Calzaghe – Did Joe Avoid Taking Risks?
April 8th, 2009
By Chris Williams: I really hate to say this, but I can’t help thinking that Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs) didn’t do enough risk taking in his boxing career and seemed content with facing the mediocre opposition in the WBO. I suppose if Calzaghe had accomplished his unbeaten 46-0 record by beating some talented fighters like a prime Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins or one of the younger lions like Chad Dawson, Kelly Pavlik, Andre Ward or Andre Dirrell, I could excuse him retiring with an unbeaten record.
This is why I think there needs to be an asterisk inserted by his name in the record books, because the wins Calzaghe did get in his career – victories over opponents like Mario Veit, Rick Thornberry, and Bronko Sobot – weren’t enough to qualify him for any kind of boxing hall of fame type numbers if you ask me.
All Calzaghe had to do was fight someone like a young Hopkins, Jones Jr. or one of the mean punchers like Julian Jackson, Nigel Benn or Gerald McClellan, and Calzaghe would have had lasting fame just from the stand point of what he could have accomplished earlier in his career.
Instead, Calzaghe chose not to fight any of them, and stayed focused to fighting and beating the Mario Veit’s of the super middleweight division year after year for 10 years. It was a relief when Calzaghe finally, for a one small space of time in his career, stood up and fought Mikkel Kessler, Sakio Bika and Jeff Lacy.
That showed that Calzaghe was willing to take some risks, but not nearly the types of fighters he should have been fighting if you ask me. Kessler is totally unproven and looks like a white version of Winky Wright. Lacy has already since been exposed as not being the fighter that people thought he might be when he started his career. And Sakio Bika is mostly just a good fighter and not really world title material.
It’s one of the most disappointing things you can have in the sport of boxing when a fighter builds up a record against easy opponents, defeating them and thereby building a mystique built of so-called invincibility. It’s been done in the past many times over, and there’s fighters doing it now.
The lure of an unbeaten record for the television media is like gold, except, in many cases its fool’s gold and not the real thing. The only way to pierce the phony mystique of fighters like this is to force them to fight good opponents.
In most cases, things are self corrected when a fighter eventually wins a title and has to defend it over and over against top opponents.
However, when a fighter is in a division that isn’t known for having talented fighters, such as the super middleweight division in the 90s, then you can have a fighter that is capable of holding onto a title for a significant amount of time without having to face a truly talented opponent.
In the 90s, the super middleweight division, particularly the WBO, was one the worst in all of boxing, with fighters that many people have never heard of and ones that seemed out of place in boxing. I saw it as a last refuge for fighters not talented enough to compete in the middleweight or light heavyweight division, two of the more popular divisions throughout the years.
Tags: 33 Responses to “Calzaghe – Did Joe Avoid Taking Risks?”
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I once write a piece like this. I agree with you.
Calzaghe had loads of hard fights he could have had, even now.
Hopkins win over Pavlik, made Calzaghe’s win over Hopkins look much better than it was.
Pavlik didn’t really turn up to that fight; There are rumors he was ill.
Very good post mate.
Beaten 9 world champions
just to say although roy jones was shot hopkins was definately not and proved he is still a competent fighter after his schooling of the overhyped pavlik. So it proves americans are just as overhyped joe was great fighter not the best though.
get frank greedy warren out the sport i hate him with a passion joe had hand picked fighters all the time never moved out wales he a fool mint record to look at just not when u dig to deep in to it amir going same way cos of warren and hatton still be unbeaten if warrwen still had him but he wont of done what he done ricky got a better record than joe he let his self down by not travelling and fighting big names but warren got rich out of it
Calzaghe has retired with a 46 0 record,people just need to accept it…..Mainly the Americans!
He was a great champion…no question!
Kessler would prove himself if big names would fight him…people wont fight him for the same reasons they wouldn’t fight Calzaghe..He’s too big of a risk for the money.FACT!
Kessler will be another Calzaghe….he wont get the recognition he deserves.FACT!
Johno.
