Sport Joe Calzaghe

Talivar

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Love him or Hate him? ATG or stay at Home joke?
This seems an endless eternal debate on boxing forums so thought id ask here and see what ppl think:)
 

ECA

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I doubt there is much debate beyond the odd trollbaiter, but bless you for having a go.
 

cHodAX

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Honestly, I think he was very good boxer but still overrated by the media. Also don't like the fact he is a drug abuser but that is my own personal opinion.
 

Wonk

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excellent boxer, shit personality :)
 

tierk

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Never rated him as a great boxer, he pretty much avoided all the big names around in his time, choosing to fight them only when they were old and toothless.

A good boxer but great or the greatest, no way sorry.

As for loving or hating him i cant really say either and he was not a fighter i would have stayed up all hours of the night /morning to see fight.
 

Talivar

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You have to remeber a lot of those big names avoided him aswell tho. RJJ had already moved up to LHW and had no interest in going back down. Hopkins DUCKED calzaghe, Ottke refused to leave Germany causing a stalemate, James Toney was already long gone from SMW. The only one you could really say Calzaghe ducked was Johnson.
 

tierk

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You have to remeber a lot of those big names avoided him aswell tho. RJJ had already moved up to LHW and had no interest in going back down. Hopkins DUCKED calzaghe, Ottke refused to leave Germany causing a stalemate, James Toney was already long gone from SMW. The only one you could really say Calzaghe ducked was Johnson.

Calzaghe wasn't worthy of carrying Hopkins jock strap and the fact he fought him when he was 943 years old says it all. The fact that he fought RJJ when he was over the hill, bridge and in the nursing home only reinforces my belief that he was not great as he fought hand picked opponents.

Name one fight that was memorable? Great boxers give great fights and he never did.

In today's boxing though this is completely normal and a lot of boxers see it as just a way to make money and avoid having hard fights and stay chump for as long as possible to keep the cheques coming in. Its a shame really as it was always one of the most exciting sports ever.

Never saw him in the ring with anyone worth talking about unless it was along the lines of yea well back in 1823 he was great!! :)
 

ECA

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The "get to 40-0 and then start making the PPV money" culture of boxing is what's killing boxing.

Fights happen a decade after they should.

Thats why I'm on the fuck boxing bandwagon and <3 MMA, but I still love some classic boxing.

Odds on sport being dead in 10 years? It's a shame really.
 

cHodAX

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The "get to 40-0 and then start making the PPV money" culture of boxing is what's killing boxing.

Fights happen a decade after they should.

Thats why I'm on the fuck boxing bandwagon and <3 MMA, but I still love some classic boxing.

Odds on sport being dead in 10 years? It's a shame really.

Totally agree, boxing is going the way of the dinosaur because the governing bodies are fucking useless and don't force the fights that people want to see.
 

Talivar

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He tried to fight Hopkins tho, they had arranged the fight to happen in AMERICA with Showtime, for a CAREER HIGH payday for Hopkins. Also there was calzaghes belt for Hopkins to take. But big bad uber Hopkins changed his mind at the very last minute and went onto fight a unknown for much much much less.
 

tierk

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He tried to fight Hopkins tho, they had arranged the fight to happen in AMERICA with Showtime, for a CAREER HIGH payday for Hopkins. Also there was calzaghes belt for Hopkins to take. But big bad uber Hopkins changed his mind at the very last minute and went onto fight a unknown for much much much less.

Err when was that exactly? IIRC Calazaghe always refused to fight anyone outside of Wales and to top it off avoided every decent fighter that ever lived. Sticking with his shitty (yes it was a shitty version) version of the belt wrapped up cotton while everyone else was playing with the big boys. The only time he grew balls was when old age had set in on his opponents. Tell me of one great fight you saw of his.

That is his only legacy. Nothing more and nothing less.
 

Talivar

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This is not the first time there has been talk about a Hopkins-Calzaghe fight. In July 2002, Hopkins, who was then with promoter Don King, was on the verge of signing a three-fight deal with Showtime, which was televising Calzaghe bouts at the time. In the second fight of the proposed deal, Hopkins would have moved up from middleweight to super middleweight to challenge Calzaghe in early 2003. But the deal imploded when Hopkins, who had initially agreed, backed out.
From Wish granted: Hopkins open to fight with Calzaghe - Boxing - ESPN

BBC SPORT | Boxing | Calzaghe eyes Hopkins showdown this link helps show that a fight was being negotiated.
There is a trascript somehwere from Showtime Showing the exact course of events but will need big of digging to find.
 

