When was Joe Calzaghe's Prime?

[WelshDevilRob]

Hard to tell as his career suffered at times due to injuries that sidelined rather than him gaining momentum.

I prefer his performance over Lacy to Kessler as he was punching with authority in the fight while against Kessler he didn't have the power and only through really solid shots when going for the body.

The Kessler fight while a great win signalled the decline of Joe - he was slightly passed his best that night and his hands were gone.

Possibly 2000 onwards was his prime from the Sheika fight to the Lacy fight but still at times he was sidetracked by hand injuries - also an ankle injury.

Great fighter and I agree with many like Master, Fenster, Tins and Ross regarding the physical and mental (experience) primes. Lennox Lewis is another who it is hard to pinpoint a prime.

[ukansodoff]

Calzaghe didnt have a prime, He was a class boxer with decent power in both hands. Then the hands got injured to the point he couldnt afford to land many power shots so he become more of a boxer and his talent just kept improving.

A prime Calzaghe would of had the power and the skills at their very best but the 2 never combined. Maybe they would of at some point but the hands gave in too early for that to happen.

[rjj tszyu]

It was when he retired for me. Kind of like Lennox, he got better with age but he didn't wait for someone to come along (Vitali) to show him he was finally on the decline!

Joe was never my favourite fighter but I really respected his decision to retire when he did rather than go on and be finally embarassed by someone with far less quality.