How Does One Get Venerated, But The Other Gets Treated With Such Distain??

[El Gamo]

I don't really understand why theere is a comparison between JC and Floyd? Floyd is one of the most naturally gifted fighters around,calls himself the greatest ever and says he is the best therefore he is going to be judged to a higher,harsher standard than JC..and 20 defences is nothing to baulk at...

[JT Rock]

I don't really understand why theere is a comparison between JC and Floyd? Floyd is one of the most naturally gifted fighters around,calls himself the greatest ever and says he is the best therefore he is going to be judged to a higher,harsher standard than JC..and 20 defences is nothing to baulk at...

Again Gamo we are talking about strictly in the ring accompolishments and level of opposition

[Kev]

I think the answer is a simple one.

In the United States you can dislike Floyd Mayweather because you have Jermaine Taylor, Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr, James Toney, Winky Wright, Shane Mosley, to be a fan off. If all our hopes rested on Mayweather we wouldn't say a bad word about him.


In the UK you either like Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton or a one of several lesser known fighters.

I think it is futile to like a fighter just because of his nationality. Other aspects play their part for me. And that is why James Toney and Barrera have been such favourites of mine. I couldnt care less where they are born, that is irrelevant to me. Its got to be about the style or something about the fighter themselves.

864 Agreed, I dont care if Mars produced a great Boxer, I would be a fan... The nationality or creed should not come into play here..

Ah man it would be so cool if Mars produced a top heavyweight fighter. You just know that they would pit him against Valuev and the trailer for the fight would be a parody from the Dawn of Man intro for 2001 A Space Odyssey

[youtube=425,350]sdoA3AJ6zGE&mode=related&search=[/youtube]

[JT Rock]

I think the answer is a simple one.

In the United States you can dislike Floyd Mayweather because you have Jermaine Taylor, Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr, James Toney, Winky Wright, Shane Mosley, to be a fan off. If all our hopes rested on Mayweather we wouldn't say a bad word about him.


In the UK you either like Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton or a one of several lesser known fighters.

I think it is futile to like a fighter just because of his nationality. Other aspects play their part for me. And that is why James Toney and Barrera have been such favourites of mine. I couldnt care less where they are born, that is irrelevant to me. Its got to be about the style or something about the fighter themselves.

864 Agreed, I dont care if Mars produced a great Boxer, I would be a fan... The nationality or creed should not come into play here..

Ah man it would be so cool if Mars produced a top heavyweight fighter. You just know that they would pit him against Valuev and the trailer for the fight would be a parody from the Dawn of Man intro for 2001 A Space Odyssey

[youtube=425,350]sdoA3AJ6zGE&mode=related&search=[/youtube]

Hahah!! # 627

[El Gamo]

I don't really understand why theere is a comparison between JC and Floyd? Floyd is one of the most naturally gifted fighters around,calls himself the greatest ever and says he is the best therefore he is going to be judged to a higher,harsher standard than JC..and 20 defences is nothing to baulk at...

Again Gamo we are talking about strictly in the ring accompolishments and level of opposition

In ring comparisons still make no sense to me,what is the purpose of this? Is Floyd not P4P number1?(yes in most's opinions). So he will he be subject to more criticism?YES. Floyd has handpicked opponents,JC has 20 defences against not the best fighters.Both can be criticised but JC does not say he is the best ever by beating Gatti etc. And Lacy is as good as anonye Floyd has fought except Castillo/Corrales.Floyd has never entered the ring for about 3-4 years with a guy NEARLY THE WHOLE WORLD thought would beat him as was the case with JC and Floyd.

[Tito BHB]

How i feel?

Floyd has fought great or decent competition his whole career..From the start..
I mean.. you could say that floyd has not fought world beaters his entire career...
But even de la hoya and tito fought the named fighters and the good fighters to build up theyr records.. Ie oba carr, yuri boy campas etc...

But Joe... Just because im british i will not defend him...
Hes a bum plain and simple..Ok thats maybe too harsh ..cos i know he has the skill...
He is a waste of talent wasting his career away with the over protective warren
So that is why he needs the big fights with true legends so urgently..Else he will be known for what i mention above for ever.. Theres no way you can even argue his cause..Its true..He has wasted away ten years of his career
Peace

[JT Rock]

I don't really understand why theere is a comparison between JC and Floyd? Floyd is one of the most naturally gifted fighters around,calls himself the greatest ever and says he is the best therefore he is going to be judged to a higher,harsher standard than JC..and 20 defences is nothing to baulk at...

