The Super Six Tourney – How would Calzaghe fair?
August 5th, 2009
By Liam Santiago: Hearing the news that the Super six tournament was being introduced to boxing was music to my ears. Six top super middleweights fighting the best opposition possible, with only one being crowned victorious. These six fighters are the type that keep boxing alive. No one is being ‘ducked’ and top fighters will lose. Extra points are gained for a knockout which makes the the tournament that much more exiting. A couple of changed could have made the tournament that much more exiting, if that is possible; adding Kelly Pavlik and, dare I say it, Joe Calzaghe.
The pride of Wales was also crowned victorious on points against Chris Eubank, although far past his best, Jeff Lacy and an aged Roy Jone Jnr. There is certainly no denying Calzaghe’s talent and ability. He has proved his boxing ability is second to none and has an incredible 46 fight unbeaten record to his name. However, even as a huge Calzaghe fan, I do question some of the match making and quality of opposition he faced at the top level.
Ranked as the best no.1 pound for pound fighter in the world by many, Calzaghe chose to fight an old Roy Jones Jnr instead of the likes of Carl Froch and Chad Dawson; the fight every boxing fan was screaming for.
After beating Jeff Lacy he fought Manfredo and Bika. This sort of match making is bad for boxing and turns fans away. As I say, I am a massive fan of Joe, but I believe if he beat the fighters that constantly called him out, he might have been crowned one of the best fighters ever.
What better way for Calzaghe to silence every single critic; coming out of retirement to defeat every top super middleweight on the planet, with the exception of Kelly Pavlik and Lucian Bute. I honestly believe he could do just that. He has already beaten favourite Mikkel Kessler on points in his home country. However, I simply could not see Calzaghe entering into this highly competitive competition, even if wasn’t retired.
This is the big time. No fighters years past their best. No journeymen. Like I have said, I can not see anyone in the world coming close to defeating the Welsh man, but he has never shown the same desire, courage and determination to fight the best that fellow British champion and bitter rival Carl Froch shows. Would Joe come out of retirement to fight the winner? Would he instead engage in a huge bout with unbeaten light heavyweight, Chad Dawson?
I hope he comes back and fights on, simply because I feel that I fighter of Joe’s ability and talent is such a waste when he can not honestly say he has not pushed himself to fight the very best. Would you ever see Muhammed Ali duck the best fighters in the heavyweight division? Would you ever see Roberto Duran or Randy Turpin turn reject the best to fight the former best?
Kelly Pavlik publicly criticized the tournament, claiming the contestants were wasting their careers for such little amounts of money.
Pavlik was linked with a mega fight with Tourney entrant Carl Froch not so long back. Personally, I think this would be a great fight and the addition of Pavlik in exchange for his former victim, Jermaine Taylor would make the tournament that much greater. But if Pavlik does not want to participate that is that. The question he has to ask himself is, who is out there for me now? No Abraham. No Froch. No Kessler, Dirrrel or Ward. He could always go after unbeaten French man, Lucian Bute. But what after that? A rematch with old chief Bernard Hopkins, the only man to defeat him on a wide points margin.
The tournament is already loaded with top quality fighters. But how much greater would the addition of Calzaghe and Pavlik be, the super six then being the super eight. And what a super eight it would be. Or even the removal of two fighters to make way. Who to be removed is another question. Is this going to happen? No, of course it won’t. Calzaghe can still make his name by challenging the winner or even going for Dawson? Rumour has it that he still trains every day. Is he likely to make a comeback? I imagine not but we can all dream.
Tags: 36 Responses to “The Super Six Tourney – How would Calzaghe fair?”
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you calzaghe lovers can say what you want, but calzaghe would have never taken on a taylor(on his home turf) in his prime like froch did. I am by no means a froch fan, and I think calzaghe would beat froch because of speed and overall skill, but I admire what froch is doing.. putting his record and belt on the line vs the best out there… in boxing and sports, you are judged by who you fight when they are at their best. We judge Ali for beating frazier, foreman, and liston, not guys like buster mathis and mac foster… Taylor has a better resume, and IMO froch when it is said and done will have fought much better fighters than joe has ever come across..
joe did this to himself…
I agree, good post steve Mcg. calzaghe is a good fighter, but he ducked guys. He fought roy way pas this prime. both guys in their prime and roy disposes of calzaghe by round 5..
Bernard: I thought Hop won that fight.
Calzaghe would never get in this tournament, never, too many good and determined fighters in here. the only guy I say he would beat would be froch, because froch fights with his hands down, is the least skilled of the bunch and would just get hit too much.. the other fighters are just too talented. let me add, he may beat direll, and only because of direll’s lack of experience…
I just hate that this guy became a dodger and a cherry picker, and the fact that he never did rematches is also suspect…. Or at least he said he doesn’t do rematches.. I wonder why?
