Joe Calzaghe vs Mikkel Kessler

[shza]

Shazza Shza i meant Demetrius Hopkins (sorry knew i should have put the D in front can get kind of confusing) fighting Witter for the WBC light welter belt on HBO.

Oh, ok, got it.

I definitely do agree with you, btw, about it being shameful that HBO would lock up the rights to Kessler-Beyer and then not show it. I was personally looking forward to that one far more than to Calzaghe-Bika, and I was clearly right to do so.

Also, to clarify--while I personally think Hopkins would be a much better yardstick for testing how good Calzaghe really is (b/c Hopkins is a known quantity, and is known to be great, even despite his age (see the Tarver fight)), I think Calzaghe-Kessler would be a great match and I'd be happy to see it get made.

Have a

[1-hit Wonder]

To me this seems like the US has NO prospect at SMW any more so there determined to rubbish the Europeans. I mean c'mon Kessler would not add to Calzaghe's greatness Holding all 4 major belts in a division is unheard of these days. It seems they know absolute zilch about Kessler in the first place to be honest. If I was Calzaghe and beat Kessler, i'd think F*** America, IM the undisputed champ let them come and get me. HBO's attitude really pisses me off, not showing a unification bout just cus its involves Europeans really disgusts me.

Their point was that, while Kessler seems to be a good boxer, he has not proven himself to be great. Not his fault, of course--he's like 25 years old and from a small country. Nonetheless, you can't prove that you're not merely very good, but actually Great, by beating someone who isn't recognized as great. Wright and Hopkins are recognized by everyone as Great. They're recognized on pretty much every P4P list as BETTER THAN CALZAGHE, let alone Kessler (who is on exactly zero P4P lists). I'm not saying that Wright and Hopkins are necessarily even better than Kessler (though they are)--that's almost beside the point; the point is that if you want recognition as being an all-time great, you do it by beating an all-time great, not by beating a young guy who holds two alphabet straps and has never faced anyone great himself. And the "unification" of four alphabet belts really doesn't mean anything to me. As far as I'm concerned, Calzaghe is the SMW champ and Kessler is the #1 contender. WBC, WBA, NATO, RATT, NAMBLA, all that stuff is about paying sanctioning fees. There's one linear champ, and that's Calzaghe. Adding a couple of "titles" to his name would mean nothing.

True he hasnt proven himself to be great but you said it yourself he's from a small country and thus gets no coverage. I mean who defines "great" anyway except for the American scene which i think gives very little respect to Euro fighters. IF as you say Kessler is a No.1 contender then he's a damn worthy one and i'd rather see Calzaghe become the true undisputed SMW champion with no questions then go on to bigger fish like Taylor because for me while Kessler is about there is always a doubt as to who is THE champion. I'm really not in favour of a Hopkins fight at all, he's old and if Calzaghe did win, people would say "Hopkins past his best ect...".

I agree with you about this alphabet nonsence though. Back in the old days there woudnt be a need to have this discussion. Alphabet titles are really ruining boxing, its so ahrd for the casual fans (a few of me mates for example) to get into boxing because its so damn confusing at the begginning

[1-hit Wonder]

thanks shza

back at ya