Probably the most underrated fighter of all time. Definitely the most underrated, undefeated fighter of all time.
One of the most overrated fighter ever. Barely beat an old decrepit Hopkibs and Robbed Reid. The Kesller win was impressive, ill give him that
Calzaghe is underrated, but he has no-one to blame but himself. His resume, for a fighter with nearly 50 fights and probably twenty-odd title defences, is dreadful. His entire career revolves around wins over an old, gun-shy Eubanks, Lacy (who proved to be not as good as advertised), Kessler and old Hopkins. That's his lot. And he had absolutely no-one to blame except himself because he repeatedly, and at times shamefacedly, refused to test himself against top level comp. At the end of his career he showed that he was actually a very, very good fighter. But it was too late. MTF
There is no point in going round this roundabout again, because we will never agree, but the Hopkins win proved to be a much better one than it first appeared. Hopkins was old when Calzaghe fight him, but he was coming off a win against Winky and went on to afterwards school Pavlik. Four years later he was fighting in equal terms with Pascal and Dawson. It isn't the same as a win over a prime Hopkins, but it was still a very good win. And Hopkins is the reason why a fight didn't happen between them earlier. MTF
I think he's overrated in the UK, and underrated State side. As always, the true worth is in the middle.
Dawson beat Hopkins much more clearly than Calzaghe did, not even close to be honest (though it was an even older version). But overall, I (mostly) agree with your first post. Calzaghe true worth is still kind of an enigma to me, and that's shameful after a 50 fights career
Joe beat up lacy, italian contenter bum (manfredo?) and sheika. Canelo is levels above these guys. Hed peck at him and fight ugly, but no way it turns into a rout
Canelo would be more competitive than Lacy but marginally. He fights in spurts and Calzaghe is always throwing which would make it very one sided. The cards would have it tighter that it would actually be.
Not at all, he just need to hurt him with counters to make him reluctant. Of course if it's a ''boxing'' match for all 12 rounds, he loses wide. Same as he did to Callum Smith (though obviously, Calzaghe is levels above).
And seeing how bad Joe was hurt by old Hopkins, old Jones and even Byron Mitchell, I don't think it's a stretch at all.
I see what you're saying but in those cases he was dropped very early and recovered well. Canelo is a slow starter so it's less likely he catches Joe cold, and there's still the matter of finishing things after he's hurt.
I don't think Canelo would beat the 05-07 Kessler. I think history has really forgotten how good Kessler was in the mid-00s. I don't see Canelo getting past prime Kessler's jab, and when he tries, Kess' combos would keep him gun shy. He simply isn't active enough to wear Kessler down, and Kessler had a solid chin so it's not like he'd fall apart when Canelo hits him.
Canelo has looked good at 168 lbs and defeated fighters who were supposed to trouble him a lot. He is a very good fighter even though Bivol's size edge was too much for hin. Here, styles would seem to favor Calzaghe so much that he has to be the favorite, but Canelo gives him a run for his money
Smith was the only guy who non-performed. Let's be honest, Canelo did exactly what he was expected to do against BJS and Plant. He doesn't deserve extra praise; he was expected to break those guys down, and stop them late. Calzaghe-Canelo would not be close. Canelo has slow feet, and a spurty workrate. Recipes for disaster against Joe. There's underratimg Canelo, but he also gets overblown. Against the big 4 of super middles - Jones, Ward, Toney, Calz - Canelo gets soundly beaten by each of them. They were simply better fighters.