Roy Jones i voted, although a prime Calzaghe had true KO power prior to hand problems to trouble them all and would be a very close second IMO.
Roy Jones i voted, although a prime Calzaghe had true KO power prior to hand problems to trouble them all and would be a very close second IMO.
I'd say Calzaghe had knockout power. He lost some after about 25-30 fights, then it was all gone by the time he fought ashira and Salem i would say. Some will say his knockout ratio went down due to better quality opponents but this doesn't explain it all. You watch how he threw punches from 1993-2000, it bears no resemblence to how he threw for his last 7-8 fights. It the beginning of his career he never slapped, by the mid point of his career he slapped too much, and by the end they were almost all slaps. He also used to twist his body violently when throwing a hook, but by the end they were purely arm punches. Of course many fighters suffer hand problems, but few could have had it as bad as Calzaghe. In one period he went 18 months (3 fights in that time) without being able to spar a single round. Now imagine you hear about an up coming fight where one of the fighters hasnt been able to spar a single round, who would your money be on? Yet Calzaghe won time after time like this. Anyway, i went off track, the point is...he did have power
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Skel, i really think he did, maybe not huge but he sure had enough. I feel kind of sorry for him in a way because as he came into more prominence around the world he'd already had hand problems and had to rethink the approach, and from what is probably common knowledge did little sparring atall also to compensate for bad hands.... Guess its an IF thing, if he didn't hurt his hands he would have still been knocking them out rather than just overwhelming.....
I agree about the feeling a bit sorry for him bit. I fear he is destined to be remembered as a pit-pat puncher. But this was not the case for the majority of his career. I hope that over time people look at his whole career in its entirety, at the moment it sometimes seems people think his career started with Lacy. I don't think he was ever a one punch KO man, but as has been said he certainly had enough power, he disposed of some sturdy opponents. Also he knocked down Eubank in first 15 seconds - Eubank has said he has really been hit as hard, he also has said that as he picked himself up he said to himself something like 'i'm in trouble here, just be there at the end, go through hell to get there, but just be there at the end'. Brilliant
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'I have never been knocked down in the first round before Joe hit me with a powerful left hand punch, and within half a minute i was having to pick myself up and deal with the realisation that i was in for a long night. That punch really hurt and thereafter it was a tough fight. We battled eachother in the trenches. He has been a magnificent boxer for many, many years. I'm particually glad about this because it means that i was beaten on that night by no ordinary fighter, no ordinary Joe, but by a man of real class' - Chris Eubank
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Your spot on mate, i really hope people look back a bit more too..... Kessler is looked upon as the best SMW around at the moment, and Joe C eased home in the end to be honest and gave him a boxing lesson.... Add some good knockout power to those skills and thats what you had before the bad hands started.....
In his Prime Roy wouldn't have had a problem with any of those guys.
I hate to break it to you Calzaghe fans but during his prime Calzaghe #1 never left his weight class #2 never went to another country to fight a big fight....those are the things RJJ and Hopkins catch shit over and he did BOTH of them. To me Calzaghe is not much better than Svenn Ottke, in terms of how he handled his career of course and not how he fought. Calzaghe was a very solid capable fighter, I just don't think it's fair to compare him to top teir fighters when he rarely set foot in the ring with a dangerous fighter....compared to his record RJJ's is AMAZING.
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