Again Gamo we are talking about strictly in the ring accompolishments and level of opposition

In ring comparisons still make no sense to me,what is the purpose of this? Is Floyd not P4P number1?(yes in most's opinions). So he will he be subject to more criticism?YES. Floyd has handpicked opponents,JC has 20 defences against not the best fighters.Both can be criticised but JC does not say he is the best ever by beating Gatti etc. And Lacy is as good as anonye Floyd has fought except Castillo/Corrales.Floyd has never entered the ring for about 3-4 years with a guy NEARLY THE WHOLE WORLD thought would beat him as was the case with JC and Floyd.

Geezus man its a boxing forum meant to discuss a myriad of topics... I dont understand why you are being so standoffish about this particular thread

[SweetPea]

I think a lot of Floyd's detractors hear the things Floyd says personally and get turned off by it. Calling himself the greatest fighter of all time. Better than Ali, better than Sugar Ray Robinson. Almost claiming he's immortal.
And when he says these kinds of things about himself, it just opens up all the floodgates to critique every decision he's ever made regarding his opponents.
Because in comparison to what he claims to be, of course there's no way anyone could live up to the hype that surrounds him and the hype that he creates even for himself.
People find it hard to appreciate things for what they are and only for what they are.
Floyd looks spectacular virtually every time he steps in the ring. But no matter who he beats and how good he beats them, Floyd's haters will always find some sort of ammunition against him. Because there's no way he (or any human) can live up to what he claims he is.

Meowza has Bingo.
It's always been my belief (and is continually reinforced by many things I read here) that the majority of the anti-Floyd crowd discredit his accomplishments because they "don't like him."
If Floyd did nothing but kiss ass and act politely during his interviews, I guarantee a lot of his critics would go away.
Which I've never really understood, because this isn't a nice guy competition, it's professional prizefighting. Who cares whether these guys are arrogant or say outrageous things?
I'm as big of a Floyd fan as there is on this entire board. Yet if I ever met Floyd in person, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he was a total a**hole. But I could care less, I pay $$ to watch him box, not to watch his etiquette.

[El Gamo]

I think a lot of Floyd's detractors hear the things Floyd says personally and get turned off by it. Calling himself the greatest fighter of all time. Better than Ali, better than Sugar Ray Robinson. Almost claiming he's immortal.
And when he says these kinds of things about himself, it just opens up all the floodgates to critique every decision he's ever made regarding his opponents.
Because in comparison to what he claims to be, of course there's no way anyone could live up to the hype that surrounds him and the hype that he creates even for himself.
People find it hard to appreciate things for what they are and only for what they are.
Floyd looks spectacular virtually every time he steps in the ring. But no matter who he beats and how good he beats them, Floyd's haters will always find some sort of ammunition against him. Because there's no way he (or any human) can live up to what he claims he is.

Meowza has Bingo.
It's always been my belief (and is continually reinforced by many things I read here) that the majority of the anti-Floyd crowd discredit his accomplishments because they "don't like him."
If Floyd did nothing but kiss ass and act politely during his interviews, I guarantee a lot of his critics would go away.
Which I've never really understood, because this isn't a nice guy competition, it's professional prizefighting. Who cares whether these guys are arrogant or say outrageous things?
I'm as big of a Floyd fan as there is on this entire board. Yet if I ever met Floyd in person, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he was a total a**hole. But I could care less, I pay $$ to watch him box, not to watch his etiquette.

I understand where you are coming from and it's a valid point but it certainly does not apply to me. I have the guys career on DVD and watch it allllll the time,I still believe he is an amazing talent who could be wasting what could be an amazing career by not fighting alot of good fighters out there. In my humble opinion,he has handpicked too many opponents,and what makes it annoynig is that at the beginning of his career,he fought ALOT of good fighters but it has levelled off way way too much! If a guy can back up his big mouth then by all means,run it! Ali did!

