«
»

Joe Calzaghe Great Or Just Good?

By chuonboxing

The Morning After Calzaghe vs Jones

Joe Calzaghe’s win over Roy Jones Jnr was the lead headline on the Radio when I woke up on Sunday morning I had Watched Calzaghe vs Jones and had listened to Boxing writer Steve Bunce, Barry Maguigan, and former Calzaghe & Roy Jones Jnr opponent Ritchie Woodhall rave about Calzaghe career and accomplishments… But there I lay significantly underwhelmed by the hyperbole being bestowed upon Calzaghe after the result.

I ain’t Buying what Joe Calzaghe is selling

While I consider Joe Calzaghe to be an exceptional boxer on many levels I have never been 100% sold on the man from Newbridge Wales. Calzaghe like Mayweather seems to have fallen in love with the “0″ on his record, while at the same time wanting to be known as an all time great. Despite Joe Calzaghe having wins agaisnt the two premier fighters of his generation and a string of successful title defenses at Super Middleweight I will make the mini-case stating why Joe Calzaghe is a Good but not great fighter

Joe Calzaghe’s Boxing Record

Although Calzaghe’s record includes  a mixture of modern boxing greats, potential boxing stars, Decent fighters and… lets call them also rans. For me two of the four signature wins you will find on the next Joe Calzaghe DVD should have an asterix next to them with the subsequent note stating ‘opponent past his prime’ and ‘debatable decision’.

Calzaghe Want’s Credit For Beating Roy Jones in 2008… Seriously?

Joe Calzaghe did not beat up Roy Jones Jnr he out hustled the 39 year hold who for me showed superior single punch hand speed, variation and accuracy when compared to Joe Calzaghe. So why did Calzaghe beat the more talented fighter? Simple at 39 Roy Jones doesn’t have the stamina to fight the fight needed to beat Joe Clazaghe who is a cardio machine! The boxing world knew this before the fight! The fact is Roy Jones Jnr (prior to his win over Tito Trinidad) last looked good against John Ruiz in 2003. And for anyone who though Super Roy was back after the Trinidad fight was fooled by a mirage in the desert which has been Roy Jones Jnr career post Ruiz, as the  smaller, weaker, less gifted Trinidad had not fought since losing a shut-out on the cards to Ronald Winky Wright in 2005.

Oh! So When Calzaghe Slaps He Score’s?

As I watched Calzaghe, throw a dozen untidy “pity-pat punches” (or slaps) in a bid to land one or two and then showboating as if he had done somthing akin to the great Muhammed Ali or Ray Leonard while Roy landed the odd clean counter or put a few clean punches together every couple of rounds, it dawned on me that Roy Jones would have picked joe Calzaghe apart with ease 5 or 6 years ago and that  this fight was made so Joe Calzaghe could get the man who was once Roy Jones Jnr P4P King on his record.

Joe Calzaghe has cemented his legacy beating up shadows

This was more or less the same thing Joe Calzaghe did when he faced Bernard Hopkins. In a fight I felt Joe Calzaghe  actually lost to the executioner, Calzaghe looked very ordinary as he followed Hopkins around the ring throwing as much as he could, at anything he could get, which in most rounds was nothing. At the same time Hopkins made Calzaghe consistently eat clean sharp counters which had him pile up the rounds on my unofficial card,,, Now I concede Hopkins struggled and gave away some of the later rounds due to fatigue (not punishment ), but for me the 43 year old executioner had done enough (a) to win the fight and (b)to show me he was the more skilled and talented fighter.

So why did Calzaghe get the nod against Hopkins?

I guess they gave it to Calzaghe for being the agressor? I may be wrong but I thought you won boxing matches for landing scoring punches not repeatedly tapping hands and elbows…. but thats me. Bernard Hopkins in his hey day would have been able to sustain his agression and would have beat up and stopped Joe Calzaghe, hell as a slightly younger old man he would have done the same thing.

So do I hate Joe Calzaghe… well…

NO! I know I came down pretty hard on Joe Calzaghe but I have watched this guy his whole career more or less and while he is a good fighter Calzaghe’s longevity has been aided by amazing stamina, a weak Super-Middleweight division and being matched with stars who should have retired years ago. Now if Mikel Kessler and Jeff Lacy go on to have careers which rank up there with the Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins of this world I may change my mind on how I assess Joe Calzaghe’s career but after seeing Jermain Taylor own Jeff Lacy, i won’t be holding my breath. Calzaghe is good and he may be one of a select group of fighters to get out of boxing with his “0″ but I rate fighters who have tried and lost like Oscar de la Hoya, Erik Morales,   and even Miguel Cotto above him everytime.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This entry was posted on November 18, 2008 at 11:48 pm and is filed under Bernard Hopkins, Boxing, Joe Calzaghe, Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones Jnr, Sport, Sport betting, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Joe Calzaghe Great Or Just Good?”

  1. Intro:Oscar De La Hoya vs Manny Pacquiao - Analysis, betting tips, and predicitions « Chu on boxing Weblog Says:
    November 20, 2008 at 7:19 pm | Reply

    [...] fact is Kelly Pavlik should be fighting another relevant fighter in Joe Calzaghe (although Pavlik may be made for him) and Bernard Hopkins should be fighting another former great [...]

  2. RE: Who’s #1? Manny Pacquiao or Joe Calzaghe « Chu on boxing Weblog Says:
    November 29, 2008 at 3:15 am | Reply

    [...] Kessler and Lacy were merley title holders in a division which is mainly ignored. Bottom line is Calzaghe is and will be remembered as a very good fighter whereas Manny Pacquiao will be remembered as a Great [...]

  3. Closing Arguement: Who’s Number One? Manny Pacquiao or Joe Calzaghe « Chu on boxing Weblog Says:
    January 7, 2009 at 9:53 pm | Reply

    [...] already stated that I don’t think his level of competition is comparable. I will admit that Calzaghe has put in some very good performances against Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler. He dominated against Roy Jones in a fight I consider [...]

Leave a Reply