Breaking News - Calzaghe Retires

[superheavyrhun]

Well, my sig pretty much tells it all about where I stand on Calzaghe as a fighter.

In honesty, it hasn't been the most gracious departure from the sport. The Roy Jones Jr he fought was a shadow of the great that went from Middleweight to Heavyweight world champion, and lacked the satisfaction of a truly great finale. Also, the war of words which simmered with Froch in the period between Froch beating Pascal and the retirement today hasn't been a highlight.

However, I think Calzaghe has had a sparkling career, and will go down in history as one of the greats, but history will look back at the fights that were made, and those that passed him by, and say that he was a very good champion.

Hopefully now he can go on and contribute in an ambassadorial role to British boxing, and help encourage those young fighters in Britain to go on and achieve. And from memory, Calzaghe Promotions has its first card this month too in Merthyr, so we'll see how that goes.

[mrbig1]

I think it's great news. I love to see fighters who has money in their pocket and all there marbles, just walk away.

[El Kabong]

Calzaghe is a great fighter but just like everyone else in his era there will always be questions about him but those questions can't be answered now and there is no one left to fight.

[TeleTuff]

There are still good fight`s for Joe,and IMO he does fall short of Greatness,fact is Super Middle has never been A good Div.It`s true that some Good/Graet fighters have come through there,but the Div.overall has not been very good,so it`s noy surprising to me that he was able to Dominate A Div like SM,Esp if you consider the calaber of opponent that he faced in A number of his Title defences,In my opinion his best win was against the guy from Denmark who`s name escapes me right know,...Oh yeah Kessler,Joe`s fight with ageing veteran Hopkins was too close for my likeing,and his victory over the once Great,but know entirely SHOT Roy Jones,was what it was.

A shot fighter seeking out A last Pay Day,...

But on another note it seems as though there is A double standard regarding his retirement,alot of you guy`s would congradulate Joe C. for retireing on top,after makeing his mark,being undefeated,and walking away with his health and Money,but Hate on Floyd Mayweather for doing the exact same thing?

[denilson200]

Now that J.Calzaghe has retired. The question now arises as to where do we place him ? Too many fighters are to scared of losing, thinking that as long as they have that '0' on their record then that by itself makes them great. In a sense J.Calzaghe is unlucky. He never got the chance to face N.Benn or M.Watson at their peak. But to me the most telling fight where I base my judgement on J.Calzaghe was his 1st world title fight with C.Eubank. Yes C.Eubank was still only 31 years old BUT he had been in some BRUTAL-BRUTAL wars with likes of M.Watson twice, N.Benn twice was defeated by S.Collins twice. So although C.Eubank was still a serious fighter he was NOT the fighter he once was. Yet and even J.Calzaghe has admitted this, C.Eubank gave him the hardest fight of his life.

So logically one must wonder what a peak 24/25 year old C.Eubank would have done without the wars N.Benn, M.Watson and S.Collins in his body. We would quite rightly assume that he would have defeated J.Calzaghe. So you could also say that J.Calzaghe is lucky in that he never fought a peak R.Jones (Who still managed to knock him down) or that he never fought a peak B.Hopkins (Who still managed knock him down and run him to a split decision) not to mention the likes of J.Toney or G.McClellan. To me had any these fighters been around today at their PEAKS then J.Calzaghe would not retire with his '0' intact of that there is no question. He should have fought C.Dawson or C.Froch, but fair play too him. He is a great fighter today but I'm not so sure he would have been yesterday.

[Fenster]

Now that J.Calzaghe has retired. The question now arises as to where do we place him ? Too many fighters are to scared of losing, thinking that as long as they have that '0' on their record then that by itself makes them great. In a sense J.Calzaghe is unlucky. He never got the chance to face N.Benn or M.Watson at their peak. But to me the most telling fight where I base my judgement on J.Calzaghe was his 1st world title fight with C.Eubank. Yes C.Eubank was still only 31 years old BUT he had been in some BRUTAL-BRUTAL wars with likes of M.Watson twice, N.Benn twice was defeated by S.Collins twice. So although C.Eubank was still a serious fighter he was NOT the fighter he once was. Yet and even J.Calzaghe has admitted this, C.Eubank gave him the hardest fight of his life.

So logically one must wonder what a peak 24/25 year old C.Eubank would have done without the wars N.Benn, M.Watson and S.Collins in his body. We would quite rightly assume that he would have defeated J.Calzaghe. So you could also say that J.Calzaghe is lucky in that he never fought a peak R.Jones (Who still managed to knock him down) or that he never fought a peak B.Hopkins (Who still managed knock him down and run him to a split decision) not to mention the likes of J.Toney or G.McClellan. To me had any these fighters been around today at their PEAKS then J.Calzaghe would not retire with his '0' intact of that there is no question. He should have fought C.Dawson or C.Froch, but fair play too him. He is a great fighter today but I'm not so sure he would have been yesterday.

Eubank had two brutal wars with Carl Thompson at cruiserweight too - AFTER facing Calzaghe. It was Calzaghe's first fight in world class.. he had never been past eight rounds before. Was that the very best version of Calzaghe?

Hopkins had the "best performance of my career" against Pavlik. This was AFTER Calzaghe had beaten him. Hopkins age is clearly not a factor.

You can make excuses till the cows come home but the fact is Calzaghe beat the lot

[superheavyrhun]

Eubank had two brutal wars with Carl Thompson at cruiserweight too - AFTER facing Calzaghe. It was Calzaghe's first fight in world class.. he had never been past eight rounds before. Was that the very best version of Calzaghe?

Hopkins had the "best performance of my career" against Pavlik. This was AFTER Calzaghe had beaten him.

You can make excuses till the cows come home but the fact is Calzaghe beat the lot

I was thinking the same kind of thing, and worrying it might be quite a lengthy reply, and the darts was about to start, so I think I'll just applaud your response.

[Fenster]

Eubank had two brutal wars with Carl Thompson at cruiserweight too - AFTER facing Calzaghe. It was Calzaghe's first fight in world class.. he had never been past eight rounds before. Was that the very best version of Calzaghe?

Hopkins had the "best performance of my career" against Pavlik. This was AFTER Calzaghe had beaten him.

You can make excuses till the cows come home but the fact is Calzaghe beat the lot

I was thinking the same kind of thing, and worrying it might be quite a lengthy reply, and the darts was about to start, so I think I'll just applaud your response.

Disappointingly one-sided beating by Taylor. Especially considering I would have won my accumulator had Wade not missed two darts for the match earlier