I think we should asking why the likes of Green, Bute and Bika have been over looked in favour of Ward, Dirrell and Abraham.
Froch and Kesller as as two of the SMW Champions deserve to be there!
Some people would say Jermaine Taylors performance against Froch in what was an exciting fight gives him the right to be in the tournament.
IMO Ward and Dirrell have done nothing of any merit to justify their selection.
As for Abraham, he’s a great champ but is untested at SMW’s highest level and also lets face it, he had/has unfinished business with Pavlik….those two needed to fight! and this tournament has put a stop to all of that!
There the reason why IMO Green,Bute and Bika would have been better for the super 6.
G-man – you’re suggestion for the Super-6. Brilliant, that would be amazing all the way. Guess though with someone like Hopkins, trying to get his agreement though would be close to impossible.
Calzaghe bet Kessler, in my opinion Kessler or Froch will win this tournament.*
I think if Calzaghe was in this tournament would have maintained his unbeaten record.
Calzaghe bet Kessler in my opinion Kessler of Froch will win this tournament.
Froch cannot beat Calzaghe!!
Calzaghe too much stamina & speed
calzaghe,s the man,,he,d whoop any of these 6,why,s froch keep going on about how hard he can punch,,,lacy could punch hard too,look what happened to him,
Calzaghe in his day would have beaten all those fighers! He is in his late 30s now and although still quick doesnt have the same power but still managed to out box kessler who will dominate the super 6!!! So kessler wins super 6 calzaghe has already beat him!!
Super 6 Final KEssler vs Froch
Hope froch wins but clever money on Kessler!
Joe has nothing to prove ..he,s way better than any of these fighters …enjoy your retierment joe ..job done
Still the waffle goes on about calzaghe.He was unbeaten get over it .No need for him to make a come back .take one look at him unmarked clear head on his shoulders .An unreconized great fighter.
I knew Lacy was overrated, but at that point you’re right, I didn’t know just how skillful Calzaghe was, so I didn’t call a winner, I just waited to see what happened, and I was glad Calzaghe won (although it was sad to not see the fight stopped earlier).
Also, I know what you mean about Froch’s ‘swooping’ uppercut. He got that from knocking rubbish fighters out, and his skill and defense digressed with every fight. I may have been slightly biased, but sometimes I think courage deserves more praise than God given talents that aren’t used to achieve greatness.
I know Calzaghe has a solid chin, but he rarely gets hit with combination’s because of his head movement.
Anyway, I just think he could have taken a couple more genuine fights rather than name fighters past their prime, that’s all. But anyway, if he lost tosay Froch now, we’d all say Calzaghe was ‘past his prime’ too.
This super six tourney is great for boxing- all the best too all boxers (no points for guessing who I’m routing for!)
kessler is rated no 1 in the tournment and joe out boxed him so i think joe would be no1.
The only man who could trouble Calzaghe is Kessler who i hope meets Abraham in the final, although i think it’ll be either Taylor or Froch who faces Kessler
STEVE MCG, calzaghe has got a solid chin, hes got a very high work rate, froch relys on his swooping long slow right uppercut, which calzaghe being a southpaw would see coming, hes probably got the worst defence out of the 6, he has to keep his left hand down by his side then flicks his slow jab out. but he can bang. calzaghe would box his head off.
would of liked it to be
carl froch
mikel kessler
bernard hopkins
kelly pavlik
joe calzaghe
jermaine taylor/ lucian bute
now that would be a tournament to get excited about
Face it Joe. People want you back to fight for your legacy.
SteveMcG, “Lacy was over-rated”, show me your post where you said that before the fight?? No where, because you are an after-timer.
Form your own boxing viewpoint and stop re-hashing what you hear from all the ney-sayers.
Meant to say: I hope Kessler wins, and that would confirm JC as number 1.
Good article Liam, although I wouldn’t want to see Joe come back. Boxing has too many fighters who come back, and in the main it’s never the same.
As for Pavlik, the forgotten man, saying this is a waste of time – yeah right, it’s just sour grapes-who’s he gonna fight in the meantime?? Although think he does deserve a place moreso that Jermain Taylor.
I do wish JC had faced Pavlik, rather than Hopkins fighting him. Both JC and B-Hop (as he did) would thrash Pavlik.
calzaghe would obviously win….its been no secret (said by the fighters and showtime) that this tourney was divsed to find out who is no1 at SMW since calzaghe retired. calzaghe was without a doubt SMW king…hes already done kessler, who in my eyes will win this tourney and thats when kessler was active. calzaghe would obviously win this tourney.
