Non-British perspective: Froch easier to like than was Calzaghe

[Gandalf]

I don't see how Calzaghe wasn't fan friendly. He sold out stadiums and finished out his career throwing a 1000 punches a round on HBO. How more exciting can a fighter be?

If we are talking fan friendly, Calzaghe is no Bernard Hopkins.

[TitoFan]

I don't see how Calzaghe wasn't fan friendly. He sold out stadiums and finished out his career throwing a 1000 punches a round on HBO. How more exciting can a fighter be?

If we are talking fan friendly, Calzaghe is no Bernard Hopkins.

Miles... he sold out stadiums. No doubt about that. Any British fighter with an undefeated record, not a very common occurence for any fighter nowadays, will do that. And hand it to the British... they certainly know how to back their fighters.

But I'd rather see someone throw 100 real punches in a round, than someone throwing 1000 slaps. It's that simple. Workrate is one thing... effective punching is another. And no... Calzaghe is no Bernard Hopkins. I wouldn't exactly call Bernard fan friendly either... but for even more reasons. Not only was Bernard's mauling and grappling style painful to watch... but Hopkins himself didn't care what the fans thought or didn't think of him. Calzaghe was probably a pretty good bloke... but the "flurries" that brought the fans out of their seats were sometimes hilarious. Few real punches thrown with bad intentions. Let's just say slow-motion replays were not Calzaghe's best friends.

[Gandalf]

I don't see how Calzaghe wasn't fan friendly. He sold out stadiums and finished out his career throwing a 1000 punches a round on HBO. How more exciting can a fighter be?

If we are talking fan friendly, Calzaghe is no Bernard Hopkins.

Miles... he sold out stadiums. No doubt about that. Any British fighter with an undefeated record, not a very common occurence for any fighter nowadays, will do that. And hand it to the British... they certainly know how to back their fighters.

But I'd rather see someone throw 100 real punches in a round, than someone throwing 1000 slaps. It's that simple. Workrate is one thing... effective punching is another. And no... Calzaghe is no Bernard Hopkins. I wouldn't exactly call Bernard fan friendly either... but for even more reasons. Not only was Bernard's mauling and grappling style painful to watch... but Hopkins himself didn't care what the fans thought or didn't think of him. Calzaghe was probably a pretty good bloke... but the "flurries" that brought the fans out of their seats were sometimes hilarious. Few real punches thrown with bad intentions. Let's just say slow-motion replays were not Calzaghe's best friends.

You really seem to have a personal dislike of Calzaghe and his style.

I maintain that he was fan friendly. He threw punches in bunches and a lot of them. People like fighters that throw combinations and Calzaghe was popular because of it. Hopkins was not fan friendly. Ward is not fan friendly. But Calzaghe was. Like Paul Williams he would unleash a lot of punches and not stop. What isn't fun to watch about that? Sure in doing so he could be a little sloppy, but so what? Is that anything to really get upset about and argue for 13 pages?

Calzaghe was a quality fighter with a decent resume. Yes, there are holes but as has been pointed out Hopkins wasn't any better prior to going up and calling out smaller men as was his thing before. Calzaghe could have called out LMW's but what would that really mean. Just a man beating on smaller men. Winky Wright at LHW for instance? Nuts. Ooh but it's a name!

[Dia bando]

The trouble with this post most of us are going over old ground, me included not mater what any one's say's Joe Calzaghe was a hell of a good fighter.
No mater what's been said and done Calzaghe will be in the Hall Of Fame, and he has his place in boxing history. When Calzaghe name is in any post it like a red rag to a bull, he's a slapper he did not fight so and so he beat them a but not in there prime. I think with some people it's a love hate thing with fighters
this includes myself. You no I don't like Hopkins but I give the old git credit, he's one hell of a fighter it's what you like. Remember all pro fighters are brave you need to be to get in that ring,weather you are a journey man contender or Champion.
No mater what all theses guys are warriors they truly are.

