Why doesn't Calzaghe get any love?

in the last 10 years, who's better than calzaghe? can't name too many.

 

Joe Calzaghe's skills are underrated by most. This is directly as a result of his refusal to challenge himself for most of his career. By beating scant few quality opponents, and by feasting on a few names far past their primes (both of whom hurt him rather easily), he has never proven how good his skill may be. Based on his ability to control the ring, to hit and not be hit, and his excellent stamina and heart, one has to admit that he was an excellent boxer. And I say this as someone who has always disliked Joe Calzaghe strongly.

Sadly, he robbed himself of his chance to be regarded more highly, because he valued only the golden "0" a la Floyd Mayweather (as others have pointed out). And so he he goes down in history as a relatively untested fighter. To me, this is far more of a tragedy than the fighter who keeps fighting the best and eventually loses a few times. It is through wins and losses that we are able to historically put someone in their proper place, or give them their proper credit.

Does anyone doubt that Miguel Cotto could have remained undefeated at welter until he got to maybe 35-0 or 40-0 and then retired as the "best" welter ever? He could have just kept fighting the Malignaggi's and Torres's of the world, and then maybe in 2012 pull Pernell Whitaker and ODLH out of retirement, and BAM! (to quote Lamps) Best ever!

I loathe the trend of guarding your undefeated status at the expense of your integrity, legacy, and often your manhood as well. Fighters don't realize how much damage it actually does to them, even to the point of stifling their growth as a potentially better fighter. Bottom line - Calzaghe could well have beaten virtually every prime contemporary at 168 save RJJ, but now we'll never know. Not as a fan of Calzaghe, but as a fan of BOXING, I thus see Calzaghe's career as basically a WASTE.

 

Calzaghe has beaten Eubank, Kessler, Lacy and Hopkins. Those were four GOOD wins. Naturally the Jones fight doesn't count for much.

I wouldn't say it was a complete waste.

Quite simply, he's by far the best WHITE fighter in recent memory.

 

A case can be made that Tszyu prime for prime was bettter.

 

:doh:

 

Nah if anyone Pavlik is the one who has the Klansman aura about him.:laughing:

Tszyu was a damn white/Russian/Aussie/Asian.::

 

Haha too true. I think Tszyu would have more fans if simply cut that fucken tail off his head.

 

Jones didn't follow through with an elbow. Calz ducked into the shot and wore a forearm to the head.

 

Including Mosley who he's about to fight, Floyd's resume on this "bad" last 5-6 years is much better than Joe's "good" resume, meaning when he upped the competition. Their resumes are not very comparable.

That being said I agree with the sentiment that he was indeed a very good fighter, hard to beat.

 

People also forget that Joe fought most of his career with a really bad left hand, was broken so many times, hence why he starting slapping with the punches rather than really digging them in, this changed his style somewhat and left him unable to KO guys cause Joe did have real power before the hand troubles.

He was also an amazingly skilled and versatile fighter, able to change his plans almost round by round and adjust to any type of fighter.

Credit were credit is due, Joe was an excellent fighter.