Even if we accept (for sake of argument), that Calzaghe had half a dozen unnecessary fights against poor opposition*, that still leaves a 40-0 record for the one of the longest reigning champions this sport has seen.
*By this, I mean non-mandatory/voluntary title defences against fighters who were low B-grade fighters or worse.
It was disappointing that JC didn’t fight Hopkins or Jones Jr. sooner. I’m not going to say he should have fought them in their primes, because I don’t think he reached his prime until a little after they had finished theirs – both were in their primes in the 1990’s/early 2000’s, whereas Calzaghe’s was early-mid 2000’s.
Pavlik’s name keeps being brought up when discussing fighters JC could/should have fought, but quite frankly, I can’t see why. Inbetween making his name with the Taylor fights, Calzaghe was proving himself the best super-middleweight in the world bar none by defeating Kessler.
Dirrell and Ward are even more laughable. Dirrell’s best opponent was Anthony Hanshaw (21-1-1 going in), while Ward’s may well have been his last fight vs Henry Buchanan (17-1 going in). Neither has fought an A-grade opponent yet, let alone a truly world-class operator like Calzaghe or Kessler.
lacy got well and truly bummed from joe
Is this basically a reply to my article on Sunday. hahaha.
Im sure this had over 60 replies. What happened there?
Fleck me another calzaghe article…how longs he been retired now?
wel u’ve done it again chris u in a race wit scott and micheal for muppet of the year award ……….
joe is not a legend but he did take risks after all he did fight lacy and he was supposed to be the next best thing according to you yanks ..
And well total dog shite aint the word.
There has been, since the start of February, 30 articles arguing more or less the same point. Please, somebody make an argument that 30 articles on the same subject in about two months is justified because I cannot see it.
In short, write something fresh. This is Boxing News, not Boxing Olds.
I’m looking forward to an article on this website calling into question the record of Joe Calzaghe. It would make for such fresh and original journalism.
Give me a break Joe fought who was put in front of them and outworked and showed more desire to win than any of them. Bernard Hopkins please, doesnt anyone remember the 20 odd defences he made of his title, exactly cos he fought tubes as well. and only realy became famous after beatin up a welter and another guy whos career began at 126 nuff said on him. as for jones as great as he was(probably the best athlete in boxing history) he still liked to feast on the odd policeman and public citizens. but joe beat who was put in front of him and had any big name stood up they would have been beaten too cos hes has too much energy more desire to win than any man and a chin like granite.
lol leave it now im sick of seeing shit about calzaghe on here no ones cares hes retired leave him in peace
seriously, how many more articles do we need on this. theres always gonna be those who feel calzaghe could have done more. there are also those who feel calzaghe did enough to have a legend status. like as Jime said, whatever happens the critics pick faults in what they do. reminds me of the pacquaio fight not to long ago. 95% of people were saying oscar was gonna destroy him. as soon Pacquaio destroyed him, the critics said yeah but he was past it etc. showing that whaetevr u do in the sport of boxing, people will say you didnt do enough.
Look, if a fighter retires unbeaten, there’s automatically a presumption that he didn’t face quality opponets. Put another way- it only makes sense that if you routinely fight people on par with you, someone will best you sooner or later. If that doesn’t happen your record is suspect. I think the criticism of Joe not facing too many top rated guys early on is warranted, but he came over and challenged several notable guys and beat them. Then the critics say, he won only because Hopkins was past his prime. So, he can’t win. I don’t think he went out of his way to find someone who could beat him – but I wouldn’t say he was hiding by any means.
why do they keep writing these articles? their exactly the same as the last 50, if he did fight benn and won it would of been shadowed by the same point as eubank being over the hill, JUST ACCEPT IT THAT CALZAGHE IS WHAT HE IS!
U brits no Calzaghe isnt the greatest fighter ever, but he was a hell of a fighter period!
Im always defending Calzaghe but good shout Asad.
Calzaghe and Warren could of done more, bite the bullet once and you will reap the benefits there onwards.
Gotta say he has a point. The only difference being Haye and Khan aint champions in their own rights, Calzaghe was.