[Preme]

*****PLEASE LETS BE RESPECTFUL ON THIS THREAD, THIS ISIN'T THE US.FANS VS GREAT BRITAIN FANS, LETS DISCUSS INTELLIGENTLY*****

Over the past year I have been convinced that Calzaghe has more than the goods and has worldclass talent, but you cant make a living out of one fight and forge a legacy, I am disappointed that he is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with fighting Peter Manfredo Jr and lead us to believe this is a legitimate and credible fight,and this is the one and only golden opportunity for him to get the millions of dollars and recognition in the states, when this is just an easy way for him to get his 20 defenses

Now whats fair is fair... Floyd Mayweather Jr get lambasted by the majority around here for his level of competition throughout his career, well I got news for you Floyd has fought WAY BETTER AND CREDIBLE OPPOSITION than Joe Calzaghe!!!! But Joe is lauded as a national treasure and Floyd is a coward,slacker and a sackless disgrace...Could never figure that out...

I don't want to here that Floyd's a jerk and Joe's not, I have read some articles and quotes by Calzaghe and he has been quite mouthy over the past year himself.. This is about in ring accomplishments strictly...

I think I made a fair assessment on this and would love to here what everyone thinks, Why does Joe get Royal treatment and Floyd Gets The venemous treatment??

Well, you say he is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with fighting Peter Manfredo Jr and lead us to believe this is a legitimate and credible fight - but almost everything i have seen calzaghe say is to the contry; hes admitited hes finding it hard to get motevaited for the fight, that its a whole new step from being a reality tv star to a world champion.

Mayweather has been able to call out anyone he wants to fight for quite some time - Calzaghe has called out hopkins for nearly 6 years and failed with hopkins stupid cash demands. He called out RJJ - now im still not certain as to why this fight never worked out, warren has claimed Jones wanted stupid money for the fight and thats the only words i have heard about it. He called out taylor and wright, wright said once about thinking about going up to 168 tf ight calzaghe, but never spoke of it again, Taylor basical said after Ouma he wnated to fight calzaghe at 168, has been saying since hopkins 160 is so hard for him to make. He beats Ouma and then starts speaking about fighting moura? the winner from the contender!

I know calzaghe hasn't got the best resume in terms of fighters, 6 formoer world champions - (around half coming off highly contreversial losses) and one world champion (lacy) isn't to bad...

Maybe someone else could do mayweather as im not certain about all his fights and whom he could of fought - but ill try and break down calzaghes 20 world title fights and mark where he REALISTICALY could of fought a better level of fighter...

1997-10-11 - Chris Eubank - Calzaghe wins the WBO title knocking down eubank in the first round and doing on to win a fairly one sided Ud. (was meant to fight Steve collins but steve sudden retirement meant calzaghe was to fight eubank)

1998-01-24 - Branko Sobot

1998-04-25 - Juan Carlos Gimenez Ferreyra

1999-02-13 - Robin Reid

1999-06-05 - Rick Thornberry

2000-01-29 - David Starie

2000-08-12 - Omar Sheika

2000-12-16 - Richie Woodhall

2001-04-28 - Mario Veit - In hindsight, not the gratest fighter at SMW lol, but coming into it Veit was 30-0 around 20 KO's and pretty highly regeraded around Europe, Calzaghe wins in round 1

2001-10-13 - Will McIntyre

2002-04-20 - Charles Brewer

2002-08-17 - Miguel Angel Jimenez

2002-12-14 - Tocker Pudwill

2003-06-28 - Byron Mitchell

2004-02-21 - Mger Mkrtchian

2004-10-22 - Kabary Salem

2005-05-07 - Mario Veit - Forced mandetory

2005-09-10 - Evans Ashira

2006-03-04 - Jeff Lacy

2006-10-14 - Sakio Bika -Calzaghe was meant to be fighting Glen Johnson here but had to pull out due to a hand Injury. again Bika may not have been the best at SMW, but he was the only one out there who was free, and the only one who had been in a world title fight (marku's WBC) and not lost (N/C cut on buyer) warren claims Kessler was offerd around £1m to fight calzaghe (i forget weather it was instead of johnson or Ashira)

2007-04-07 - Peter Manfredo Jr - after 42 fights for the first time you can honestly say there is clear cut better fighter out there that calzaghe could fight, and fight his fans want in Kessler, there are If and buts about certain thing, HBO wanting him to fight an american, Kessler only making an offer to fight in denmark etc etc

Now in all honestly, (Im trying to be totaly unbiased - i am a massive calzaghe fan, he is my second current and all time fav fighter) there is only one fight i think he deserves some stick for, and thats the manfredo fight - other than that he has fought pretty much the best out there. I will be the first to admit the overall class of fighters he has beat isn't all that great, not really his fault tho?

