By Anthony Mason: It was not shocking to see Joe Calzaghe inducted in the Hall of Fame. Not because of Joe Calzaghe’s career, but because of the low standards the Hall of Fame has set for induction. Calzaghe had a very unimpressive career, and the only big names on his resume came against men who were well past their prime.
Chris Eubank was in the very end of his career and a complete shell of his former self. After not losing in over 40 fights, he lost twice in the span of six fights prior to facing Calzaghe. Eubank had not defeated a top-level opponent since Nigel Benn seven years earlier and Michael Watson one year after that. Calzaghe obtained the vacant paper WBO belt and proceeded to make 21 incredibly weak defenses.
If defenses alone were the hallmark for greatness, then Bernard Hopkins, with 20 defenses, would be a greater middleweight than Sugar Ray Robinson, Harry Greb, and Marvin Hagler. With proper context, however, it is clear that is not the case. Likewise, it is clear that Calzaghe’s possession of the weakest portion of the 168 title did not make him great when analyzing his competition.
Robin Reid had very recently lost to an average fighter in Thulani Malinga prior to facing Calzaghe. It took Calzaghe a tremendous effort and a razor-thin split decision to defeat an ordinary boxer like Robin Reid. True, men like Ali struggled from time to time against lower competition, but they also accomplished many other things to validate their greatness. A closer look shows that Calzaghe did no such thing.
Calzaghe went on to defend his belt against the likes of Omar Sheika, Mario Veit, Charles Brewer, Byron Mitchell, Kabary Salem, and Evans Ashira. None of these opponents ever came remotely close in their career to being a top-level fighter. One of Calzaghe’s “biggest” wins came against an extremely hyped Jeff Lacy. Lacy only had 21 fights, whereas Calzaghe had 40. Jeff Lacy was such an incredibly weak opponent, that even a shot and completely past his prime Roy Jones was able to stop him. Lacy had not beaten one opponent of note, and also lost to Jermain Taylor. Against every big name he went against, Lacy fell short. Simply because Lacy was falsely perceived as a great challenge does not make Calzaghe’s victory a valuable one. If Calzaghe should be considered an amazing boxer for beating Jeff Lacy, then Jermain Taylor and Dhafir Smith have to be considered amazing as well. Obviously that is far from the truth.
Calzaghe then defeated Sakio Bika. Bika, like Lacy lost to every big name he ever fought. Lucian Bute defeated Bika before Bika lost to Calzaghe, and Bute is a solid but not great fighter. This victory alone cannot make Calzaghe great. Peter Manfredo also lost to every recognizable name he fought. Sergio Mora, Jeff Lacy, Sakio Bika, and Chavez, Jr. all defeated him. Again, Calzaghe faced competition that every solid boxer has been able to defeat. He did nothing extraordinary.
Mikkel Kessler was a good win. That is undeniable. It is important, however, to not blow this win out of proportion. It was not until beating Carl Froch that Kessler had defeated a top-level opponent. There is no denying that Kessler is a good win, but one good win out of 46 fights does not make a great legacy. Otherwise, there would be a multitude of fighters that could be considered to be great. Kirkland Laing upset the great Roberto Duran, but I don’t hear anyone proclaiming what an unbelievable and remarkable career Kirkland Laing had.
Calzaghe then “defeated” a 42 year old Bernard Hopkins who was and is still elite, but was definitely past his best days. Calzaghe states that Hopkins is his defining win, but the irony is that Calzaghe did not even truly win against Hopkins. Throughout the fight, Calzaghe threw a large volume of punches, but they missed for the majority of the fight. Whenever something did land, 90% of the time it was completely ineffective and landed on Hopkins’ hips or shoulders. Perhaps in the amateurs that style would work, but in professional boxing it should not have been scored in Calzaghe’s favor. Hopkins was never remotely hurt in the fight, but he did manage to knock down Calzaghe. He threw less punches, but when he landed they were clearly the far more effective shots. Landing 4 or 5 solid shots in a round is a lot better than landing 15 meaningless taps on the shoulders or arms. It is true that Hopkins resorted to faking a low blow in the later rounds, but Calzaghe also had to resort to using rabbit punches throughout the course of the fight. Calzaghe’s blatant violation of the rules showed that things were not going his way. Calzaghe tried to fade Hopkins, but he was unfadeable so please don’t try to fade this.
