?

Enjoy:

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Boxin...he.-a060444934

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/i-am...e-6352495.html

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...tXCskQ6AEIMDAG

https://youtu.be/AWDtzdAYTOA (6 min mark)

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/spo..._best/?ref=rss

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/ca...utless.849097/

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...ghe-retirement

Although he was unfortunate with injuries and set backs over his career, he deserves all of the criticism he receives. Just look at the contradictions and his actions. Take the above into account, and note that he made 21 defences of a lightly regarded WBO belt, where only 7 of those defences were mandatories, and he had to kill himself to make weight.

He wasn't bothered about Tarver, Pavlik or Dawson etc, but was happy to fight guys like Manfredo and Bika, before bowing out against a guy who he'd labelled as shot.

He played it safe his whole career. And the main reason for that was because he was unfortunately bullied when he was at school. I wouldn't wish that on anybody, but that is why he was so protective of his zero. He vowed that due to his experiences, he would never let anybody beat him again either physically or mentally.

What Joe didn't/doesn't realise, is that he'd have gotten much more respect had he have pursued the best possible fights, even if it'd have meant that he wouldn't have retired unbeaten.

[W1LL]

In 1991, at 19, Joe Calzaghe won the ABA Welterweight title. In 1992, at 20, Joe Calzaghe won the ABA Super Welterweight title. In 1993, at 21, Joe Calzaghe won the ABA Middleweight title. He made his pro debut later that year at Super Middleweight, the division he won the WBO World title in in 1997, at 25.

[robertzimmerman]

Funny people mentioning Jones age, they were only a couple of years age difference lol. Stop trying to discredit Joe's win.

Joe discredited the win.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...tXCskQ6AEIMDAG

https://youtu.be/AWDtzdAYTOA (6 min mark)

[robertzimmerman]

American. Fan of Joe Calzaghe.

Not one boring round from Joe. Not a single boring round. As soon as the bell rings, every opponent is walking into a nearly tireless and relentless Joe Calzaghe.

The day I had to remove him from my sig....yeah, sad say. His best fight was with Mikkel Kessler. Classic brawl.

You've exaggerated.

Some of Joe's fights were awful. They weren't all entertaining.