Again, so we are on the same page here, im talking about fights that could of happend, when people mention hopkins, taylor wright, or RJJ - i have yet to see anything that points to the fact calzaghe ducked them or priced him self out in anyway.

[dumdane]

2007-04-07 - Peter Manfredo Jr - after 42 fights for the first time you can honestly say there is clear cut better fighter out there that calzaghe could fight

After having just listed names like McIntyre, Pudwill, Salem, Ashira, Bika as well as a number of others only slightly better - how do you come up with BS like that?
He fought these guys - not because there were no better alternatives - but because he could get away with it. Because his adoring fans would willingly pay to see him beating up on another crap opponent who posed no risk.
These guys are the type of fighters who'll travel and fight for perhaps 25.000$. Don't tell me there weren't room in Calzaghe's or Warren's budgets for something better. These fights were about milking the marked (the fans). His excuses that he has no time to fight Kessler because he's busy seeking american recognition has a very hollow rimg to it, seeing how he's wasted years and years as a champ with worthless fights.

Kessler only making an offer to fight in denmark etc etc

True, but a quite substantial offer given Kessler's promotor's position AND along with repeated requests for Warren to make Kessler an offer.

As for Calzaghe's supposed offer to Kessler - The Kessler camp calls it a blatant lie. Warren was unable/unwilling to provide ANY detail. Not even what year it was supposedly made: Just that it was sometime in the past.
He made the claim when pressured by journalists as to why he didn't land better opposition for Calzaghe. Warren has never responded to Kessler's camp openly and repeatedly calling him a blatant liar (would it be Warren's style to sue for liabel if he had a case?)and has to my knowledge made no mention of that supposed offer before or since.
As it stands it's word against word. But even though i don't hold Kessler's promoter to be a more truthfull person than the average promoter (which is bloody terrible), compared to Warren's record he's practically a saint.
It all adds up.

[Gandalf]

*****PLEASE LETS BE RESPECTFUL ON THIS THREAD, THIS ISIN'T THE US.FANS VS GREAT BRITAIN FANS, LETS DISCUSS INTELLIGENTLY*****

Over the past year I have been convinced that Calzaghe has more than the goods and has worldclass talent, but you cant make a living out of one fight and forge a legacy, I am disappointed that he is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with fighting Peter Manfredo Jr and lead us to believe this is a legitimate and credible fight,and this is the one and only golden opportunity for him to get the millions of dollars and recognition in the states, when this is just an easy way for him to get his 20 defenses

Now whats fair is fair... Floyd Mayweather Jr get lambasted by the majority around here for his level of competition throughout his career, well I got news for you Floyd has fought WAY BETTER AND CREDIBLE OPPOSITION than Joe Calzaghe!!!! But Joe is lauded as a national treasure and Floyd is a coward,slacker and a sackless disgrace...Could never figure that out...

I don't want to here that Floyd's a jerk and Joe's not, I have read some articles and quotes by Calzaghe and he has been quite mouthy over the past year himself.. This is about in ring accomplishments strictly...

I think I made a fair assessment on this and would love to here what everyone thinks, Why does Joe get Royal treatment and Floyd Gets The venemous treatment??

Well, you say he is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with fighting Peter Manfredo Jr and lead us to believe this is a legitimate and credible fight - but almost everything i have seen calzaghe say is to the contry; hes admitited hes finding it hard to get motevaited for the fight, that its a whole new step from being a reality tv star to a world champion.