Talivar

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"A teleconference was set up in my office in New York for July 30th, 2002, and on the call was myself, Don King who was in the room, Frank Warren and Bernard Hopkins' lawyer, Arnold Joseph. Along with Arnold was a woman named Linda Carter, who was there on behalf of Bernard. We asked Arnold if Bernard wanted to fight Joe Calzaghe and we asked him how much money would he want if he did. The response we got was $3million and the fight would have to take place in the United States. After a little scratching of the head, we said 'Okay, done.' Frank Warren agreed on the spot, Don King agreed and we agreed so as far as we were concerned all parties were singing off the one hymm sheet. Arnold excused himself with Linda and I can only assume it was to call Bernard. Either that day or the next day, they came with a new demand: $6million, double the sum that had been agreed, the deal blew up.....he had then and still has no desire to fight Joe Calzaghe, that much is pretty clear.
 

georgie

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"A teleconference was set up in my office in New York for July 30th, 2002, and on the call was myself, Don King who was in the room, Frank Warren and Bernard Hopkins' lawyer, Arnold Joseph. Along with Arnold was a woman named Linda Carter, who was there on behalf of Bernard.

Wonder Woman??? That would rock. There in full costume and everything. :D
 

Talivar

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If either man disagreed she would take them both on:)
 

tierk

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You still seem to be clinging to the idea he was a great boxer. If so please name me a great fight he was involved in and that doesn't include fights with OAP's which he made hard work of :)
 

Talivar

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Kessler,Reid,Viet,Lacy.
And if anyone is clinging to anything its you. You come here with zero facts and just pure opinion and have not at any point backed that up. You big up people like Hopkins yet Hopkins spent majority of his career fighting nobodys and much smaller men. He didnt even elave america to fight.
You can easily argue RJJ was superior and no one will argue, but apart from that please list all these great fighters he avoided.
RJJ- different weight
Toney- Different weight
Hopkins - ran like a bitch
johnson- Calzaghe should have fought him after injurys i agree
Ottke - refused to fight
Clinton woods - riddled with injury and retired
Froch - lost to kessler who Calzaghe has beaten so a mute point
Taylor - lost to everyone and a true american hypejob
Dawson - i kinda agree here i think he should have made this his last fight

So please give us your expert analysis on all these fighters he ducked. Also skills wise he had Hopkins faking low blows and crying for 5mins rest liek the pussy he is. Yet in his next fight Hopkins demolished Pavlik, So he wasnt that shot. Also the fight before calzaghe he demolished someone.
 

tierk

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Kessler,Reid,Viet,Lacy.
And if anyone is clinging to anything its you. You come here with zero facts and just pure opinion and have not at any point backed that up. You big up people like Hopkins yet Hopkins spent majority of his career fighting nobodys and much smaller men. He didnt even elave america to fight.
You can easily argue RJJ was superior and no one will argue, but apart from that please list all these great fighters he avoided.
RJJ- different weight
Toney- Different weight
Hopkins - ran like a bitch
johnson- Calzaghe should have fought him after injurys i agree
Ottke - refused to fight
Clinton woods - riddled with injury and retired
Froch - lost to kessler who Calzaghe has beaten so a mute point
Taylor - lost to everyone and a true american hypejob
Dawson - i kinda agree here i think he should have made this his last fight

So please give us your expert analysis on all these fighters he ducked. Also skills wise he had Hopkins faking low blows and crying for 5mins rest liek the pussy he is. Yet in his next fight Hopkins demolished Pavlik, So he wasnt that shot. Also the fight before calzaghe he demolished someone.

You keep talking about the Hopkins fight like it was some sort of wonder fight, he got knocked down early in the fight and only won on points. Hopkins work rate dropped in the later stages of the fight and i am guessing that being 43 might have had something to do with it.

As Hopkins rightly pointed out during the build up to the fight, JC needed that fight much more then he did as he had fought basically every nobody fighter that couldn't cut the grade across the Atlantic.

You keep saying Hopkins ran from him when he was younger - by the way you word it because he was scared - but the reality was that JC was almost completely unknown in the US. He only became a name after fighting Jeff Lacy and yes he gave him a good kicking in that fight (2006).

I am not saying he is a shit boxer just one i wouldn't consider a great.

Regards your comment about me coming with only opinions and no facts, sorry but your opening post was asking for peoples opinions. The first person that responds in a way you don't like and bam all of a sudden i am talking bollcoks!! :)

When someone talks about great fighters JC's name is not one that comes to mind. Talk to me about Benn, Watson, Collins, Haggler, Hearns, SRL, Holyfield, Tyson, hell even Eubank...... see what i mean? BTW the list could go on for a long while and he still wouldnt feature on it.
 

Talivar

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He just seems to cause the most debate lol
 

Talivar

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Ah yea i know its not only you, check most boxing forums and they everywhere lol. Its an endless battle. Atm tho its seems Ward vs Calzaghe for some bizzare reason.
 

cHodAX

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When someone talks about great fighters JC's name is not one that comes to mind. Talk to me about Benn, Watson, Collins, Haggler, Hearns, SRL, Holyfield, Tyson, hell even Eubank...... see what i mean? BTW the list could go on for a long while and he still wouldnt feature on it.

Totally agree, he isn't in the class of any of those but his prime came in an era of mostly mediocre fighters at his weightclass. He was very very good, definately not a great thought and certainly not the greatest British fighter ever or even close.
 

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