Fighters who were better than they looked....

*Puts on tin hat* Calzaghe.

MTF

 

Unfortunately, farmer Froch definitely belongs here.

Looked like a total scrub at times, but somehow, someway, was a damn good fighter.

 

I think its the opposite. Calz seemed better than he was. Against cans, he was pretty much lightning (see manfredo and sheika).

 

First time.i saw froch was against pascalz and i was impressed. Great jab, pace and toughness

 

Calz would have spanked Froch.

 

REED Wouldn't Say He Was Overly Impressed OR Unimpressed by Froch...There Were No Glaring Strengths OR Weaknesses To Him, Aside from a Willingness to Literally Fight ANYBODY...

Maybe Froch SLIGHTLY Overachieved, But it's Not Like He Sucked Or Looked As if he Had No Business Being in a Boxing Ring Either...






REED

 

Froch held his left hand entirely too low for a guy with poor reflexes, had comically bad footwork at times, and kept his chin straight up in the air everytime he threw a combo.

The guy musta made a deal with Satan - there's no way he shoulda been an elite fighter.

 

Terrible style matchup for Carl. Calzaghe had the one thing that worked against Carl - handspeed - in abundance. He's have made Froch look like a bum and might have stopped him late on.

Yet I have no hesitation whatsoever in rating Froch 'greater', historically, than Joe. His resume pissed all over Calzaghe's, and it isn't even close.

MTF

 

I might have watched ever second is every one of his professional fights and I never thought he'd make it as an elite fighter. I always thought he was basically a decent European level fighter with a punch He seemed to have no meaningful jab, blocked punches mostly with his face, had awful footwork, held his hands stupidly low, had delusional belief in his handspeed, which was average at best (yet he liked to throw lead uppercuts as if he were RJJ ) and went back defensively in straight lines.

I waited and waited for that farmer to get the hiding I always expected him to get, but it never happened, and as time went on and he continued to fight absolutely everybody in his division, I stopped waiting and came to appreciate Froch as being just one of 'those' fighters who shouldn't be any good, but somehow was really hard to beat. The one fighter who made him look terrible was Ward, but even that was only for half the fight and somehow Froch was still there in the later rounds, coming forward, landing punches and making up ground.

Still don't know how that fucker beat all those elite fighters. Tough, tricky little fucker, was Froch.

MTF

 

Froch developed into a very good feinter, which served him well 'till the end of his career, though it took him a while to develop it. Also showed what the intangibles of stamina, will and chin can do for you.

 

I think Calzaghe is very underrated at 168. I'd only heavily favour Jones to beat him there. Sure, he could slap with his punches, and could get caught off balance and overall look like a bit of a beginner vs guys he should be taking apart, but when he was on, he was on fire. Just look vs Eubank. Chris' style, in theory, should have been a piece of piss for Calzaghe, but I'd have at least expected even an old Chris to win ONE round. He perfectly exploited Eubank's stamina issues with his workrate, and exploited his balance in the first especially, but by resetting the angle after every combination. Chris had no answer. Even Lacy, where he smothered Jeff's hook to the point where it was useless.

If he was in with Froch, he'd light Carl up with about 300 combinations every time Froch swung his power shots.

 

Agree
I was amazed at how he hit people over and over with the same shot
He hit Barrera both fights over and over and over with the straight left, it was odd. I remember thinking HOW can Barrera not avoid that SAME punch over and over.

Pac had great speed and power and developed better as a boxed over the years.

 

there is something to be said for the fact that eubanks immediately went up 20 pounds his next fights after calzaghe.

 

Froch beats calzaghe. Hell throw hard punches during the flurries and land the better punches. Not to mention that that jab would trouble jc a lot. Close fight but froch takes it

 

I think what people underestimate most about Calzaghe is that his "slaps" were still hurtful. A lot of fighters thought they could just walk through his slaps and bomb him out. After a few rounds, they found themselves covering up and/or retreating to the ropes to try to avoid them.

 

Froch ain't beating shit.

Calzaghe would get inside, where Froch is totally inept, and slap him around.

Joe was physically stronger than Froch - that's Froch's biggest problem in this matchup, moreso than the speed disparity.

 

Froch admitted he would have to knock Calzaghe out to win, and that Joe's workrate and speed would be impossible to compete with in terms of winning rounds.

 

There's an interview with Eubanks immediately after the Calzaghe fight where he simply says 'now I know why Collins ducked this fella. Smart, smart guy'.

MTF

 

Lacy and Jones were just two of the fighters who belittled Calzaghe as a 'slapper' before fighting him and ended up with burst faces for their troubles.

What made Calzaghe such a tricky
operator among other things, was that he always mixed his 'slaps' with at least one fully turned over punch in each combination. That hurtful punch was enough to allow him to reset and throw another flurry.

It was ugly to watch at times but very effective. Only b-hop, the master at negating someone's offence, came close to effectively shutting it down by the time Joe had perfected the style late on in his career. And he still lost.

MTF

 

Roldan? I dunno, though. He could look monstrous in some fights, like he did against Kinchen. Never technically, mind you, but there was no denying what you saw in that one. Others you’d just be waiting for the favorite like Hagler or Hearns to get going against this uncultured swine. And then you’d wonder why they’re taking so long and getting hit so much.