Mayweather has been able to call out anyone he wants to fight for quite some time - Calzaghe has called out hopkins for nearly 6 years and failed with hopkins stupid cash demands. He called out RJJ - now im still not certain as to why this fight never worked out, warren has claimed Jones wanted stupid money for the fight and thats the only words i have heard about it. He called out taylor and wright, wright said once about thinking about going up to 168 tf ight calzaghe, but never spoke of it again, Taylor basical said after Ouma he wnated to fight calzaghe at 168, has been saying since hopkins 160 is so hard for him to make. He beats Ouma and then starts speaking about fighting moura? the winner from the contender!

I know calzaghe hasn't got the best resume in terms of fighters, 6 formoer world champions - (around half coming off highly contreversial losses) and one world champion (lacy) isn't to bad...

Maybe someone else could do mayweather as im not certain about all his fights and whom he could of fought - but ill try and break down calzaghes 20 world title fights and mark where he REALISTICALY could of fought a better level of fighter...

1997-10-11 - Chris Eubank - Calzaghe wins the WBO title knocking down eubank in the first round and doing on to win a fairly one sided Ud. (was meant to fight Steve collins but steve sudden retirement meant calzaghe was to fight eubank)

1998-01-24 - Branko Sobot

1998-04-25 - Juan Carlos Gimenez Ferreyra

1999-02-13 - Robin Reid

1999-06-05 - Rick Thornberry

2000-01-29 - David Starie

2000-08-12 - Omar Sheika

2000-12-16 - Richie Woodhall

2001-04-28 - Mario Veit - In hindsight, not the gratest fighter at SMW lol, but coming into it Veit was 30-0 around 20 KO's and pretty highly regeraded around Europe, Calzaghe wins in round 1

2001-10-13 - Will McIntyre

2002-04-20 - Charles Brewer

2002-08-17 - Miguel Angel Jimenez

2002-12-14 - Tocker Pudwill

2003-06-28 - Byron Mitchell

2004-02-21 - Mger Mkrtchian

2004-10-22 - Kabary Salem

2005-05-07 - Mario Veit - Forced mandetory

2005-09-10 - Evans Ashira

2006-03-04 - Jeff Lacy

2006-10-14 - Sakio Bika -Calzaghe was meant to be fighting Glen Johnson here but had to pull out due to a hand Injury. again Bika may not have been the best at SMW, but he was the only one out there who was free, and the only one who had been in a world title fight (marku's WBC) and not lost (N/C cut on buyer) warren claims Kessler was offerd around £1m to fight calzaghe (i forget weather it was instead of johnson or Ashira)

2007-04-07 - Peter Manfredo Jr - after 42 fights for the first time you can honestly say there is clear cut better fighter out there that calzaghe could fight, and fight his fans want in Kessler, there are If and buts about certain thing, HBO wanting him to fight an american, Kessler only making an offer to fight in denmark etc etc

Now in all honestly, (Im trying to be totaly unbiased - i am a massive calzaghe fan, he is my second current and all time fav fighter) there is only one fight i think he deserves some stick for, and thats the manfredo fight - other than that he has fought pretty much the best out there. I will be the first to admit the overall class of fighters he has beat isn't all that great, not really his fault tho?

Again, so we are on the same page here, im talking about fights that could of happend, when people mention hopkins, taylor wright, or RJJ - i have yet to see anything that points to the fact calzaghe ducked them or priced him self out in anyway.

My only critisism is that a Kessler fight hasnt been made. This is a big black mark IMO. He could have unified the belts instead of fighting Manfredo. Then he could have looked for these other elusive big fights. Kessler is who Calzaghe should be fighting.

[Lords Gym]

*****PLEASE LETS BE RESPECTFUL ON THIS THREAD, THIS ISIN'T THE US.FANS VS GREAT BRITAIN FANS, LETS DISCUSS INTELLIGENTLY*****

Over the past year I have been convinced that Calzaghe has more than the goods and has worldclass talent, but you cant make a living out of one fight and forge a legacy, I am disappointed that he is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with fighting Peter Manfredo Jr and lead us to believe this is a legitimate and credible fight,and this is the one and only golden opportunity for him to get the millions of dollars and recognition in the states, when this is just an easy way for him to get his 20 defenses

Now whats fair is fair... Floyd Mayweather Jr get lambasted by the majority around here for his level of competition throughout his career, well I got news for you Floyd has fought WAY BETTER AND CREDIBLE OPPOSITION than Joe Calzaghe!!!! But Joe is lauded as a national treasure and Floyd is a coward,slacker and a sackless disgrace...Could never figure that out...

