I Want to See Calzaghe Fight Again
July 31st, 2009
By Liam Santiago: As a Joe Calzaghe fan, and a boxing fan, I was disappointed to see him retire. Of course, the man is a legend. At the age of 35 he outpointed undefeated Mikkel Kessler and he also defeated Bernard Hopkins, who is currently rated no.2 in boxingnews24 p4p rankings. But I want to see him fight one more fight. It would be the difference in him being remembered as an amazing fighter or a great fighter. I honestly believe he could beat any contender out there today, so why not? Give the boxing fans a great fight?
I’m prepared to take abuse for this. The Roy Jones fight should not have happened. Why? Do I need to explain? Jones is a veteran. Calzaghe had big options. He had fighters calling him out left right and centre. Chad Dawson, young and unbeaten. Carl Froch, the young British, unbeaten power-house. He could have fought a rematch with Bernard Hopkins who was defeated by Calzaghe in an ‘unconvincing’ bout. The list goes on, but I’ll say one thing, Roy Jones is at the bottom of it. Please, don’t think for one second that I’m trying to mask Joe’s ability. His hand speed, footwork, heart and chin is absolutely stunning. I’d say he has the ability to be one of the best fighters to ever live. He just needs to prove this.
The big question all fans ask is, Will he return? All we seem to get in reply from Joe is something like, ‘only for 10 million pounds’, or, ‘I don’t think so’. Joe could easily beat Carl Froch on points so why not get yourself back in the gym and fight him. Same with Chad Dawson. Of course, the comments will flow for this article. ‘He deserves his retirement’ and the likes. Well, I’ll answer that now. Yes he does, however, he has what it takes to beat these guys and his legacy is often in question over the quality of his opponents. Like it or not, it’s true. If you look at some his opponents he was fighting, at around his 20th fight, they looked more like Mr.Blobby than professional boxers. What would critics say if Khan fought those guys. Calzaghe has a legacy which many question whether he deserves it. He needs to respond to that by fighting Chad Dawson. Personally, my prediction would be Calzaghe on points.
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I would like to see Calzaghe fight again, I agree that fighting Roy Jones was stupid, he wasnt really a match, he was good, but there is a difference between then and now.
I dont feel that Dawson or Froch would cause much bother, however, I am a big fan of calzaghe and I feel the way he can now prove his legacy (which i belive he deserves) is to move up in weight, His fitness is unmatched and if he was to move into the division slowly, He has a good chance of becoming a proven legend!
I`d have loved to see Joe go on to best or equal Marciano`s record but hey its Joe`s life and he has one outside the ring.
So many still say he slaps and thats a bad style, yet hes been riddled with hand injurys since his Fight with Evans Ashira, Joe could no longer Punch hard and straight down the line with force, but if you look at his fights before you`ll see that Joe had a venomous punch! Joe had to change his approach cos of his hand injurys! geeez give Joe some credit hes undefeated still!!! Joe was out of his prime when he fought Lacy. You critics say Lacy was overated yet most of youse made him that, plus you can only thank Joe for proving such( ironic hey??), Lacy was good but Joe broke his boxing spirit.
As others have pointed out you so gladly de value Joes past opposition: In their Prime Woodall,Reid, Bika,Sheika,Brewer,Mitchell,Lacy, Kessler, Mario Veit was 30+ fights undefeated and Joe`s punch put him on the canvas in the 1st round. The eubank fight was a tough fight go watch it and give Eubank a bit more respect. Hopkins fought dirty and tried to call bluff cos he knew he did`nt have a chance toe to toe with Joe, that in itself only proves Hopkins respects Joe`s boxing skills, plus in their prime Hopkins backed out of their fight one day before it was to be. And no Hopkins isnt washed up as proven in the Pavlik fight, hes a skilled boxer and a great tactician.
Jones didnt want to fight Joe cos it was too risky and did the old reversed pschology and fooled his fans into thinking joe didnt wanted to fight him .Fact is Jones said hed rather fight domestic opposition on HBO more money less risk, dont forget Jones was done for abuse of steroids while in his prime, which has more punch when it comes to saying who the fake really is!
Both Hopkins and Jones past opponents can be looked at as nothing much to be admired easy fights, maybe when Jones lost his first fight he had a real opponent infront of him??? just speculating lol!
