If Calzaghe defeats Kessler tonight & unifies...will you finally respect him?

[Tito BHB]

The Hopkins thing is BS,its been exposed for the BS it is,get over it.
That being said,Kessler holds 2 belts,Clazaghe has one,Joe wins,all due respect to him.The guy he's fighting is an undefeated veteran that holds 2 of the belts,if you cant respect that win,then I dont know why you bother to watch boxing

Joe has 2

No he doesnt,he doesnt have the IBF,he was stripped when he chose to fight Manfredo rather then his mandatory
Lucien Bute just won it off of Berrio on the 19th

Thats true but Joey c Has the ring belt

[Preme]

The Hopkins thing is BS,its been exposed for the BS it is,get over it.
That being said,Kessler holds 2 belts,Clazaghe has one,Joe wins,all due respect to him.The guy he's fighting is an undefeated veteran that holds 2 of the belts,if you cant respect that win,then I dont know why you bother to watch boxing

Joe has 2

No he doesnt,he doesnt have the IBF,he was stripped when he chose to fight Manfredo rather then his mandatory
Lucien Bute just won it off of Berrio on the 19th

i know, if he had the IBF belt he would have three belts.

[bcollins]

Had to go with already respect the man. World champion for how long is it now? He's stepped up twice in a short span to take on the biggest challenge in his division, at least on paper. The list of champions in other weight classes to have done that much is short indeed.

I'd like to see him get a few big money, high profile fights to round out his career. There's still several challenging fights out there that fit that criteria. But he's got my respect for what he's accomplished so far, win, lose, or draw.

[Trainer Monkey]

The Hopkins thing is BS,its been exposed for the BS it is,get over it.
That being said,Kessler holds 2 belts,Clazaghe has one,Joe wins,all due respect to him.The guy he's fighting is an undefeated veteran that holds 2 of the belts,if you cant respect that win,then I dont know why you bother to watch boxing

Joe has 2

No he doesnt,he doesnt have the IBF,he was stripped when he chose to fight Manfredo rather then his mandatory
Lucien Bute just won it off of Berrio on the 19th

i know, if he had the IBF belt he would have three belts.

The ODLH belt
Yeah,when do they fight for that?
Thats an honorific,not a real belt

[MRMANICK]

I wont, only because kessler has fought no one either. joe was champ when kess turned pro.How can this be a legacy stamping fight. Was taylor hopkins legacy stamping fight? No. If he wins then good for joe but he still has not fought any established star fighters andfor a man who fought during the jones/hopkins/toney era that just wont cut it.I cant call him great cause he never dared to b great. I'll call him good though.

[Althugz]

I pretty much agree with Dark Lord Al.
It will be a great win for Joe and a huge accomplishment at his age of 35 but I just can't help but think his career could have been managed a little bit better where his legacy is concerned. By himself and his promoter. I feel that there could have been no doubts about him much earlier in his career but for whatever reason he just didn't step up to the plate as early as most of the other greats did. He waited until around his 40th pro fight to prove himself by taking on true challenges. I will admit that Calzaghe is a great fighter if he beats Kessler and for some reason I am tipping him to do it. Just a gut feeling..but he has left it much too late to truely cement his legacy as an all time great in my eyes.

[BoxingGorilla]

If Calzaghe wins without suspicion I will respect him. I'm not talking about a supposed Kessler hand injury, just a fair fight.

[CutMeMick]

I voted:
Finally respect Joe.

I just can't give him much I mean what opponent has Joe faced that solidifies him as greatness?

Hes well on his way to being the best Super Middle of his time and a win over Kess will solidify this.
Whoever the winner is will earn everyones respect. Again so as long as their is no shady business/decisions and shit.

I wont, only because kessler has fought no one either. joe was champ when kess turned pro.How can this be a legacy stamping fight. Was taylor hopkins legacy stamping fight? No. If he wins then good for joe but he still has not fought any established star fighters

You are right Kess has just established himself as a World Champ so in someway I agree. But Kess is by far the best opponent Calzaghe will face and that count's for something. In a way yes JT vs. Hopkins was a legacy stamping as the guy who dethroned Hopkins but what makes it difficult there is the close margin fights. I hope that the Kess vs. Joe fight isn't close and it's a clear win for the better fighter.

for a man who fought during the jones/hopkins/toney era that just wont cut it.I cant call him great cause he never dared to b great.

I agree with this part fights were there for him and he either backed out or just didn't care much for making them.

[GAME]

Coverage has started !!!

Joe gets huge credit if he wins tonight . They just highlighted all his defences. I still think he was hurt vs Eubank with the last punch of the fight but it doesnt matter . He can comeback from anything Kess throws at him

[Wacko3205]

Wacko i respect Calzaghe he is a good fighter , and i hate to say it but if Kessler wins Joe will be regarded as a guy who fought to many easy oponants.
But i think also if he wins this fight maybe the media will say Kessler was over rated.
Anyway even tho i dont really like Calzaghe , i cant help but think his career could ha ve been managed so much better in terms of him being a great fighter in the eyes of the world.
It really has been a bit of a waste of talent for me , id rather he was something like 38-4 and had lost to a few TOP fighters and beaten a few TOP fighters.
Kessler is beatable , but so is Calzaghe so it should be interesting to watch at least.

So...that's a "no matter what he does you won't respect him?"

[Wacko3205]

Coverage has started !!!

What channel?

Brit TV or US spots?

[GAME]

Coverage has started !!!

What channel?

Brit TV or US spots?

In Britain on Setanta . They only just opened the stadium doors so its still pretty empty but they reckon its around 50k theyre expecting and theres plenty of Danes in Viking hats around .

[Dee]

Nice victory for Joe. Well done lad!

[Mickey Gomez]

Joe Calzaghe has comprehensively proven himself to be one of the best boxer's of his generation (he already was in my book). The people who lit up forums and blogs with their comments about Joe being a slapper, a ducker etc etc should now finally recognise Joe for what he is.

Tonights fight was won on skill, people talked about Kessler's power as if it was something that would decide the fight, power doesn't win fights, speed doesn't win fights, skill wins fights. Joe has bags of boxing skill and imho is second only to Mayweather in pound for pound boxing ability.

Well done Joe

[chamiley]

Joe Calzaghe has comprehensively proven himself to be one of the best boxer's of his generation (he already was in my book). The people who lit up forums and blogs with their comments about Joe being a slapper, a ducker etc etc should now finally recognise Joe for what he is.

Tonights fight was won on skill, people talked about Kessler's power as if it was something that would decide the fight, power doesn't win fights, speed doesn't win fights, skill wins fights. Joe has bags of boxing skill and imho is second only to Mayweather in pound for pound boxing ability.

Well done Joe

I would say he is a better overall fighter than mayweather. Mayweather is a great defensive fighter, has tremendous reflexes and speed and his offense is not really worth talking about, doesn't throw combinations, doesn't jab much, his best punch which he uses is right hand leads and his chin is untested. Joe can box, brawl, counterpunch, control the ring, has fast hands, power and a very good chin which was tested numerous times tonight.