I don't want to here that Floyd's a jerk and Joe's not, I have read some articles and quotes by Calzaghe and he has been quite mouthy over the past year himself.. This is about in ring accomplishments strictly...

I think I made a fair assessment on this and would love to here what everyone thinks, Why does Joe get Royal treatment and Floyd Gets The venemous treatment??

Well Joe might say some shit, but you can bet your bottom dollar he will be coming at yeah, trying to knock your ass out, another words risking losing to win !, Joe is practicing what he preach.. Mayweather is great technical fighter, no question, but his mouth rattles, he talks trash and then he puts it in reverse the whole stretch. Its what I call "sling shot balls"... another words he is the guy talking shit at the end of the block while he is pelting you with a sling shot, he don't dare get close , cause he might get hurt. Granted he is fighting way out of his natural weight and he has very bad hands, so that can be taken into account, but the public will always love and embrace the warrior type fighter ! also Mayweather match-ups are predictable for one thing.. stylistic mismatches with all the terrain always favoring Mayweather.. 27 foot ring being the main thing. you put Mayweathers ass in a 16 -18 foot ring and some of those mis-matches would have been much more fan friendly.. however I doubt the outcome would be much different. Mayweather is great fighter he just prefer to win easy, and forgets that the fan needs to be excited from time to time. ! Anyway that’s how I see it.

[Lords Gym]

I think the answer is a simple one.

In the United States you can dislike Floyd Mayweather because you have Jermaine Taylor, Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr, James Toney, Winky Wright, Shane Mosley, to be a fan off. If all our hopes rested on Mayweather we wouldn't say a bad word about him.


In the UK you either like Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton or a one of several lesser known fighters.

I think it is futile to like a fighter just because of his nationality. Other aspects play their part for me. And that is why James Toney and Barrera have been such favourites of mine. I couldnt care less where they are born, that is irrelevant to me. Its got to be about the style or something about the fighter themselves.

I agree with that, for me personally nationality means very little. I like certain qualities in a fighter, If those qualities are there I am a fan ! its that simple. Love watching Ricky Hatton because of his full out attack style, didn’t care so much for all the holding his last fight, but its understandable why he did it.

I never seen Joe C until he gave Jeff Lacy a beating of lifetime, I became an instant fan that night, because of what Joe showed , his determination factor , his all out blitz from R1 to the 12th, I was simply amazed. oddly enough I also became a Jeff Lacy fan that night ,Lacy was obviously hurt real bad early in that match,. .. and Jeff showed courage and heart taking that 12 R beating , where others would have folded up tent. ! So something to be said about that… Lacy's beating was the kind of beating that can end a career. Glad Jeff has put those ghost in the closet and is marching forward. I look for great things from Lacy once his shoulder heals up from his recent surgery

[Violent Demise]

*****PLEASE LETS BE RESPECTFUL ON THIS THREAD, THIS ISIN'T THE US.FANS VS GREAT BRITAIN FANS, LETS DISCUSS INTELLIGENTLY*****

Over the past year I have been convinced that Calzaghe has more than the goods and has worldclass talent, but you cant make a living out of one fight and forge a legacy, I am disappointed that he is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with fighting Peter Manfredo Jr and lead us to believe this is a legitimate and credible fight,and this is the one and only golden opportunity for him to get the millions of dollars and recognition in the states, when this is just an easy way for him to get his 20 defenses

Now whats fair is fair... Floyd Mayweather Jr get lambasted by the majority around here for his level of competition throughout his career, well I got news for you Floyd has fought WAY BETTER AND CREDIBLE OPPOSITION than Joe Calzaghe!!!! But Joe is lauded as a national treasure and Floyd is a coward,slacker and a sackless disgrace...Could never figure that out...

I don't want to here that Floyd's a jerk and Joe's not, I have read some articles and quotes by Calzaghe and he has been quite mouthy over the past year himself.. This is about in ring accomplishments strictly...

I think I made a fair assessment on this and would love to here what everyone thinks, Why does Joe get Royal treatment and Floyd Gets The venemous treatment??

