Calzaghe's Decade of Dominance

It's Joe Calzaghe's Decade of Dominance tomorrow (11 October) as he celebrates the 10th anniversary of his famous victory over British great Chris Eubank to win the WBO World Super-Middleweight title.

The undefeated Welshman has made 20 successful defences of his belt in that time and also added the IBF crown to his illustrious record.

He will certainly go down as one of the all-time greats to come out of this country.

http://www.fightbeat.com/news_details.php?NW=20504

 

3 decent fighters in 20 defences.
He must be really proud.

 

Calzaghe has kicked a lot of TBA ass.

 

...and after pulling out 'sick' on numerous occasions. :shit: :shit: :shit:

 

Ok...hold on.....Eubank....Lacy....who is the other...Oh you must be counting Kessler! Give Joe a bit, he still has a chance to pull out.::

 

I'm surprised he didn't have a rematch with Charles Brewer...afterall, Mario Veit got one.

 

Mitchell, Brewer, Woodhall.

He's beaten some decent opposition in addition to the mismatches.

::

 

The Robin Reid fight was good as well, and not that far removed from when it still meant something to beat Robin (even if some argue that Joe didn't even do that)

 

And each and every one of them after Ottke or Beyer had already beaten them. ::

 

Chris Eubank
Branco Sobot
Juan Carlos Jiminez
Robin Reid
Rick Thornberry
David Starie
Omar Sheika
Richie Woodhall
Mario Veit
Will McIntyre
Charles Brewer
Miguel Angel Jiminez
Tocker Pudwill
Byron Mitchell
Mger Mkrtchian
Kabary Salem
Mario Veit II
Evans Ashira
Jeff Lacy
Sakio Bika
Peter Manfredo

Who are the good 'uns?

 

Well hold on...if we're talking the whole decade, then Reid, Starie, Woodhall, Mitchell, Salem and Sheika were very decent at the time.

 

i thought he beat robin clearly

 

:bears:

 

Joe Calzaghe is a joke. Now stop talking about him.

 

Hey L, how does your current most hated fighter list go?

Who's at the top, Calzaghe, Hatton, Shitali, PBF?

 

1. Hatton
2. Sloppy
3. PBF
4. Wlad
5. Shitali
6. Barrera
7. McCline
8. Ruiz
9. Tarver
10. Valuev

 

as do i (and that's even with bias toward Robin). but i've heard quite a few - some Robin Reid fans, but mostly Calzaghe detractors - attempt to suggest otherwise.

 

pudwill and mcintyre are two guys who should NEVER have got title shots.

 

Calzaghe-Mcintyre was on par with some of HBO's, DLH-Carpentier, PBF-Bruseles, RJJ-Frazier, Barrera-Fana type mismatches.

 

aside from frazier those other opponents had at least competed on a world class level but were just overmatched. mcintyre had beaten strictly bums and lost every second of every round against dana rosensplatt in his only alleged step up.

 

robin reid has fans? ::

 

Yeah, but if you were describing Sugar Ray Leonard's or Jake LaMotta's best opponents, would you pick out half a dozen guys and say that they were "very decent"?

 

I think the best way to go about this is to determine how the opponents were rated at the time they were fought. The multiple postponements for injuries aside, Calzaghe did face many who were considered top 10 in the division at the time he faced them.

I just always thought it was funny that he faced those types of guy after they had faced Ottke as his career went along...

 

I forget which broadcast (perhaps during HBO's broadcast) they stated that Kessler in his shorter reign has faced more top 10 opponents than Calzaghe.

Besides...the very notion that Mario Veit (who Calzaghe KO'd in 1 round) made it back to a #1 contender status tells you all you need to know about how bad the division is.

 

Maaaybe six or seven fighters. In ten years. :dunno: ld:

 

1. Calzaghe CHECK
2. Kessler
3. Mundine CHECK
4. Beyer CHECK
5. Lacy
6. Bute
7. Froch
8. Andrade CHECK
9. Inkin
10. Berrio

 

I didn't read the article, but we are talking about Calzaghe's title reign and not whether he's an all-time great...so just made that observation.

Those guys were solid and ranked.

I am certainly not "getting on my soapbox" with regards to Calzaghe's level of opposition, believe me.

That being said - no fighter faces elite opposition every time. What makes resumes truly great are often the depth of opposition BETWEEN those "big" fights against elite/PxP opposition.

Not saying Calzaghe has it - but when I evaluate resume I take that into account too.

Peace.

 

Calzaghe's reign is Joe Louis-esque

 

At least he's never been engaged to a chick with a mustache.

 

You can sum up Joe this way.

Between now and the time he retires how many p4p fighters will he have faced? Answer: goose egg.

And it isn't like he didn't have any p4p guys around his weight class to do it either. The fact is simple, Joe obviously was more interested in maintainning an undefeated record then he was at trying to prove he was the best. Him and Sven Ottke both deserve asterick's by their names when they go to the hall of fame seeing as how they both not only ducked elite comp but each other as well.