Calzaghe retires... Is he an all-time great?

[RussellYid]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7871918.stm

He bows at with a record of 46 and 0. He has been a world champion for over 11 years.

He's an all-time great, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f_OBeBwmz4

 

[soup]

Definitely.

He never dodged a fight in his whole career and never picked an easy fight (although he made some look that way).

I always liked the way he talked up a fight as well, never rising to the bait from his opponents and always just said 'we'll see in the ring'. He was one man who could always put his money where his mouth was.

Legend.

 

[haxman]

As long as he stays retired, he'll be one of the greats. Too many times we've seen fighters come back from retirement and ruin their records for the sake of another big payday. Unfortunately he wasn't recognised across the Atlantic until late in his career. The fight against Jeff Lacy was his defining moment imo. Legend indeed.

 

[mrbrightside73]

Only fought has-beens.Long way from being a legend in my eyes.

 

[haxman]

:roll: Did you watch the fight against Lacy? Or Kessler?

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Only fought has-beens.Long way from being a legend in my eyes.

Has-beens like Bernard Hopkins? The guy who absolutely brutalised the undefeated and supposedly most dangerous fighter around Kelly Pavlik in his next fight?

To be fair Calzaghe has beaten everyone there is to beat, comfortably. He is an all time great for me.

 

[mrbrightside73]

Hes a good fighter in a poor era of boxing champions,same as Lennox Lewis.Great fighters for me are the ones who had classic fights...he did perform fantastic against Lacy,but Hopkins was well past his prime.He had no nemesis either.And he's got a shit hair cut.

 

[riversmonkey]

Calzaghe also beat a number of underrated domestic fighters such as Woodhall, Reid and Starie as well as the impressive list of victories over Eubank, Lacy, Kessler, Hopkins and Jones Jr. He will go down as a legend. Hopefully he will stay retired.

Boxing is a strange sport in that often due to politics and 'business' the best fighters seldom fight the best at the right time. Look at Amir Khan, yes he's fighting Barrera but he's already being criticized for not taking on the likes of Thaxton, Murray and Arthur.

I think with the rise of MMA you will begin to see more Marquee boxing fights where fighters will actually meet in their respective primes.

 

[AngerManagement]

To me yes he goes down as a great, although personally I feel he was never involved in any real big fights against true champion opponents (Kessler and Lacy aside as they were atleast hyped to be the real thing)

None the less you cannot sniff at what he achieved, he beat everyone put infront of him and was a world champion for a long long time so much respect to him for that.

The way Boxing politics has been for so long now is a reason for many fights not happening. I would certainly have liked to see him fight a higher standard of fighter over the years.

B-Hop was an impressive win, although Hopkins is well past his best he is still and outstanding fighter and to get a win is impressive, same could be said of Jones Jnr although Jnr is nothing like the fighter he once was (a prime jones would have followed up the hook that sent Joe down and he would not have got up in my opinion)

I always thought personally that he lost the Robin Reid fight but he got the decision (it was close so no real complaints)

He beat a very aged Chris Eubanks, who took the fight at short notice. Joe simply didn't have enough superfights and real tests in my personal opinion.

However to reiterate my point, his record is amazing and he retires as an undefeated world champion who showed excellent heart to get up of the canvas and go on to win on several occasions the Jeff Lacey fight alone stands out for me, he completely outclassed the much hyped American (this is what makes me wish he had been in against more in prime marquee fighters)

To retire an undefested world champion who reign for as long as anyone ever (was close to Marciano's record) is a termondous acheievment and I give much respect to him. Has to be one of if not the greatest boxer to come from these shores ever.

I agree with you Riversmonkey, boxing will need to start putting on bigger and better fights to contend with the likes of UFC in mma who are putting big names against big names on a regular basis (the benefit of franchise contracts and cohesive marketing)

It's a cycle though, as MMA becomes more and more popular and the fighters become bigger and bigger they are likely to become independant agents who transend the orgainsation and wish to nogatiate on a fight to fight basis as in boxing (will be a big test to see if this can be kept from occuring in the long term)

 

[Mullers]

Calzaghe is a legend...an all time great. He can only beat what is in front of him.
Check the records of Hopkins and Jones and you'll find they fought a lot of people nobody has heard of as well.

http://www.boxrec.com/

 

[yiddo81]

Superb fighter, The best British fighter for years

 

[AngerManagement]

Calzaghe is a legend...an all time great. He can only beat what is in front of him.
Check the records of Hopkins and Jones and you'll find they fought a lot of people nobody has heard of as well.

http://www.boxrec.com/

True, but you will also find many many more crediable fighters on the CV of either Jones or Hopkins (include themselves in their prime)

I thin Calzaghe did great, he beat all that was infront of him so you can not ask for him to do more.

For my money he never had the real big fights I would have liked to see him have. (But it is very difficult for a UK boxer to get these fights)

For my money the best British boxer I ever saw was Michael Watson, I truely think he could have gone on to do great things if he had not been so tragically retired from the sport by Eubank.

(he totally outclassed both Benn and Eubank who went on to be world champs)

 

[TheChosenOne]

Unfortunately his next fight is against the Gooner Frank Warren, who has sued him recently.

Go Joe.