Well, you say he is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with fighting Peter Manfredo Jr and lead us to believe this is a legitimate and credible fight - but almost everything i have seen calzaghe say is to the contry; hes admitited hes finding it hard to get motevaited for the fight, that its a whole new step from being a reality tv star to a world champion.

Mayweather has been able to call out anyone he wants to fight for quite some time - Calzaghe has called out hopkins for nearly 6 years and failed with hopkins stupid cash demands. He called out RJJ - now im still not certain as to why this fight never worked out, warren has claimed Jones wanted stupid money for the fight and thats the only words i have heard about it. He called out taylor and wright, wright said once about thinking about going up to 168 tf ight calzaghe, but never spoke of it again, Taylor basical said after Ouma he wnated to fight calzaghe at 168, has been saying since hopkins 160 is so hard for him to make. He beats Ouma and then starts speaking about fighting moura? the winner from the contender!

I know calzaghe hasn't got the best resume in terms of fighters, 6 formoer world champions - (around half coming off highly contreversial losses) and one world champion (lacy) isn't to bad...

Maybe someone else could do mayweather as im not certain about all his fights and whom he could of fought - but ill try and break down calzaghes 20 world title fights and mark where he REALISTICALY could of fought a better level of fighter...

1997-10-11 - Chris Eubank - Calzaghe wins the WBO title knocking down eubank in the first round and doing on to win a fairly one sided Ud. (was meant to fight Steve collins but steve sudden retirement meant calzaghe was to fight eubank) (had no business fighting at 168 any more)

1998-01-24 - Branko Sobot

1998-04-25 - Juan Carlos Gimenez Ferreyra

1999-02-13 - Robin Reid

1999-06-05 - Rick Thornberry

2000-01-29 - David Starie

2000-08-12 - Omar Sheika

2000-12-16 - Richie Woodhall

2001-04-28 - Mario Veit - In hindsight, not the gratest fighter at SMW lol, but coming into it Veit was 30-0 around 20 KO's and pretty highly regeraded around Europe, Calzaghe wins in round 1 (who isn't highly regarded in Europe?)

2001-10-13 - Will McIntyre

2002-04-20 - Charles Brewer (was never even great)

2002-08-17 - Miguel Angel Jimenez

2002-12-14 - Tocker Pudwill

2003-06-28 - Byron Mitchell (not even as good as Brewer was)

2004-02-21 - Mger Mkrtchian

2004-10-22 - Kabary Salem

2005-05-07 - Mario Veit - Forced mandetory (should of dumped the belt in the trash)

2005-09-10 - Evans Ashira

2006-03-04 - Jeff Lacy

2006-10-14 - Sakio Bika -Calzaghe was meant to be fighting Glen Johnson here but had to pull out due to a hand Injury. again Bika may not have been the best at SMW, but he was the only one out there who was free, and the only one who had been in a world title fight (marku's WBC) and not lost (N/C cut on buyer) warren claims Kessler was offerd around £1m to fight calzaghe (i forget weather it was instead of johnson or Ashira)

2007-04-07 - Peter Manfredo Jr - after 42 fights for the first time you can honestly say there is clear cut better fighter out there that calzaghe could fight, and fight his fans want in Kessler, there are If and buts about certain thing, HBO wanting him to fight an american, Kessler only making an offer to fight in denmark etc etc

Now in all honestly, (Im trying to be totaly unbiased - i am a massive calzaghe fan, he is my second current and all time fav fighter) there is only one fight i think he deserves some stick for, and thats the manfredo fight - other than that he has fought pretty much the best out there. I will be the first to admit the overall class of fighters he has beat isn't all that great, not really his fault tho?

Again, so we are on the same page here, im talking about fights that could of happend, when people mention hopkins, taylor wright, or RJJ - i have yet to see anything that points to the fact calzaghe ducked them or priced him self out in anyway.

Damn, talk about bad resumes. That resume is garbage. To say he's pretty much fought the best out there is just straight stupid. There's no Jones. No Tarver. No Ottke. No Johnson. No Hopkins. Not even a Echols or Del Valle in there. Look at the names I colored red for you and tell me there pretty much the best out there. There club fighters at best. And Joe still struggled with some. The ones in blue are name fighters who were already shot when Joe fought them. How can you not call him overrated?