Prime Jones And Hopkins??? Calzaghe had the Punch back then topped with all his skills. i dont doubt Jones skills but Calzaghe work rate would have won the fight and his punch power was great in his prime,plus in their actual fight Jones workrate was more or less the same as what it was in his prime average 35 punches per round. Hopkins didnt look good in the Jones Fight, strangely Hopkins has got better as hes got older,Calzaghe would have been too much again cos of his workrate and punch power and all the rest.
And dont kid yourself on dawson either.
And Solis your one biased do gooder has has no objectivity when it comes to boxing!!
you make me laugh,them guys have done a lot more than chad dawson,and 1 minute hopkins is shot,then he beats pavlik badly and he back up there again.How can you mention johnson,he been beaten by clinton woods but let me guess,woods would beat calzaghe!You talk crap!
Its the truth,and what big fights.Those fighters who the hell did they beat.I’m not a calzaghe knocker I just said hes not the best because he hasn’t fought the best.You can’t give him credit for beating old ass jones and old hopkins,they would have tore his ass up if they were in their prime.As for kessler he barely got away with pitty patting that one.He should come back and fight some guys like jermain taylor,chad dawson or even glen johnson.But instead hes content with leaving the boxing world with beating an old fighter who should have retired 5 years ago and wants to get credit for that.Na i don’t think so,I think hes an alright fighter but no where near great and can not of even come close to legendary.
I saw his last fight from Canada. The Welshman made most of his opponents look like bums i.e english fighters.
He was past his prime since 2004. 8 years old than Kessler and out of his prime with bad hands, still beat him.
you talk garbage mate,for some reason you are a calzaghe knocker,he had loads of big fights and remaining undefeated all them years he gonna have a few easy rides,he met and beat vivian harris,a prime robin reid,charles brewer,hopkins,jones,kessler,lacy,eubank!You give him no credit and say dawson would smash him up,c’mon!
I would love to see dawson vs calzaghe.Chad would smash calzaghe easy.
pavlic,!!!!!!?what happened when hopkins fought pavlic.!!then what did joe do to popkins,,,,,how can you even think pavlic would cause calzaghe problems,,,pavlics boots would be smoking and hed be on his back,!!!!!!enough said,
I can’t believe you think joe is a legend right now.He retired when his division was catching fire.Joes overrated big time he never has been a great fighter,simply because he hasn’t fought any great fighters.What B hop at 40 something,come on man.What kessler,kessler is a good fighter i guess but then again who has he beaten.Joe never gave b hop or kessler a rematch,why not?When he fought old ass roy jones what did that prove,nothing.Roy can hardly swing but yet joe still got dropped that fight was the biggest joke in boxing.And every body that are on calzghes nut s give him credit for destroying lacy.Lacy was always hyped and highly overrrated,he knocked out and beat a whole bunch of nobodys leading up to the calzghe fight.Joes a pitty pat puncher with no power,how could you call him a legend and say hes one of the greatest to ever live.I understand that we all have our favorite fighters but don’t overachieve his limited achievements.For example a lot of people say oscardelahoya is a living legend which i agree but only because he fought the best.Trinidad,chavez,mosley,vargas,hopkins,mayweather and the list goes on and on.Joe hasn’t even come close to an achievement like that.I wish he would comeback and take on some of the fighters that are in the tournement because i can count atleast four of them that would put a whooping on joe.
Calzaghe should stay retired, he fought the last 3-4 years at 70% due to brittle hands. The young calzaghe was a big puncher, but those punches destroyed his hands hence if was punching no where near his max. stay retired you deserved it
well anon,that makes sense to me,wht go over old ground,did u think he was a fraud when he beat eubank,or when he demolished vivian harris,wot about when he outclassed lacy or when he went toe to toe with kessler,your the fraud mate
Joe’s got nothing left to prove no matter what people say. Undisputed super middleweight and the best light-heavyweight in the world…nothing left for him to do
Hey Liam Snozberry! stop writing articles
hopkins offered to fight joe for “a significant amount of money” and “in his own back yard” in front of 60000 of his people but he avoided that. i mean why the f*** did he turn that offer down other than he knew he got a steal decision the first fight. he has continually insulted hopkins AFTER their fight and has publicly stated on the jonathan ross show that he only would ever hate fighters he had fought if “they beat him”.