AndyBoy, Kessler hasn’t done anything since losing to JC, so how is he a much better fighter since losing to him? A bit of a retarded statement if you ask me, perhaps if you followed boxing………
joe retierd end of. dont need 2 prove anything by fighting dawson. dawson not at joe level. cant blame joe for fighting jones. he wanted the big pay days he deserves. and wouldnt av got that in a dawson fight!!!!!
Hi all,
I am done – get over it!
Regards
JC
Calzaghe would win this super 6 tournement. Simple as that. hes already beaten the best fighter in it and as much as im a believer in styles make fights Joe has faced all types of styles and hasnt lost.
Ok SteveMcG i can see you are a Froch fan. But, lets face facts the only 2 decent people that Froch has been in the ring with are from his last 2 fights. He beat Pascal to win his belt. Now that was a entertaining fight i wont argue but Pascal is hardly a great fighter… its was a bit of a slugfest with very little skill involved. After that he stuggled against a well past his prime Taylor, not the Taylor of old who was a great middleweight but a past his prime middleweight who went up to super middleweight to
Ok SteveMcG i can see you are a Froch fan. But, lets face facts the only 2 decent people that Froch has been in the ring with are from his last 2 fights. He beat Pascal to win his belt. Now that was a entertaining fight i wont argue but Pascal is hardly a great fighter… its was a bit of a slugfest with very little skill involved. After that he stuggled against a well past his prime Taylor, not the Taylor of old who was a great middleweight but a past his prime middleweight who went up to super middleweight to
Dirrel and Ward would get stopped in the first 6.
Kesller/Froch would be tough points victories.
Taylor, points or late KO.
Abraham, If Joe didnt stop him he would humiliate him for 12 rounds flooring him a couple of times.
Calzaghe in his prime (not the 38 year old he is now, a fact that people seem to keep forgetting because he is still so fast and skillful) beats all of the guys mentioned above. Simple as that.
Remove Dirrell/Ward for Pavlik. Not a hard choice at all. These two have done very little so far in their careers to warrant the place fighting the best in the tourney (Taylor at least has his former glory to live off). We all know these two and Taylor are only there to generate interest for the American fan base.
I honestly believe everyone of those men has a good chance of beating Calzaghe,It doesnt take a great fighter 2 beat Joe,cuz hes nothin great himself,hes a fraud,the most overrated fighter in the history of boxing,I will not be shocked if any of those men were 2 beat Calzaghe,I seriously mean dat i wouldent
Okay then Mr Rich, name to me one flashy fighter with Taylor’s hand speed (he has decent power too), that Calzaghe fought and beat?
Hopkins: I thought Hopkins won.
Roy Jones: Sad to see him lose to someone he’d have KO’d within three rounds in his prime.
Manfredo: Ha ha!
Lacy: grossly overrated to begin with.
And Froch has only been on the canvas once as an amateur or professional.
Froch has taken on two genuine hardy fighters in their relative prime, and pretty close together. Calzaghe is a really good fighter, but he doesn’t like to fight, although his heart did pull him good at times. Froch is toughness is twelve leagues above Calzaghe, and when a tough boxer who can box steps in there, we have something called the Cobra!
Calzaghe is unbeaten because he ducked most of the top younger guys, and only boxed old or crap fighters.
bottom line I think Calzaghe needs to fight again if he wants the kind of legacy someone with his skills should have.
I dont know how anyone can say Froch has a better chin than Calzaghe. Has Calzaghe ever been knocked out? He is unbeaten so id have to say he hasnt been knocked out. As for Froch hitting harder, Calzage has a pretty good knockout ratio and he always held back on his punches because he has always had problems with hand injuries. As for Calzaghe not liking to stand and trade, i think you need to watch a few of his fights or re-watch them. I wouldnt be biggin Froch up too much, he only beat Taylor by the skin of his teeth with 14 seconds to spare and was totally outboxed and behind on points. You think Calzaghe would have had that kinda trouble against Taylor? No chance!
joe did’nt fight glenn either and he’s afraid of dawnson
Lucian Bute is Romanian Liam. Calzaghe isn’t a huge puncher, I’ve always thought that Froch would be losing on points then finally knock him out. I mean, he doesn’t like to stand and trade, but Froch would make him, and Froch has a harder chin and whacks a lot harder too, go Froch!
I think the same about calzaghe. He had the skills to go down as one of the best ever. He should fight Bute,pavlik,and dawson then fight the winner of the tourney. if he wins it would be a 50-0 record he’d have the best record in the history of boxing. It won’t happen though, he was a bit of a cherry picker but I don’t see anyone out there who could beat him right now.
Although I’m not Calzaghe’s biggest fans, because of the poor opponents he boxed.
I reckon he’d do quite well. We have to remember that Calzaghe rarely sparred but his work rate was very impressive; coupled together that he’s a very experienced competitor I think he’d only lose to Abraham.