How good could have Joe Calzaghe been?

[littlebif]

Joe liked to train at home aswell so not sure if taking him away from all that would be a good idear when he keeps winning anyway.

[robinswe01]

The only thing Calzaghe lacks is a KO punch. He has just about everything else. A good brain, footwork, great hand speed, excellent stanima and the ability to adapt.
If his bad hands were caused by poor coaching then it may have been benificial for him.

[littlebif]

He used to be able to punch till his hands got bad!

He would of been a better fighter if he never had hand problems.

The poor guy finished his great career unbeaten and we still find faults LOL

[SigmaMu]

I dont believe for one second that Joe is retired. How great could Joe have been? He's pretty great right now.

[Taeth]

The only thing Calzaghe lacks is a KO punch. He has just about everything else. A good brain, footwork, great hand speed, excellent stanima and the ability to adapt.
If his bad hands were caused by poor coaching then it may have been benificial for him.

I think he lacked defensive skills that other guys had, he lacked punching technique which attributed to his lack of power. His balance was sometimes off so he couldn't get the right leverage on shots.

I don't get the sense Joe is somebody that needs somebody to push him out the door to run. I think he does it himself, and you see that in the ring. Some guys are just so motivated to win they will find any way to win.

I don't see how putting guy like Eddie Futch, Nazeem Richardson, Gil Clancy, Roach, FMSNR, type coach in there that it would make Calzaghe not better than being coached by somebody who has no boxing background.

IMO Calzaghe had just as much difficulty landing on Hopkins as Pavlik did, its just Hopkins executed a better game plan in that fight, and Pavlik doesn't have JOe's speed. I was quite astonished at how easily when Hopkins was fresh he could avoid Joe's flurries, and counter cleanly at will.

[ukansodoff]

From what ive heard in interviews with Joe, his father and other people close it took his father to keep him as focused and hard working as he was in training and in fights. He may of took his foot off the pedal too many times if it had been somebosy else.

But the way i see it, if his hands had held up through the years and his promoter had balls and a love of the sport of boxing instead of a love for money his career could of took him to a level where his record would not be questioned by alot of people.

[Taeth]

From what ive heard in interviews with Joe, his father and other people close it took his father to keep him as focused and hard working as he was in training and in fights. He may of took his foot off the pedal too many times if it had been somebosy else.

But the way i see it, if his hands had held up through the years and his promoter had balls and a love of the sport of boxing instead of a love for money his career could of took him to a level where his record would not be questioned by alot of people.

People don't give the great coaches enough credit for their ability to motivate fighters, and keep a good rapport with the guys they train. They know how to deal with egos, and probably because they have trained so many fighters they could possibly know Joe better than his dad in some ways.