Bernard Hopkins offers Calzaghe $8 million!!

[bzkfn]

Go recheck the geography lesson
The south and the north are totally,and I do mean totally different universes
Ive lived all over the states
Id have an easier time adapting to the Eastend then most places here
Deary deary me,you still dont get it,we could drop the entire British Isles in to Texas and have room to spare,let alone 1000s of miles away
There is no American unity,good god,an Alaskan might as well be a Martian to most Americans,let alone a Hawaiian
And as far as the below statement,you dont understand boxing do you
The Casinos pay more,because they make more.
Its not just about what your a$$ pays for a ticket,its what you drop at the tables while your waiting for the fight
50'000 tickets isnt even close to what 5,000 will drop at the tables
Jesus, no wonder your stuck with Frank Warren,not one of you have an inkling of a clue how to make money in this buisness

Are you sure about this?

I was always under the impression that Americans were considerably more likely to be flag waving and patriotic than people from other countries, at least in my experience of hanging about with them in Japan.

Wearing an England shirt in a bar has a canny chance of landing you in a fight in Wales and Scotland. Would the same happen say if a bloke from Texas wore a Dallas Cowboys T shirt in a New York pub? (Genuine question, not trying to be provocative)

This all depends on the area, where I live in Arizona we could care less about team support, but If you go to Boston and wear Yankees attire you could very well be looking for trouble.

I live in Liverpool but I'm an avid Manchester United fan. Once wore my shirt just going to the shop at the end of the road and got cornered by 3 pissed liverpool fans... check the distance between liverpool and manchester. their are few bigger rivalries in the world than that.

[Fenster]

And thats exactly what is wrong with boxing and fighters like Joe. Money is more important than legacy. As if Joe needs the money. He has enough to support himself and 50 other families. Fine Joe dont go to the US, but then dont complain twenty years down the track when ppl are criticising you for not fighting the best. Cant have it both ways. Dont give me S*** about Joe copping more criticism than most, this whole topic has Hopkins being knocked a tonne more than Joe. Here he is 44 years old, maybe the best legacy in boxing yet he is being called scared. Joes fans are just as quick if not quicker to jump on his opponents than Joe's detractors jump on him. U cannot deny that.

That's a tad naive.

Here's some quotes from your heroes -

"Fighters want to fight for titles, but not as much as we want to fight for MONEY." Roy Jones jr

"I'm glad that I have three belts because that means I have three mandatories a year and I can make $2 million or $3 million dollars every time I step in the ring with Donald Duck. I can deal with that." Bernard Hopkins

Tell me - if boxing is about the best fighting the best then why haven't you got a problem with these guys - Hopkins and Jones - POINT-BLANK REFUSING to fight outside their backyard?

If they were really interested in the hardest challenges and making the best possible fights they'd be prepared to step outside THEIR comfort zone, right?

Wrong,wrong and wrong
Total and complete lack of understanding of the state
Unless Roy Jones allways fought in Miami,and Hopkins allways fought at the Spectrum in Philly,they ARE out of their back yard
We've been through this before,England is roughly the size of PA
PA isnt a large state by US standards
There is no national unity behind fighters here,Las Vegas is as close to the moon as it is to Philly if your fighting there

OK just answer me this?

Is Philly in AMERICA?
Is Miami in AMERICA?
Is Las Vegas in AMERICA?
Is New York in AMERICA?
Is Europe in AMERICA?

Thank you.

Philly to miami is 1197 miles (1926 Km)
Miami to Las Vegas is 2176 miles (3501 Km)
Las Vegas to New York is 2570 miles (4136 Km)

Yep they are all in America but there are huge cultural differences, civil war has happened between these places.

Cardiff to London is 152 miles (244 Km)
London to Berlin is 577 miles (928 Km)
Berlin to Moscow is 999 miles (1607 Km)

As different as Moscow and London are Vegas and Philly are also different culturally
The dialects and slang are different enough to almost be seperate languages.
They use the same currency, but that is where the similarities end.

ahaaaa Different culturally? South and South East London are different culturally

Thanks for the geography lesson BUT what has it to do with boxing?

