This debate pops up so often, hopefully I can clarify my views in a short a space as possible.

1) He did come into the division (1997-2003) with no great champions, and very few fighters to compete with him. Apart from Sven Ottke, even more dedicated to fighting in Germany than Joe seemed to be in the UK, no other titlist in the division held either of the other belts for more than a few years, the most successful of those, Byron Mitchell (4 title wins, of 6 title fights in 97-03 period), was defeated by Joe.

2) The whole fighting at home/not going to the US issue I would sum up thus: Essentially the only fighter around his weight region that would have been big enough in the mid 00's that could have made bigger money in the US than the UK was RJJ, who didn't want any part of Joe during that period. Glen Johnson was scheduled to fight Joe in the UK a few times, but hands made of fine china did for those fights.

3) His swansong in the US. RJJ was a moneyspinner between one guy wanting a last big name on his record, and one guy wanting another 0 on his bank balance. In terms of fighting Hopkins, I had him a round ahead, but these things are often down to perspective, and I just found Hopkins not wanting it enough and not putting in the work.

4) Alternative opposition. Ottke would never have happened, neither would Beyer, as Joe would have had to go to Germany for a significantly reduced paycheck, and not too much increase in profile to match that. As for his final few fights, Johnson, Dawson and Tarver tend to be the big 3 mentioned. Johnson, as the jounreyman these days doesn't have the marquee attraction. Tarver wasn't mixing with too glamourous opposition himself after losing to Hopkins, and looked like a star on the wane. As for Dawson I'd have liked to have seen it, but maybe he as well didn't have the wide-ranging appeal of RJJ. (Did you know that Dawson was a warm-up for Calzaghe v Lacy in 06, winning a KO3 against Jamie Hearn. I was there, and I don't remember it either )

Ok, so maybe it wasn't concise, but I'm not a journalist any more, and word count doesn't matter any more!

As for completing the sentence: Calzaghe was good, but he was no Jimmy Wilde because he didn't consistently fight opposition often 10% or more heavier than him in bodyweight.