Calzaghe thinks he would have beaten Andre Ward

By Boxing News - 05/17/2013 - Comments

calzaghe445574By Scott Gilfoid: Former super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KO’s) thinks he would have beaten Andre Ward before he retired from boxing back in 2008.

Calzaghe said to Sky Sports News “I would have beaten Ward…I can adapt to every style and mine was harder to hit. I think Ward is good in his comfort zone, but I would have gotten him out of that and he wouldn’t have fancied it.”

Well, considering Calzaghe opted not to take part in the Super Six tournament to test himself against Ward, I think he knows he would have lost to Ward.

In late 2008, Ward was already considered the guy to beat at super middleweight, and instead of fighting Ward, Calzaghe opted to fight Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. in his final year in the sport.

Calzaghe’s win over Hopkins was highly questionable and a lot of people saw Calzaghe losing that fight, as did I. Now picture Calzaghe facing a younger version of Hopkins with better speed and defensive ability in Ward, and I think it would have been a huge mismatch with Wards easily beating Calzaghe.

In looking at a fighter that both Ward and Calzaghe beat in Mikkel Kessler, it’s academic that Ward beat Kessler more decisively than Calzaghe. There’s no arguing that fact because all you’ve got to do is look at the two fights on Youtube and you can see right away that Ward has a totally easily time in beating Kessler, whereas Calzaghe ended up going life and death with him and having to struggle hard for a victory.

Truth is Ward would have beaten Calzaghe so badly that it would have been sad to see, especially for Calzaghe’s loyal British fans. I think in the end, Calzaghe knew his limitations and that’s why he chose to retire while still in his prime WITHOUT facing Ward.

Calzaghe could have taken that fight with Ward, but he chose not to. Why is that? I think fighters like Calzaghe know themselves what they’re capable of doing in the fight, and I think he knew he would have been clowned by Ward, so he chose the easy way out by retiring rather than taking a fight that would have exposed him in front of the entire world.



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