By Scott Gilfoid: One of the complaints I often hear is that ‘if Joe Calzaghe was an American, he would experience less criticism from fans.’ However, I think that’s totally inaccurate, because we American’s are always willing to criticize American fighters just as quick as foreign ones. Our country is more of a melting pot and we’re less nationalistic than many outside people might think because we have so many different types of people here.
Of the biggest boxing stars in this country, such as Mike Tyson and Oscar De La Hoya, American fans frequently criticize both of these fighters and don’t get bent out of shape with other people from elsewhere around the world criticize them as well.
I would venture to guess that our ego isn’t as wrapped up in fighters than fans from other parts of the globe such as England. If you ask why Calzaghe gets criticized, it’s because of his rotten record filled with crème puff opponents, not because he’s from the UK.
If you take a fighter like him and put him in the U.S., believe me American fans would call him a phony, hyped up media creation just in the same way that we do now. If we had someone who had fought the large part of their career facing no-name fighters from Timbuktu, we’d level criticism the same way.
I think with us, though, we’d never give him an exalted position in the first place, and see him for what he is. Calzaghe would never likely be nearly as popular if he were from the U.S and he had fought the opponents that he did. We couldn’t back a fighter that never left the country, didn’t fight any real stars except for a couple of old ones, and somehow managed to fight his entire career without facing and true stars at the top of their game.
He’d be likely booed out of the American arenas and seen as a pseudo champion. You can’t fight only scrubs and then get out of the sport when the going gets tough, claiming that you’ve accomplished all there is in boxing and don’t need to continue fighting. I think I speak for all Americans when I say that they would loath a fighter like Calzaghe if he were an American, and would stay away from his fights like the plague.
Of course, Calzaghe would never get away with fighting only easy fights if he were an American, because the cable networks – HBO and Showtime – wouldn’t let him get away with it. If he tried fighting opponents like Mario Veit a couple times, the fights would be rejected by the networks and he’d have to pick another opponent, one with real talent like Chad Dawson instead of one that’s virtually no threat to beating him.
He might not like it, but that’s the way things go over here. There’s no more free rides for boxers, and if he wanted to be shown on the major networks, he’d have to step up to the plate and face someone who would have an excellent chance at beating him.
De La Hoya faced severe criticism for going after Manny Pacquiao instead of fighting someone his own size in Antonio Margarito. Mike Tyson faced a lot of criticism as well for one thing or another. But he would have been criticized whether he was American or any other nationality. The same goes for Calzaghe.
If anything, he’d be criticized even more if he were an American and he had faced the wretched competition that he faced during his career. Like I said, he wouldn’t have gotten away with it. We’d have made him fight opponents one or another or else we’d ignore him altogether and not show any of his fights on television. What surprises me is why didn’t the people in the UK do the same thing with Calzaghe?
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