Where are the BIGGEST fights in America held?

LAS VEGAS and New York, right?

And Los Angeles
Furthermore, it has to do with boxing as the following or having a home town advantage (a supporting crowd)
I for one think that Joe has no reason to leave his backyard, he is the undisputed champ. BIG fights don't always
happen in the three previously mentioned cities. Taylor - Pavlik for undisputed Middleweight title was in New Jersey
Juan vs. Julio Diaz for lightweight unification bout was in Illinois. Vazquez - Marquez 2 (candidate for fight of the year)
was in Texas. Darchynian vs. Donaire was in Connecticut. Guzman vs. Soto was in New Jersey. Lacy vs. Tsypko was in Florida.
Spinks vs. Taylor was in Tennessee. Solis vs. Mayol was in Illinois. Bika vs. Codrington (contender finale) was in Massachusetts.

Yes I was going to add Los Angeles along with Atlantic City but thought you would get the point.

This is going off track but are any of those REALLY big fights? If they were they would be held at MAJOR venues.

For example - Soto-Guzman had 2000 punters.

[cpcompany]

Go recheck the geography lesson
The south and the north are totally,and I do mean totally different universes
Ive lived all over the states
Id have an easier time adapting to the Eastend then most places here
Deary deary me,you still dont get it,we could drop the entire British Isles in to Texas and have room to spare,let alone 1000s of miles away
There is no American unity,good god,an Alaskan might as well be a Martian to most Americans,let alone a Hawaiian
And as far as the below statement,you dont understand boxing do you
The Casinos pay more,because they make more.
Its not just about what your a$$ pays for a ticket,its what you drop at the tables while your waiting for the fight
50'000 tickets isnt even close to what 5,000 will drop at the tables
Jesus, no wonder your stuck with Frank Warren,not one of you have an inkling of a clue how to make money in this buisness

Are you sure about this?

I was always under the impression that Americans were considerably more likely to be flag waving and patriotic than people from other countries, at least in my experience of hanging about with them in Japan.

Wearing an England shirt in a bar has a canny chance of landing you in a fight in Wales and Scotland. Would the same happen say if a bloke from Texas wore a Dallas Cowboys T shirt in a New York pub? (Genuine question, not trying to be provocative)

This all depends on the area, where I live in Arizona we could care less about team support, but If you go to Boston and wear Yankees attire you could very well be looking for trouble.

One of the points I was trying to highlight were the said cultural differences between America and the UK which have been mentioned. Its not really about the team, its about where you are from. The shirt just happens to be a way of identifying this.

As someone from England who grew up near Scotland, and lived in Wales for a while, you would be amazed at how much hostility you can face there. I would be amazed if this was to happen in America.

As I type this I am beginning to wonder how the fuck this thread turned into a social studies debate !! Lol

[cpcompany]

Go recheck the geography lesson
The south and the north are totally,and I do mean totally different universes
Ive lived all over the states
Id have an easier time adapting to the Eastend then most places here
Deary deary me,you still dont get it,we could drop the entire British Isles in to Texas and have room to spare,let alone 1000s of miles away
There is no American unity,good god,an Alaskan might as well be a Martian to most Americans,let alone a Hawaiian
And as far as the below statement,you dont understand boxing do you
The Casinos pay more,because they make more.
Its not just about what your a$$ pays for a ticket,its what you drop at the tables while your waiting for the fight
50'000 tickets isnt even close to what 5,000 will drop at the tables
Jesus, no wonder your stuck with Frank Warren,not one of you have an inkling of a clue how to make money in this buisness

Are you sure about this?

I was always under the impression that Americans were considerably more likely to be flag waving and patriotic than people from other countries, at least in my experience of hanging about with them in Japan.