Against Floyd Mayweather, Maidana threw a lot of punches, and he did give Mayweather one of his tougher fights. However, Despite being the much more active fighter, just like Calzaghe was, Maidana did not do enough to win more than 5 rounds. Mayweather, like Hopkins, made his opponent miss more often than not, and was able to land enough shots to deserve the victory.
Some may point to compubox stats to claim that Calzaghe did win the fight, but if compubox was so reliable then people wouldn’t even need to watch any fights in the first place. Compubox never describes the effectiveness of punches, and even shots that miss can mistakenly be counted as one that landed. Compubox can claim that a fighter threw 100 punches in a round, but if one were to take the time to go back and make a rough estimate, they would be able to count only 50 or 60. It is a huge mistake to depend on compubox to determine the winner of a fight. There has been disagreement amongst the press and among fighters as to who won the fight, so the legitimacy of this win is very questionable.
The question ends when listening to Enzo Calzaghe, Joe’s father and trainer, prior to round 12 of the Hopkins fight. He was very upset and angry with Joe Calzaghe’s performance and screamed at him, “What are you doing?” “It’s OVER!” “You’ve gotta stop him. You’ve GOT to stop him!” From time to time, a boxer’s corner will say things to motivate their fighter and prevent slacking off. However, considering that Hopkins has never come close to being stopped in his career, on top of Enzo Calzaghe’s visible frustration, it is hard to believe that Calzaghe’s trainer was simply motivating him. If Calzaghe’s trainer was confident of the victory, he wouldn’t be pleading with an average puncher in Joe Calzaghe to take risks in order to knock out a man with one of the best defenses in boxing history along with an incredible chin – having never been in danger of being stopped in over 20 years.
When Calzaghe came across the only elite fighter in his career (Kessler was a very good fighter – but not truly elite with only one good win) in Hopkins, he was exposed and defeated only to have the judges bail him out. Calzaghe’s depressed expression prior to the reading of the scorecards was only further proof of Hopkins’ robbery. Hopkins proved that the zero in Calzaghe’s record was and still is a farce. Even if one were to falsely claim that Calzaghe did beat Hopkins, it is important to remember that Jermain Taylor was able to take Hopkins to two close decisions that could have gone either way. Jermain Taylor defeated Hopkins at his natural weight with 20 defenses, and Hopkins was much closer to his prime when Taylor fought him. Taylor was an underrated and very good fighter, but I still can’t imagine anyone proclaiming what a magnificent and remarkable career Jermain Taylor had. How can Calzaghe be given special treatment when he couldn’t even legitimately beat an older version of Hopkins?
Calzaghe then decided to once again fight an opponent that was well past his prime in Roy Jones, Jr. Calzaghe did win easily, but he was still knocked down in the first round by an extremely shot Roy Jones who has never recovered after weight draining from heavyweight to 175. If that was a prime Roy Jones, then Calzaghe wouldn’t have survived for 12 rounds. Before losing to Calzaghe, a less washed-up and less past-prime version of Roy Jones had been knocked out by Antonio Tarver in two rounds and by Glen Johnson in nine. Against a better version of Roy Jones, albeit a still past-prime Jones, Tarver and Johnson defeated him in even better fashion than Calzaghe. Tarver and Johnson were good boxers, but somehow Calzaghe is given special treatment and his career is somehow considered to be beyond simply good and something that is remarkable and unbelievable.
Calzaghe was a simply good but not great boxer with a very ordinary career. His only win against a top-level opponent in his prime came against Mikkel Kessler. Jones and Hopkins were both over 40 when they faced Calzaghe, and Hopkins was still able to defeat him. Calzaghe’s zero was the product of good timing, perfect selection of opponents, and a gift decision. The Hall of Fame induction will not be able to mask the truth behind his career.
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