By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KO’s) said he got the chance to take on Andre Ward’s latest fight against Carl Froch in the Super Six tournament this past weekend. Calzaghe, 38, said the 27-year-old Ward looked impressive but he thinks he can still be beat.

Here’s what Calzaghe said on his twitter: “Watched the Froch v Ward fight gain. Ward is a good fighter but def beatable.”

Sounds good but who precisely is the person that can beat Ward? Calzaghe doesn’t say but obviously he can’t be referring to himself, as he turns 39 in February and he’s been adamant about not wanting to make a comeback against anyone, period. Even if he were to get a ton of money, Calzaghe has no interest in making a comeback. The thing is with Calzaghe he had the opportunity to fight Ward if he had wanted to back in 2008 when Ward was already showing that he was the class of the super middleweight division. Instead of facing Ward, Calzaghe opted to take fights against older fighters 41-year-old Roy Jones Jr. and 43-year-old Bernard Hopkins and was knocked down by both fighters.

It’s probably a good thing that Calzaghe retired when he did because I think Ward would have easily beaten him. Calzaghe was still in the prime of his career when he retired, so it wouldn’t have been a case of him being old if Ward had done a number on him. Ward is simply better in every area than Calzaghe in my view.

But forgetting the thought of Calzaghe making a comeback, just who does he see that can beat Ward? Mikkel Kessler was already spanked by Ward in 2009. Indeed, Ward beat Kessler much worse than Calzaghe, who struggled to beat Kessler by the 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112 scores. In 11 rounds of action, Ward beat Kessler by the scores 97-93, 98-92 and 98-92. Ward also beat Sakio Bika, a fighter that Calzaghe struggled with, much easier than Calzaghe did. Ward beat him by a 12 round decision by the scores of 120-108, 118-110, and 118-110. Calzaghe defeated Bika by a hard-fought 12 round decision in 2006 by the scores of 117-110, 117-110 and 116-111. Ward looked much better against Bika than Calzaghe.
So who does Calzaghe think can beat Ward?

Carl Froch – Nope! He just got whipped.

Andre Dirrell – he’s a special talent with amazing hand speed, power and defensive skills. Andre might be able to do it if he can get a few more fights under his belt to get the rust off from a year of inactivity.

Anthony Dirrell – Well, possibly but he would be taking a big jump up in competition in facing Ward.

George Groves – no head movement, no power and weak on the inside. He stands no chance ever of beating Ward. This would be a hilarious fight to watch, as Ward would pick Groves apart and knock him out. A very limited fighter. If Calzaghe thinks this guy could beat Ward then he’s really dreaming.

James DeGale – He’ll never be able to beat Ward because he’s too much of a slapper, plodder and lacks the defensive skills. DeGale honestly needs to lose some baby fat and move down in weight to the middleweight division if he wants to amount to anything in boxing. Ward would kill him.

Lucian Bute – This guy can’t block punches and mostly uses his feet to evade punches. Bute has no jab and lives and dies by his power shots. He would get jabbed apart against Ward and lose every round unless the fight were to take place in Canada, where Bute is unbeatable. I could see him losing every round to Ward and still end up having his hand raised at the end if it were to take place over there. But anywhere else in the world, Ward easily wins.

I think it’s pretty clear that Ward would have whipped Calzaghe had the British fighter not up and retired when things were getting hot with Ward taking over the division.