Wearing an England shirt in a bar has a canny chance of landing you in a fight in Wales and Scotland. Would the same happen say if a bloke from Texas wore a Dallas Cowboys T shirt in a New York pub? (Genuine question, not trying to be provocative)

This all depends on the area, where I live in Arizona we could care less about team support, but If you go to Boston and wear Yankees attire you could very well be looking for trouble.

I live in Liverpool but I'm an avid Manchester United fan. Once wore my shirt just going to the shop at the end of the road and got cornered by 3 pissed liverpool fans... check the distance between liverpool and manchester. their are few bigger rivalries in the world than that.

Same as where I am from. Sunderland and Newcastle are about 12 miles apart. But towns where the support is divided such as Washington, South Shields and Durham can get a bit lairy on derby day.

[killersheep]

Go recheck the geography lesson
The south and the north are totally,and I do mean totally different universes
Ive lived all over the states
Id have an easier time adapting to the Eastend then most places here
Deary deary me,you still dont get it,we could drop the entire British Isles in to Texas and have room to spare,let alone 1000s of miles away
There is no American unity,good god,an Alaskan might as well be a Martian to most Americans,let alone a Hawaiian
And as far as the below statement,you dont understand boxing do you
The Casinos pay more,because they make more.
Its not just about what your a$$ pays for a ticket,its what you drop at the tables while your waiting for the fight
50'000 tickets isnt even close to what 5,000 will drop at the tables
Jesus, no wonder your stuck with Frank Warren,not one of you have an inkling of a clue how to make money in this buisness

Are you sure about this?

I was always under the impression that Americans were considerably more likely to be flag waving and patriotic than people from other countries, at least in my experience of hanging about with them in Japan.

Wearing an England shirt in a bar has a canny chance of landing you in a fight in Wales and Scotland. Would the same happen say if a bloke from Texas wore a Dallas Cowboys T shirt in a New York pub? (Genuine question, not trying to be provocative)

This all depends on the area, where I live in Arizona we could care less about team support, but If you go to Boston and wear Yankees attire you could very well be looking for trouble.

One of the points I was trying to highlight were the said cultural differences between America and the UK which have been mentioned. Its not really about the team, its about where you are from. The shirt just happens to be a way of identifying this.

As someone from England who grew up near Scotland, and lived in Wales for a while, you would be amazed at how much hostility you can face there. I would be amazed if this was to happen in America.

As I type this I am beginning to wonder how the fuck this thread turned into a social studies debate !! Lol

The same happens here, usually around bars or anywhere drinking is involved.

[killersheep]

Go recheck the geography lesson
The south and the north are totally,and I do mean totally different universes
Ive lived all over the states
Id have an easier time adapting to the Eastend then most places here
Deary deary me,you still dont get it,we could drop the entire British Isles in to Texas and have room to spare,let alone 1000s of miles away
There is no American unity,good god,an Alaskan might as well be a Martian to most Americans,let alone a Hawaiian
And as far as the below statement,you dont understand boxing do you
The Casinos pay more,because they make more.
Its not just about what your a$$ pays for a ticket,its what you drop at the tables while your waiting for the fight
50'000 tickets isnt even close to what 5,000 will drop at the tables
Jesus, no wonder your stuck with Frank Warren,not one of you have an inkling of a clue how to make money in this buisness

Are you sure about this?

I was always under the impression that Americans were considerably more likely to be flag waving and patriotic than people from other countries, at least in my experience of hanging about with them in Japan.

Wearing an England shirt in a bar has a canny chance of landing you in a fight in Wales and Scotland. Would the same happen say if a bloke from Texas wore a Dallas Cowboys T shirt in a New York pub? (Genuine question, not trying to be provocative)

This all depends on the area, where I live in Arizona we could care less about team support, but If you go to Boston and wear Yankees attire you could very well be looking for trouble.

