I, however, like this matchup! The 80s crew get too much love around here...someone needs to balance it out.
7-5.....Calzaghe will win because it's his best weight..and his bigger...and the 168 version of Leonard wasn't very good....
They both probably rated eachother very HIGHly considering if they spent time together both prob were high as a fuckin kite. Leonard and Calz supposedly are very good friends. Wonder how many lines they do together when Ray travels to the UK.
Anyone with eyes to see, and is objective, would rate Calzaghe very highly. He was a phenomenal talent.
Not a damn thing phenomenal about Joe Calzaghe. Excellent fighter? Yes HOF fighter? Yes. SPECIAL? No. Not IMO. I'd make him an underdog against both Ward, and Kovalev if he was prime today. Golov? You'd have to make Joe the favorite cause GGG at 168 is a question mark.
When the cat's away the mice will play. Easy to say that now that Calzaghe is retired. If Jeff Lacy were prime today and undefeated you'd pick him over Calzaghe too I'd bet.....oh that's right...you did when they actually fought. ;) Calzaghe beat Kessler and Hopkins (who was in between the Tarver and Pavlik fights)....so was very good. Now WARD...would be a tough fight for Calzaghe but I'd pick the Welshman in a close fight. Calzaghe does everything a tad better than Ward. Kovalev would be a good fight too, but again Calzaghe wins.
Kov would give Calz the beating of his life. Point blank period. Joe couldn't keep him off with his slaps. And Calz was usually able to physically man handle his opponents, and against Kovalev that goes out the window. Kov's offense is too good for Joe, and he hits toooooo fuckin hard. Joe was hurt by FAR lesser punchers than Kov. Hopkins lasted the distance with Kov ONLY cause Hopkins knows how to go into survival mode. Calz didn't have a survival mode. He'd fight Kov, and he'd get blasted out as a result.
Calzaghe was an awkward, speedy, southpaw, volume punching madman. Y'all underrated how hard it is to beat this sucker!
If anything, that's MORE true for Ward. Dre hasn't been beaten since he was fuckin 12 years old. And in the case of Kov, he's a possibly special fighter at 175. And Calz wasn't a light heavy.
