Final Predictions:J.Calzaghe vs. Peter Manfredo. & Diego Corrales vs. Joshua Clottey

Still to say that you needed to take a few weeks off from the sport... I mean damn, even Manfredo himself already returned, and is getting ready to fight again later this month.

I agree that "he didn't deserve the fight in the first place" is a copout in justifying the stoppage. But at best, all you can say is that Peter could've lasted 12 rounds.

All that said, who's still calling Joe a "world beater." Just about everyone took a shot at him AND HBO for that card, hell even HBO themselves. Well, Larry Merchant, anyway.

 

To be honest, I guess I am taking it a little personally since I actually know this fighter and his family and one of my best friends is very close to them. But it sucks to see the kid bust his ass in training, go all the way over there and then get the rug pulled out from under him like that. And it sure seemed to me like the script called for Calzaghe to win by early stoppage.

I'm not saying folks outside of the production are calling Calzaghe a world beater, but rather that the whole broadcast seemed to be doing their best to set up that perception. But the stoppage was so bad that even HBO couldn't defend it.

 

Nobody is defending it, though. Lampley tried, but Merchant and Steward all but told him to STFU. ::

The problem, though, is that Manfredo fought down to expectations. It was a shit fight with a shitty stoppage. If it were a competitive fight and a premature stoppage, that's a different story. But it wasn't. Peter literally did nothing for however long the fight lasted.

Fighters are always so paranoid of getting jerked in someone else's hometown, but almost always seem to put themselves in position for something like that to happen anyway. It's as if they'd rather have something to bitch about than to take a proactive approach to the potential problem,

 

Well yes it was obvious it was something like that.

Jake managed to be pretty objective with fighters he knows and likes. You're not being remotely subjective.

To think manfredo MIGHT have had a chance of surviving all 12 is fair enough, to think that he should have been given more of a chance is fair enough, but to think he had a realistic chance of beating calzaghe is preposterous. He was getting a beating in there, pretty much lacy style, he was landing practically NOTHING and looked in over his head.

I didn't care about seeing the fight live, so when I heard a few people crying about the early stoppage I was expecting something much worse.

I think most refs might have let it continue a bit longer, but don't kid yourself, manfredo was getting beaten up, barely throwing anything, not landing anything, and was pretty much looking like a beaten man already by the time it was stopped.

 

That's a interesting point. On a different note...do you think the Calzaghe fight had much of an effect on Peter's career? He was expected to lose and nearly everyone who isn't a Calzaghe fan knows it was a crap stoppage. Is he pretty much where he was before this fight? Of course, I think it would have been better for him to have gone the distance, but does the nature of the stoppage somewhat offset that?

 

I don;t think it affected him at all. I'd say he's still where he was before the fight. Like I said earlier, he's already fighting for the second time since then, it's only been a couple of months.

I do think, though, that it removed any lingering doubt as to whether or not he's a legit top contender - he's not.

 

broadway - from the eyes of someone who is a fan of neither, I thought it was a pathetic performance.

I was more impressed with sheika against calzaghe. I was more impressed with miranda against pavlik.

There's no 2 ways about it, it was a pathetic performance. He fought like someone who was in over his head and was expected to lose. He did fuck all. He got a big opportunity and fought like a can.

It was round about as pathetic as the shitter witter against judah.

Personally I think it was damaging if anything. That performance didn't exactly make me want to see him fight again. You'd have had to be a big fan of his already to want to watch him fight again.

Put it this way, if he'd gone in there and fought with everything he had, took the fight to calzaghe, and got knocked out cold in the 3rd round I would have been more impressed and would be interested in seeing him fight again.

The sheer lameness and non effort of his performance is why I don't even think it matters that the stoppage was arguably a little early.

 

I disagree. It was a bad stoppage. Nearly all of Calzaghe's pitty pat punches either missed or hit gloves and shoulders. There's no real way to justify the stoppage. If you wanna say Peter didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of winning, then I have less problem with that, but I entirely object to the idea that it was a fair stoppage.

I may be a homer when it comes to how I felt about the situation afterward, but I am entirely objective about what I think of the premature stoppage...and I am certainly not the only person who thinks it was premature. Actually...you're one of the few folks I've talked to who is even trying to make a case for it being fair. It would be one thing if I were calling it a bad stoppage and the concensus was that it wasn't...but that's not the case. My view on the stoppage is not biased by my feelings...it was a crappy stoppage. Manfredo was not hurt and should have been allowed to continue fighting. I am more angry about it than I would have been for a different fighter, but that doesn't mean I am only calling a bad stoppage because I am a fan. If Peter were actually hurt and was actually hit by some meaningful punches, I would have had less trouble with the stoppage...but neither of those things happened.

 

Good points, but what bothers me the most was that the fight was stopped before it even really got going. Maybe Peter was a little overwhelmed by the moment, but who's to say he wouldn't have found himself as the fight went on and given a better account of himself? I'm not saying he was gonna win, but I think he should have been given a fair chance, that's all. And to me, he wasn't.

 

I already said, most refs would have let it continue, and manfredo certainly wasn't in grave danger.

Do you want to know what makes me not think it was a bad stoppage? Because of manfredo's non effort performance.

Let's say manfredo had charged out from his stool in the 3rd round Duran Style, tatooed calzaghe with combos, to head and body, jabbed him backwards, caught him with a big shot, stunned him, THEN calzaghe landed the sequence of punches that caused the stoppage I would say yes, it was early, he should have been given a chance.

It's just the fact that he did fuck all, nothing, he didn't even try and win. What was the point in letting him continue?

My girlfriend watched the odd fight with me, and even she thought he was a can. She was asking me why he wasn't doing anything, and why they were even matched together, asking why fighters aren't matched better like corrales and castillo ::

 

Fair enough, but I guess you're REALLY giving him the benefit of the doubt to think he would have suddenly upped his game after the first three rounds.

 

I see what you're saying, but I just don't think it's right to stop tthat fight based on what happened. If the fight was in round 8 or 9 and Peter still hadn't done much of anything and it was clear there was no chance of him rallying and turning the tide somewhat, then I would have had less trouble with the stoppage.

 

I can't disagree with that at all. I was thinking the same thing. And frankly...I thought the Calzaghe fight was too big of a jump in class at this point in his career. I would have liked to see a fight or two against better opposition than Spina or Pemberton before taking a title shot. But I guess sometimes, you take the shot when you can get one.

 

precisely. I mean, where else is he getting a million dollar (and then some) payday. Plus the timing was perfect - he took that fight while Sergio Mora turned down a trip to Memphis and a shot at the middleweight title.