I live in Liverpool but I'm an avid Manchester United fan. Once wore my shirt just going to the shop at the end of the road and got cornered by 3 pissed liverpool fans... check the distance between liverpool and manchester. their are few bigger rivalries in the world than that.

Back to boxing though. and specifically to the point of this thread, does Joe Not have unified support throughout the UK?
Joe has massive support throughout Cardiff, Manchester and Edinburgh right? Would he not be condsidered a hometown favorite in
any of those places?

[BoxingGorilla]

I haven't read the rest of the thread yet, but it's 8 million USD that only half has much when gets it back home, right? So that's a reason to turn your nose up at it.

He could buy a bunch of merchandise while he was here for cheap though.

[cpcompany]

Go recheck the geography lesson
The south and the north are totally,and I do mean totally different universes
Ive lived all over the states
Id have an easier time adapting to the Eastend then most places here
Deary deary me,you still dont get it,we could drop the entire British Isles in to Texas and have room to spare,let alone 1000s of miles away
There is no American unity,good god,an Alaskan might as well be a Martian to most Americans,let alone a Hawaiian
And as far as the below statement,you dont understand boxing do you
The Casinos pay more,because they make more.
Its not just about what your a$$ pays for a ticket,its what you drop at the tables while your waiting for the fight
50'000 tickets isnt even close to what 5,000 will drop at the tables
Jesus, no wonder your stuck with Frank Warren,not one of you have an inkling of a clue how to make money in this buisness

Are you sure about this?

I was always under the impression that Americans were considerably more likely to be flag waving and patriotic than people from other countries, at least in my experience of hanging about with them in Japan.

Wearing an England shirt in a bar has a canny chance of landing you in a fight in Wales and Scotland. Would the same happen say if a bloke from Texas wore a Dallas Cowboys T shirt in a New York pub? (Genuine question, not trying to be provocative)

This all depends on the area, where I live in Arizona we could care less about team support, but If you go to Boston and wear Yankees attire you could very well be looking for trouble.

I live in Liverpool but I'm an avid Manchester United fan. Once wore my shirt just going to the shop at the end of the road and got cornered by 3 pissed liverpool fans... check the distance between liverpool and manchester. their are few bigger rivalries in the world than that.

Back to boxing though. and specifically to the point of this thread, does Joe Not have unified support throughout the UK?
Joe has massive support throughout Cardiff, Manchester and Edinburgh right? Would he not be condsidered a hometown favorite in
any of those places?

Joe Calzaghe only really has huge support in Wales, at least as far as I remember. I dont see any specific reason that he would be popular in Manchester or Edinburgh.

Calzaghe was quite disliked early in his career, but he has matured greatly and is well liked, without being a huge star. Hamed, Hatton, McGuigan,Bruno,Benn,Eubank,Graham were all far more mainstream and well known than Calzaghe.

[ICB]

And thats exactly what is wrong with boxing and fighters like Joe. Money is more important than legacy. As if Joe needs the money. He has enough to support himself and 50 other families. Fine Joe dont go to the US, but then dont complain twenty years down the track when ppl are criticising you for not fighting the best. Cant have it both ways. Dont give me S*** about Joe copping more criticism than most, this whole topic has Hopkins being knocked a tonne more than Joe. Here he is 44 years old, maybe the best legacy in boxing yet he is being called scared. Joes fans are just as quick if not quicker to jump on his opponents than Joe's detractors jump on him. U cannot deny that.

That's a tad naive.

Here's some quotes from your heroes -

"Fighters want to fight for titles, but not as much as we want to fight for MONEY." Roy Jones jr

"I'm glad that I have three belts because that means I have three mandatories a year and I can make $2 million or $3 million dollars every time I step in the ring with Donald Duck. I can deal with that." Bernard Hopkins

Tell me - if boxing is about the best fighting the best then why haven't you got a problem with these guys - Hopkins and Jones - POINT-BLANK REFUSING to fight outside their backyard?

