When was Joe Calzaghe's Prime?

[ross]

Did he have one

[TheMacMagician]

If people don't think Calzaghe had a prime then you must not have watched him fight enough. The Eubank performance was brilliant, an absolute demolition of Lacy, a schooling of kessler into the championship rounds and also a good performance against an absolute legend in Hopkins. He landed more shots on Hopkins than anyone else had ever managed to in Hopkins whole career. The only thing Joe lacked is more fights overseas....

[paddy448]

i remember seeing an interview with joe about a year or so ago saying that the calzaghe of today would wipe the floor with the calzaghe of old, i think pysically he could of gone on for a few more years but he said that his hungers was starting to go, and thats when u no u should stop fighting

[JazMerkin]

I think the Calzaghe of the last 2-3 years was him at his best, he is a smart guy & has hopefully bowed out before he deteriorates

[leftylee]

I can't really say when Calzaghe's prime was.

It was always the case of the bigger and better the opponent, the better he boxed. And he proved that time and time again.

[Tins06]

It's so hard to place cos he had a few consistancy probelms for whatever reasons.different tools for different times, early in the career he had with his volume punching,later still had the pace,had bad problems, but better boxing and great combination punching.

But the best example of Calzaghe for me is Kessler, that's the best calzaghe.All his experience and fitness.And kessler still felt the shots. "If he slaps,he slaps hard" how many times have you heard that?

[Dark Lord Al]

When he beat a weight drained Eubank , Calzaghe for me looked like a potential wrecking machine , he threw the left cross like he was wielding an axe.
The rest is history as he evolved into Calslappy.

[CFH]

I'm far from an expert on Calzaghe, but I feel that the period between Lacy and Hopkins has to be considered his prime. What he had lost physically due to his age he made up for with intelligence and experience and that was the only period of his career that he tested himself against world-class opposition. The Kessler, Hopkins, and to a lesser extent Lacy victories were the best of his career (though I feel Hopkins edged the fight, but that's immaterial).

[smashup]

I say Kessler!

Against Lacy he looked incredible but Lacy did nothing other than plod forward in straight lines,made Joe look good and threw no combinations at all and hardly landed a punch.
Considering the hype that came over with him i think we can all agree he was just a bit over rated.

Kessler had Joe matched until the 5th or 6th when Joe changed tactics and ran away with it and took some thumping right hands in the process.

The fact Kessler was definately more "live" and the fact Joe adjusted to what he brought mid fight took his best shots and still beat him are signs of just how good he was.

IMO only great fighters can do that and add to that the occasion of 50,000 (or whatever it was in Cardiff) and the thousands of Danes who came over just made that night so special.

That for me was his best ever peformance because he was in a real fight with someone of near equal skill and well into his mid thirties still pulled it out the bag and showed so much diversity and heart in the process.

Lacy was there to be hit and lost before he got in the ring where as Kessler came to damage and put Joe in a dark place for a good few rounds.

the way Joe got out of that place was through superior boxing skills and a huge heart.

Great fight.

[Pugilistic]

Calzaghe's prime is like Hopkins prime.

Very hard to pick out where he was at his best.

I personally think he was at his best around 2002-2003.

[Gandalf]

It's hard to say, I think Calzaghe's toughest opponent was Kessler and it brought out the best in Calzaghe.