[Fenster]

@TitoFan

Who's Fanny? I hope you're not refering to The Fenster.

So this time i've upset you by merely asking you to explain the difference between Hopkins and Calzaghe's career title runs - after you claimed Hopkins' was superior. That's all I asked. Yet somehow this has sent you into a deranged, foul-mouthed frenzy mentioning The Fenster in every other post.

So lets put this to bed from my end (for the 50th time).

1. TitoFan has seen two Calzaghe fights. TitoFan didn't like his punching technique. TitoFan also don't like that Calzaghe fought Manfredo. NEVER once in the entire thread have I questioned this. It's just your personal opinion. I'm only interested in debating facts and figures.

2. If you look back over the thread you'll see that I was arguing with Althguz on an entirely different matter. When you entered the debate, you didn't challenge any points that I made, you quoted one of my posts and then proceeded to launch a tirade of insults at me (it's post no.71). A theme you have continued with for the remainder of the thread.

I still have no idea what I did to upset you so much.

Once you've reviewed the situation I will gracefully accept your apology. Fact.

[Gandalf]

Cue another seven pages!

[Dia bando]

Cue another seven pages!

Miles you got it wrong ten pages .

[TitoFan]

@TitoFan

Who's Fanny? I hope you're not refering to The Fenster.

So this time i've upset you by merely asking you to explain the difference between Hopkins and Calzaghe's career title runs - after you claimed Hopkins' was superior. That's all I asked. Yet somehow this has sent you into a deranged, foul-mouthed frenzy mentioning The Fenster in every other post.

So lets put this to bed from my end (for the 50th time).

1. TitoFan has seen two Calzaghe fights. TitoFan didn't like his punching technique. TitoFan also don't like that Calzaghe fought Manfredo. NEVER once in the entire thread have I questioned this. It's just your personal opinion. I'm only interested in debating facts and figures.

2. If you look back over the thread you'll see that I was arguing with Althguz on an entirely different matter. When you entered the debate, you didn't challenge any points that I made, you quoted one of my posts and then proceeded to launch a tirade of insults at me (it's post no.71). A theme you have continued with for the remainder of the thread.

I still have no idea what I did to upset you so much.

Once you've reviewed the situation I will respectfully submit my apology. Fact.

(I fixed your typo.)

Ahem..... I accept. Am I'm impressed you went to so much trouble to count numbers of posts and pages. Dare I say.... I'm even a bit flattered. Seems we're reaching a conclusion to this long, but spirited thread.

[TitoFan]

BTW, not to fan the flames any longer... but it's always been my opinion that undefeated records cannot be looked at in a vacuum. That there are plenty of fighters who have been defeated at some time in their careers whose resumes far outshine those of other fighters who are undefeated. But don't just take my word for it. Others also feel that way.


Undefeated Records in Boxing: Impressive or Overrated?



Be that as it may, I do not begrudge Calzaghe's record in any way, shape, or form. All this time I've been merely stating a personal opinion, which is that... for my money... I did not enjoy Calzaghe's style of fighting. It was brought up that "early Calzaghe" was a knockout artist. I would appreciate seeing footage of any of those fights, so I could say I've seen an enjoyable Calzaghe fight. Through no fault of his own, he somehow developed brittle hands. That he adapted to that and continued winning, is very admirable. I've said this before, also. I've seen him interviewed, and he comes across as a likable fellow... so no qualms there. He even provided a very comical highlight, which still makes me laugh to this day... his bizarre humping of Hopkins in their fight. I've never liked Hopkins' style either... so aside from this circus sideshow, this fight was on par with Chinese torture for me. And of course, I've lambasted the guy for including Peter Manfredo among his later victims. And it was the manner in which the fight was stopped which only added insult to injury.

So to sum up... I'm not the "frothing-at-the-mouth" anti-Calzaghe lunatic all JC fans are making me out to be. I'm more than happy giving the man his due props. But if can't state my honest opinions without creating a national state of emergency... then we're not all being very objective here.