If they were really interested in the hardest challenges and making the best possible fights they'd be prepared to step outside THEIR comfort zone, right?

Jones didn't have to go outside the USA all the best fighters were in USA unless you count Dariusz Michalczewski but he only wanted to fight Jones in Germany.

Right.

But IF boxing isn't about MONEY and only the best fighting the best WHY wasn't Roy prepared to fight Michalczewski in Germany?

Michalczewski was the fight the fans wanted, right? He was the BEST possible opponent for Roy. Why didn't Roy say "hey, I'm gonna go whoop that boy in his backyard, that'll show everyone I aint scared to fight anyman anywhere"?

Where did Reid vs Ottke take place ?? Michael Sprott vs Rene Dettweiler where did that take place ?? Germany is well known to have the most biased scoring in boxing Jones would have to kill Dariusz Michalczewski to win a decision.

Where did Lennox-Holyfield take place? Where did Oscar-Sturm take place?

Eubank outpointed Rocchigiani in Germany.

There's BOGUS decisions all over the world. Anyone can use that lame excuse. And doesn't answer why Roy wasn't prepared to leave his COUNTRY to fight the best possible comp when it arose.

Oh come off it Fenster if this was Calzaghe we was talking about you would be agreeing its well known Germany has the most biased scoring in boxing yes there are bad decisions everywhere but that doesn't change the fact Germany is the worst.

After 1997 Jones was p4p number 1 when you are P4P number 1 you say where you fight when you fight if someone wants to take the title of P4P number 1 you have to come to him Dariusz needed Jones more than Jones needed Dariusz.

[killersheep]

Go recheck the geography lesson
The south and the north are totally,and I do mean totally different universes
Ive lived all over the states
Id have an easier time adapting to the Eastend then most places here
Deary deary me,you still dont get it,we could drop the entire British Isles in to Texas and have room to spare,let alone 1000s of miles away
There is no American unity,good god,an Alaskan might as well be a Martian to most Americans,let alone a Hawaiian
And as far as the below statement,you dont understand boxing do you
The Casinos pay more,because they make more.
Its not just about what your a$$ pays for a ticket,its what you drop at the tables while your waiting for the fight
50'000 tickets isnt even close to what 5,000 will drop at the tables
Jesus, no wonder your stuck with Frank Warren,not one of you have an inkling of a clue how to make money in this buisness

Are you sure about this?

I was always under the impression that Americans were considerably more likely to be flag waving and patriotic than people from other countries, at least in my experience of hanging about with them in Japan.

Wearing an England shirt in a bar has a canny chance of landing you in a fight in Wales and Scotland. Would the same happen say if a bloke from Texas wore a Dallas Cowboys T shirt in a New York pub? (Genuine question, not trying to be provocative)

This all depends on the area, where I live in Arizona we could care less about team support, but If you go to Boston and wear Yankees attire you could very well be looking for trouble.

I live in Liverpool but I'm an avid Manchester United fan. Once wore my shirt just going to the shop at the end of the road and got cornered by 3 pissed liverpool fans... check the distance between liverpool and manchester. their are few bigger rivalries in the world than that.

Back to boxing though. and specifically to the point of this thread, does Joe Not have unified support throughout the UK?
Joe has massive support throughout Cardiff, Manchester and Edinburgh right? Would he not be condsidered a hometown favorite in
any of those places?

Joe Calzaghe only really has huge support in Wales, at least as far as I remember. I dont see any specific reason that he would be popular in Manchester or Edinburgh.

Calzaghe was quite disliked early in his career, but he has matured greatly and is well liked, without being a huge star. Hamed, Hatton, McGuigan,Bruno,Benn,Eubank,Graham were all far more mainstream and well known than Calzaghe.

I'm pretty sure he had the audience behind him against Lacy (Manchester), Bika (Manchester) and Salem (Edinburgh) in a huge way.

