Quote Originally Posted by RozzySean View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Fenster View Post
Quote Originally Posted by RozzySean View Post

So only third rate fighters were willing to take on Calzaghe? The second rate ones didn't want any part of him? If Beyer was willing to fight Kessler, I doubt he would have been unwilling to fight Calzaghe given the chance.

As for Bute, in April 2007, Calzaghe fought Manfredo. Two months later Bute fought Bika. He had already stopped Salem in 8, with whom Joe went the distance the previous year. Sure, Bute was just a knotch up from prospect at that point, but he was a legit top 10 MWW at the time, if I remember correctly, he was ranked about 6th or 7th then. Why is it crazy to think they could have offered him that fight instead of Manfredo? Are you saying that Bute hadn't done more than Manfredo at that point to deserve a shot? Would that not have been a better fight for the fans and a better show case of his skills? Since when does it require calling somebody out to make a fight? Manfredo certainly wassn't calling him out. And, in Bute's next fight, he beat Bika probably more easily than Calzaghe did. Bute would have been a good choice for the Spring 2007 defense if Calzaghe was interested in giving the fans a decent fight. Joe would have won, but it would been an interesting and meaningful win.

Even offering that spring 2007 fight to Froch would have been more meaningful than dragging Manfredo to Wales. I suppose you think Froch would have turned that down?
Beyer got a HUGE money cut against Kessler. A career high payday. Do you think it was a coincidence he retired after that fight (i know he's back)? I'm sure he wouldn't have minded Calzaghe retiring him for the money he got either.

I think you're just being petty with Bute. Compared with Calzaghe, Bute is a nobody novice, he's NEVER even been on TV in Britain. Has he ever fought outside Canada? I've NEVER heard of a possible fight between the two. I've never heard Bute mention Calzaghe. And I don't understand WHY you think Bute's people would be in such a hurry to chance ruining him?

Calzaghe ducked Bute. Good luck with that one.

I agree the Manfredo fight was utter shit. Pathetic. Calzaghe got tons of deserved criticism for that. I'm not even gonna try and justify it by Manfredo's "contender" fame, or the fact they shifted 30,000+ tickets for a mismatch. I agree it was crap.
I never said, he DUCKED Bute. I was argue that he (or even Froch) would have been a better fight than freakin Manfredo. I'm not even being petty. I'm giving an example of the way Calzaghe has conducted his career, fighting the Manfredos, Kabary Salems, and Mger Mkrchians of the world. I'm even saying that he "ducked" anybody. He just didn't bother to fight them because he could get paid defending that stupid WBO trinket against third rate fighters. For years, he never made a reasonable attempt to unify. He never thought of abandoning his belt because the WBO's offering of manitory challengers was a joke. He held the belt fighting as many or more C-grade fighters than real contenders. They have been shifting tickets on mismatches for years with Calzaghe. That's exactly my point.

He gets credit, in this order for these fights:

He's fought two A-level fighters

Kessler, Hopkins

Here are the B-grades
Reid B+, Eubank (because he was shot, he falls here) B+, Lacy B, Sheika B , Mitchell B-, Bika B -, Veit C+.

The rest are crap, and notice, half of the decent names, including the two best, are in the last couple of years.

That's a good resume. Not a great one. And that's too bad, because he's a great fighter.

Let me put out a GREAT resume. Look at James Toney's resume at SMW and MW - Michael Nunn, Mike McCallum 2x, Iran Barkley, Reggie Johnson (prime),Charles Williams, oh, and a loss to an up and coming MW champ named Roy Jones Jr. Toss in Merqui Sosa and Tim Littles for fun.

That's a great resume.
Eubank fought one of his most impressive fights after Calzaghe. You can't say he was "shot." He took the fight at late-ish notice and had to struggle to get the weight off (that's the excuse i'm sure you was looking for ). Calzaghe had never been past 8 rounds (we can ignore that fact).

I think Toney was a great fighter. Those are some great wins (i'm sure if someone was petty enough they could take the form apart ). The majority of Toney's wins must have been against CRAP too, no?