Calz fought on even term with a geriatric hopkins that only had left a right hand counter. Pretty sure monzon runs him into his right head more than enough to get a clear decision. A late stoppage wouldn't surprise me
Monzon was more hittable than even the old version of Hopkins so Calzaghe's slapping might steal points furtively. Also, Monzon bullied people with his strength but Joe was strong as well and the bigger man. Also, it took Monzon some time to pound the resistance out of guys like Benevenuti so Calz has s real shot but even so, Monzon is the favorite as the far more proven guy.
That first statement is false. Extremely false. Monzon had very good reflexes, and wasn't easy at all to nail cleanly. If old Hopkins was harder to hit, it's purely because old Hopkins became a negative fighter. Monzon was an offensive fighter who stayed defensively responsible. And when you say "guys like Benvenuti" it's highly dismissive and makes Benvenuti sound like some mug. Benvenuti is a HOFmer and his resume shits on Calz's. Monzon was a HUGE HUGE underdog in their first fight. Benvenuti was also more skilled than Calz, with Joe's advantages over Nino being size and speed.
Maybe Monzon wasn't easy to hit cleanly but he could be touched and that's what Calzaghe did. And of course his aggression had a big role with it. I still believe it would suit Calzaghe's style. I know who Benevenuti was. A great fighter who was not totally different class from Calzaghe but somewhat comparable
Yeah, I'm no benvenuti fan, but there's a good argument to be made for him being better than calz. Ive said it before and ill say it again, but calzaghe is by far the most overrated fighter of the last 20 years if not more. Wasted most of his career fighting bums, and his avoidance of glen johnson was shameful (and weird). To his credit, he did salvaged it in the last few years with the lacy, kessler wins, but his resume is still incredibly thin.
Nah, I think Joe was a damn good fighter, but Monzon figures to be all wrong for him. Joe would probably build an early lead, but once Monzon figures him out and really starts timing him with the one-two, you would see a gap in class.
But back to my point about Monzon's defense, it truly doesn't get enough credit. I don't mean by UGO specifically, I mean people in general don't give Monzon enough credit for his defense. He didn't get caught with clean shots very often. Most punches he either rolled with, parried, blocked, or avoided all together by pulling away from them.
You can be a damn good fighter and still be overrated, which is the case with joe imo. Some of the things ive seen written about him are absolutely bonkers, though it must be said that most of it comes from the UK
It's not as bad as it used to be. There was a point when Calz love was insane, and the dumbest thing I ever heard was one guy say Calzaghe would beat Michael Spinks at 175. I haven't heard anything that bonkers about Joe in over 10 years. I would say like 85-90% of his fans have come down to Earth. The most they do now is debate with the Froch groupies over that matchup. Froch groupies are actually a lot worse than Calz groupies imo.
Btw I'm not really sure i would call monzon an offensive fighter. At least, not to the extent of true offensive fighters like pac, duran and Tyson. He was more of a patient guy who would use his strenght, jab, cunning and size to wear guys down and walk them into his right hand
I was about to say that there's a definitive group of fans in the UK who hate Calzaghe, and tend to love Froch.
I've always seen Monzon as a guy who counter-punched and controlled distance, but didn't mind walking his guy down. He could ferocious when he wanted to be, though. I remember being amazed at how viciously he turned things up in the fifth and sixth vs Napoles.
For me both these guys were about at the same level. Calz was flashier and faster, but froch was more proven, grittier, punched harder and had better timing. I see it as a close fight that could probably go either way. I haven't seen anything too outrageous said by Froch fans to be honest, bar by a few obvious trolls.
Yeah, he had a mean streak in him, and was a good finisher, but as you said, more of a distance guy and a counterpuncher than an offensive whirlwind