[Trainer Monkey]

Go recheck the geography lesson
The south and the north are totally,and I do mean totally different universes
Ive lived all over the states
Id have an easier time adapting to the Eastend then most places here
Deary deary me,you still dont get it,we could drop the entire British Isles in to Texas and have room to spare,let alone 1000s of miles away
There is no American unity,good god,an Alaskan might as well be a Martian to most Americans,let alone a Hawaiian
And as far as the below statement,you dont understand boxing do you
The Casinos pay more,because they make more.
Its not just about what your a$$ pays for a ticket,its what you drop at the tables while your waiting for the fight
50'000 tickets isnt even close to what 5,000 will drop at the tables
Jesus, no wonder your stuck with Frank Warren,not one of you have an inkling of a clue how to make money in this buisness

Are you sure about this?

I was always under the impression that Americans were considerably more likely to be flag waving and patriotic than people from other countries, at least in my experience of hanging about with them in Japan.

Wearing an England shirt in a bar has a canny chance of landing you in a fight in Wales and Scotland. Would the same happen say if a bloke from Texas wore a Dallas Cowboys T shirt in a New York pub? (Genuine question, not trying to be provocative)

This all depends on the area, where I live in Arizona we could care less about team support, but If you go to Boston and wear Yankees attire you could very well be looking for trouble.

One of the points I was trying to highlight were the said cultural differences between America and the UK which have been mentioned. Its not really about the team, its about where you are from. The shirt just happens to be a way of identifying this.

As someone from England who grew up near Scotland, and lived in Wales for a while, you would be amazed at how much hostility you can face there. I would be amazed if this was to happen in America.

As I type this I am beginning to wonder how the F*** this thread turned into a social studies debate !! Lol

Actually you underestimate Yanks indifference to Europe
And I dont mean that as a slight against Europe,we can be very culturally ignorant over here
But I garuntee you a Boston fighter in Philly isnt catching any breaks,the judges could care less about Wales though

[Fenster]

And thats exactly what is wrong with boxing and fighters like Joe. Money is more important than legacy. As if Joe needs the money. He has enough to support himself and 50 other families. Fine Joe dont go to the US, but then dont complain twenty years down the track when ppl are criticising you for not fighting the best. Cant have it both ways. Dont give me S*** about Joe copping more criticism than most, this whole topic has Hopkins being knocked a tonne more than Joe. Here he is 44 years old, maybe the best legacy in boxing yet he is being called scared. Joes fans are just as quick if not quicker to jump on his opponents than Joe's detractors jump on him. U cannot deny that.

That's a tad naive.

Here's some quotes from your heroes -

"Fighters want to fight for titles, but not as much as we want to fight for MONEY." Roy Jones jr

"I'm glad that I have three belts because that means I have three mandatories a year and I can make $2 million or $3 million dollars every time I step in the ring with Donald Duck. I can deal with that." Bernard Hopkins

Tell me - if boxing is about the best fighting the best then why haven't you got a problem with these guys - Hopkins and Jones - POINT-BLANK REFUSING to fight outside their backyard?

If they were really interested in the hardest challenges and making the best possible fights they'd be prepared to step outside THEIR comfort zone, right?

Jones didn't have to go outside the USA all the best fighters were in USA unless you count Dariusz Michalczewski but he only wanted to fight Jones in Germany.

Right.

But IF boxing isn't about MONEY and only the best fighting the best WHY wasn't Roy prepared to fight Michalczewski in Germany?

Michalczewski was the fight the fans wanted, right? He was the BEST possible opponent for Roy. Why didn't Roy say "hey, I'm gonna go whoop that boy in his backyard, that'll show everyone I aint scared to fight anyman anywhere"?

Where did Reid vs Ottke take place ?? Michael Sprott vs Rene Dettweiler where did that take place ?? Germany is well known to have the most biased scoring in boxing Jones would have to kill Dariusz Michalczewski to win a decision.

Where did Lennox-Holyfield take place? Where did Oscar-Sturm take place?