Joe’s getting old and his hands are shot. If he were younger and his hands were good I would love for him to come out of retirement. Joe was a lot better fighter than a lot of people are willing to admit. There is a reason that most fighters went from middleweight to lightheavy weight, that reason retired this year.
I think he needs to fight Dawson if he wants to be remembered as great. If dawson had more power I would give him a chance but I don’t see him coming close to outpointing Calzaghe. I think Calzaghe had the skills to go down as one of the best boxers ever but he didn’t fight enough big fights. He went after the big paydays (Hopkins, Jones) instead of the fights that would have secured him a better legacy (Dawson,Pavlik). That said there’s no one out there that can beat him now.
yeah you sum it up well carrick,you will always get people who don’t know their boxing knocking him even tho he stayed unbeaten all his career and had more big fights than people seem to think,i mean the Froch thing is just crazy,people should snap out of it,froch would beat calzaghe is to daft to think about
This is where i’m kind of split between what i want to see and what he should do. I still don’t think coming back will do anything, they’re will still be questions of who he should beat to prove his legacy. Calzaghe would have to beat Hopkins in a rematch, Dawson and Carl Froch to really prove his legacy to shut stupid people who keep going on about how rubbish Calzaghe is right up.
Imagine if Calzaghe comes back and beats Hopkins in a rematch…people will be saying, he didnt beat Dawson! Imagine if he comes back and beats Dawson, he didn’t beat Hopkins in a rematch, he got beat the first time supposedly (Someone who faked that he got low-blowed and was spoiling the whole fight, he deserved the 5th loss on his record).
Froch is busy in the super middleweight tournament, and no one even knows if he is going to be beaten or not, if he stayed undefeated maybe. but Calzaghe in my opinion is light-heavyweight from now on.
Good point Liam about wanting to see him fight again, im dying to see Calzaghe fight again. Your so right about the Jones fight too. No matter how shot Jones really was, Calzaghe was superb. To be honest Jones looked better than Pavlik did against Hopkins. I think Calzaghe would have done a number on Pavlik too.
Calzaghe Vs Hopkins II would be great IF Hopkins didnt spoil the fight! Personally, Hopkins and Dawson need to meet up…the winner getting Joe Calzaghe. the winner of the super-middleweight tournament to Joe doesn’t mean anything no more.
Lets see if Dawson gets past Glen Johnson, didnt see their fight but supposedly Dawson got lucky with the decision, most americans don’t say that. If thats true, then shut the f^^^ up about Calzaghe getting lucky.
And Blade, any fighter with a solid chin, power, stamina and great boxing ability will beat Froch…but it isnt Taylor (obviously), Ward or Dirrell to do it in my opinion…Kessler is the man for me to beat Froch, and to win the whole thing!
People doubting Calzaghe so much since he retired, he should go on to take Rocky Marciano’s record to shut everyone up, and show the true great he really is!
Wait till the super middleweight tourno,you’ll all see how limited froch is and gets exposed for what he is,a fraud!Calzaghe would destroy him inside 5 rounds!
I’d love him to come back and shut up all the Froch gang,led by Matt W
His legacy would be so much bigger whether he beats Dawson or loses to him??? What are you nuts?! Chad is a good fighter, but i’d pick Kessler to edge him on points, and Hopkins is currently ranked as the no.1 light heavy in the ring ranks. Beating Dawson might add a little extra to his record…but not much. Losing to him, even tho Joe’s nearly 40 years old would allow all his haters to pounce and it’d wreck his unbeaten status. Of course there were loads of people calling him out, there always will be. Froch, Cloud, Woods, Hopkins, Dawson, Pavlik etc etc the list goes on. Sorry but Dawson ain’t nothing special. For purely selfish reasons I’d love to see Joe box in Cardiff one more time. But it’s clear he’s already proved enough in the ring – I mean would you bet on any of the top middle, super middle or light heavy fighters beating. No. Exactly.
I don’t rate Dawson and I think Joe would slap him all over the shop! In what would be a Beat down! UD for JC.
To be honest I want to see him in the ring with Froch! JC said Froch was not big enough when Froch called him out…..on numerous occasions. When Froch became his mandatory, Joe decided to vacate and move up in weight! It would be a classic! Both men dislike each other! Both have said they would KO each other….I do question that as JC has not KO’ed anyone in a long time!? But it would put an end to it all!