Quote Originally Posted by althetruthhindley
He will be viewed as a champ with 20 + defences and a handful of good guys in that 20
to many easy fights to be a great
Well BHop beat Oscar and Trinidad.... He then moved up two weight classes and beat Tarver.

Larry Holmes beat Norton & Shavers.... He then moved nine weight classes and beat Butterbean

So IMO a strong argument can be made for Clazaghe to be regarded as great (only if he beats Kessler).

Quote Originally Posted by shza
Kessler is necessary but not sufficient to make him HOF-worthy. He needs to beat Kessler and then beat one out of Winky, B-Hop and Taylor to really have a claim at it. If he goes out w/o fighting one of those three, I think it's pretty unforgivable. (though I suppose I could forgive him if he took huge $$ for an RJJ fight, though it wouldn't advance Joe's legacy an inch since RJJ is definitively at least 5 years past it)
Why? Winky would be out of his depth at 168, BHop is as much to blame as Calzaghe for not making fights in the past and IMO Taylor wont be widely regarded as a great champion when he retires.