Eubank outpointed Rocchigiani in Germany.

There's BOGUS decisions all over the world. Anyone can use that lame excuse. And doesn't answer why Roy wasn't prepared to leave his COUNTRY to fight the best possible comp when it arose.

Oh come off it Fenster if this was Calzaghe we was talking about you would be agreeing its well known Germany has the most biased scoring in boxing yes there are bad decisions everywhere but that doesn't change the fact Germany is the worst.

After 1997 Jones was p4p number 1 when you are P4P number 1 you say where you fight when you fight if someone wants to take the title of P4P number 1 you have to come to him Dariusz needed Jones more than Jones needed Dariusz.

That isn't a FACT. It's a prejudice you've picked-up and are now spouting off as FACT. Can you prove it?

And Calzaghe HAS FOUGHT IN GERMANY.

But forget that shit...

The question has NOTHING to do with who is the bigger STAR, the rights of the fictional P4P no.1 or MONEY.

If Jones wanted to fight the HARDEST, TOUGHEST most WORTHY opponent why did he POINT-BLANK REFUSE to leave America?

[cpcompany]

Go recheck the geography lesson
The south and the north are totally,and I do mean totally different universes
Ive lived all over the states
Id have an easier time adapting to the Eastend then most places here
Deary deary me,you still dont get it,we could drop the entire British Isles in to Texas and have room to spare,let alone 1000s of miles away
There is no American unity,good god,an Alaskan might as well be a Martian to most Americans,let alone a Hawaiian
And as far as the below statement,you dont understand boxing do you
The Casinos pay more,because they make more.
Its not just about what your a$$ pays for a ticket,its what you drop at the tables while your waiting for the fight
50'000 tickets isnt even close to what 5,000 will drop at the tables
Jesus, no wonder your stuck with Frank Warren,not one of you have an inkling of a clue how to make money in this buisness

Are you sure about this?

I was always under the impression that Americans were considerably more likely to be flag waving and patriotic than people from other countries, at least in my experience of hanging about with them in Japan.

Wearing an England shirt in a bar has a canny chance of landing you in a fight in Wales and Scotland. Would the same happen say if a bloke from Texas wore a Dallas Cowboys T shirt in a New York pub? (Genuine question, not trying to be provocative)

This all depends on the area, where I live in Arizona we could care less about team support, but If you go to Boston and wear Yankees attire you could very well be looking for trouble.

I live in Liverpool but I'm an avid Manchester United fan. Once wore my shirt just going to the shop at the end of the road and got cornered by 3 pissed liverpool fans... check the distance between liverpool and manchester. their are few bigger rivalries in the world than that.

Back to boxing though. and specifically to the point of this thread, does Joe Not have unified support throughout the UK?
Joe has massive support throughout Cardiff, Manchester and Edinburgh right? Would he not be condsidered a hometown favorite in
any of those places?

Joe Calzaghe only really has huge support in Wales, at least as far as I remember. I dont see any specific reason that he would be popular in Manchester or Edinburgh.

Calzaghe was quite disliked early in his career, but he has matured greatly and is well liked, without being a huge star. Hamed, Hatton, McGuigan,Bruno,Benn,Eubank,Graham were all far more mainstream and well known than Calzaghe.

I'm pretty sure he had the audience behind him against Lacy (Manchester), Bika (Manchester) and Salem (Edinburgh) in a huge way.

Thats true. But I thought you were asking if he had a big following or a particular relationship with the people of Manchester and Edinburgh specifically (which he hasnt). Most British fighters tend to get a football style crowd and atmosphere at their fights. Thats why you will notice a lot of british fight fans want Hatton and Calzaghe to fight over here.
The fights have a hell of an atmosphere and the fighters are really roared on. Have a watch of almost any Eubank fight, in particular Eubank-Benn II and Eubank-Watson II, most Hatton and Bruno fights and McGuigan v Pedroza.
A perfect fight scenario for me is a british stadium/arena fight with HBO`s commentary.