This is an interesting article, im from the UK and think calzaghe is a very good boxer, but i have to agree with the writer on this one…i dont think calzaghe took any risks in his career…im not sure whether it was frank warrens fault or his…but either way if hopkins backed out or doubled his money demands when he was in his hayday, then why didnt calzaghe just take a pay cut and go fight him? the same with roy jones, why didnt calzaghe go to the US, and despite warren trying to protect him by saying ‘dont let them take the p$ss joe, dont accept a paycut, your better than them’ why didnt calzaghe just force him to make the fight?? when theres a will theres a way… look at what david haye had to do inorder to get his fight with wladmir… look at what amir khan is doing after his loss, they all going out there and making changes, they getting out of their comfort zones… the same with carl froch he is getting out their and getting in their faces! and look he landed a fight with taylor… i remember not so long ago, taylor asking for $10 million to fight calzaghe!!!ridiculous, and coz of that the fight never got made(http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/6549085.stm)… but look at froch he bending backwards to make the fight happen… to gain something you have to give in a little at times…so it is true these guys did start demanding huge amounts of money when negotiating, abit like pricing themselves out… but i think if not warren, calzaghe should have done more to get the fights made… force the promoter, take the paycut! because if you think about it, he had the best fighters of his generation in and around his weight, but never got a chance to fight them coz of ‘money issues’ and lack of persistance.. and now coz of that people hate and criticise… but we all know he would have been the biggest challenge for all of the american fighters.. coz he is an intelligent fighter, adaptable, and with a heart of a warrior…
kelly pavilk ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha aha ha aha ha aha ha aha ah aha haahahwhwhwhahahahahwhwhahahaha ahabaha aha ha aha ha ha ah aha aha ah aha aha ha ha ha ha ha habah aha ha ah aha ah ahahahahahahahahahahah lololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol 1 word BHOP lolololololol
Dirrell? Ward? Two real big name fighters there…
Tool.
that 1st sentance is in reply to Jonny about Kessler.
Only cuz the big names wont fight him, if he was overated hed of been over in America by now, thats because Americans wont travel.
And im sure alot of people remember Jones and Hopkins not showing much interest in Calzaghe back in the day.
Jones wasnt interested at all unless Calzaghe went to America and took bugger all purse and Hopkins talked his way out of a fight with pathetic money demands of his own, and Calzaghe was up for that fight, Hopkins walked away not Joe.
joes the boy.leave him alone u brit haters.hes undefeated wot more needs to b said.any americns undefeated at 46 fights?thought not!!
Im sorry but with people keep sayin hopkins and jones ducked calzaghe before is pure bullshit! Just because calzaghe claims this doesnt mean it was true and plus calzaghe was a nobody at that time anyway. The article is accurate as it states facts and kessler good fighter but what big names has kessler beaten? come on i would like someone to tell me some bignames kessler has beaten? anybody? thought not!
Mr Gilfoid does this so much better. You look like a complete amateur in comparison Chris. You are a poor mans Scott Gilfoid.
Oh dear.
Chris Wiliams is like a broken record.
Please stop trying to change history.
Anyone who knows boxing is not convinced by your stupid lack of knowledge in this sport.
This is the best sport ever. We don’t need to read nonsense about it.
By the time Calzaghe had a world title, Gerald McClellan had been blind with brain damage for over 2 years. Something tells me that would not be a great fight for Joe to take.
Christine Williams i completely agree with you Calzaghe is a fraud and he took no risks, where as the Americans did.
Calzaghe never took on the new Mike Tyson in Lacy and more so unlike the Americans he never dared take on Kessler.
woooooooooooo hold your horses, He did beat Lacy and he did beat Kessler. Its the American boxers that wont touch Kessler with a barge pole not Calzaghe.
so ive changed my mind, your talkin shit again boy.
Why cant we have an article about Nigel Benn, Buster Douglas, Steve Collins. They have all retired too you know.
lacy was an overhyped AMERICAN fighter that joe took to school for 12 rounds…had he beaten joe he’d still be being hyped up to this day..stop criticising and try practice what yu preach you narrow minded glory hunters