[ICB]

And thats exactly what is wrong with boxing and fighters like Joe. Money is more important than legacy. As if Joe needs the money. He has enough to support himself and 50 other families. Fine Joe dont go to the US, but then dont complain twenty years down the track when ppl are criticising you for not fighting the best. Cant have it both ways. Dont give me S*** about Joe copping more criticism than most, this whole topic has Hopkins being knocked a tonne more than Joe. Here he is 44 years old, maybe the best legacy in boxing yet he is being called scared. Joes fans are just as quick if not quicker to jump on his opponents than Joe's detractors jump on him. U cannot deny that.

That's a tad naive.

Here's some quotes from your heroes -

"Fighters want to fight for titles, but not as much as we want to fight for MONEY." Roy Jones jr

"I'm glad that I have three belts because that means I have three mandatories a year and I can make $2 million or $3 million dollars every time I step in the ring with Donald Duck. I can deal with that." Bernard Hopkins

Tell me - if boxing is about the best fighting the best then why haven't you got a problem with these guys - Hopkins and Jones - POINT-BLANK REFUSING to fight outside their backyard?

If they were really interested in the hardest challenges and making the best possible fights they'd be prepared to step outside THEIR comfort zone, right?

Jones didn't have to go outside the USA all the best fighters were in USA unless you count Dariusz Michalczewski but he only wanted to fight Jones in Germany.

Right.

But IF boxing isn't about MONEY and only the best fighting the best WHY wasn't Roy prepared to fight Michalczewski in Germany?

Michalczewski was the fight the fans wanted, right? He was the BEST possible opponent for Roy. Why didn't Roy say "hey, I'm gonna go whoop that boy in his backyard, that'll show everyone I aint scared to fight anyman anywhere"?

Where did Reid vs Ottke take place ?? Michael Sprott vs Rene Dettweiler where did that take place ?? Germany is well known to have the most biased scoring in boxing Jones would have to kill Dariusz Michalczewski to win a decision.

Where did Lennox-Holyfield take place? Where did Oscar-Sturm take place?

Eubank outpointed Rocchigiani in Germany.

There's BOGUS decisions all over the world. Anyone can use that lame excuse. And doesn't answer why Roy wasn't prepared to leave his COUNTRY to fight the best possible comp when it arose.

Oh come off it Fenster if this was Calzaghe we was talking about you would be agreeing its well known Germany has the most biased scoring in boxing yes there are bad decisions everywhere but that doesn't change the fact Germany is the worst.

After 1997 Jones was p4p number 1 when you are P4P number 1 you say where you fight when you fight if someone wants to take the title of P4P number 1 you have to come to him Dariusz needed Jones more than Jones needed Dariusz.

That isn't a FACT. It's a prejudice you've picked-up and are now spouting off as FACT. Can you prove it?

And Calzaghe HAS FOUGHT IN GERMANY.

But forget that S***...

The question has NOTHING to do with who is the bigger STAR, the rights of the fictional P4P no.1 or MONEY.

If Jones wanted to fight the HARDEST, TOUGHEST most WORTHY opponent why did he POINT-BLANK REFUSE to leave America?

That isn't a FACT. It's a prejudice you've picked-up and are now spouting off as FACT. Can you prove it?

If you want to act silly go ahead but you know damn well it is and so does any boxing fan who has any knowledge on the sport.

And Calzaghe HAS FOUGHT IN GERMANY.

Yes against Veit the guy he blew away in 1 round before thats really taking a risk

The question has NOTHING to do with who is the bigger STAR, the rights of the fictional P4P no.1 or MONEY.

Of course it is.

If Jones wanted to fight the HARDEST, TOUGHEST most WORTHY opponent why did he POINT-BLANK REFUSE to leave America?

Why didn't Calzaghe ??

[ICB]

And you take too long to reply so i will probably have to check this thread tomorrow at this rate