Calzaghe 'Boxing is a dying sport, im glad to leave'

[scrap iron]

For Joe Calzaghe to say "boxing is a dying sport, I'm glad to leave", is a massive slap in the face to all those fans who twice this year travelled to America during financially hard times to support their hero. I will always believe Calzaghe as a fighter is one of the all-time greats, but as a person he lacks class.

It almost wants me to see Froch knock him out now.

[Autobarn]

and now a fight with Manny wouldnt be any good cause hes ducking frigging Witter?!?!?!

Who's said that?

From the impression I get on here, just about everyone who ever wanted Hatton-Witter seems to be lumped generally into this category. Which is of course a gross exaggeration.

Joe, boxing won't live without you, your slappy hands and your Walsh bros level showboating

[fist]

if you are a british fighter,and are undefeated,you havent fought good enough competition. if you havent fought 5 fighters in a row who are sure fire hall of famers,in their primes,you havent fought anybody.but if you lose,you were overhyped and never that good any way.if you are blunt,it means your a prick.but if your nice,it means you arent genuine. if you are careful and a strategist,you are boring.but if you are exciting and willing to trade,everyone will beat you once you fight the next in line who can punch.


far be it from me be condescending or anything,but damnit,what is good enough for you people?:S i mean,Calzaghe is/was an awesome fighter,and yeah,he could have fought a few better fighters then he did at times.....still,his resume is pretty impressive,imo.sure,it seems a bit sleazy to be like:"ok,ive made my money,see you guys, and oh,by the way,everything is turning to shit now that im gone" but some of the comments here are ridiculous,imo...

Hatton is the same,im not his biggest fan,but the guy is taking on the best he can,only lost once to the very best......and now a fight with Manny wouldnt be any good cause hes ducking frigging Witter?!?!?! are some of you people just kidding around?:S

just seems the top guys cant win with british fans,no offense intended.

if they do well,they arent tough enough,the moment they lose,well we're all happy cause he was a fraud anyways.it's never good enough until its bad.

i do believe my mother was secretly british though,i may have just had a breakthrough here.

The best post I've read on this site in the last five years.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Calzaghe has shown a real lack of class recently, he brings the criticism on himself. He left Warren because he wanted the big fights, but he's been in two extremely boring fights since.

According to Calzaghe nobody is worthy to face him, but he is only interested in money now, and maintaining his unbeaten record.

I've had a love hate relationship with Calzaghe, he's a great fighter, but his career has been about as satisfying for me as a hand job from Abu Hamza.

[Autobarn]

You talk a lot about hand jobs when it comes to Calzaghe.

Why don't you come out and say it, he's a wa...

[jamesmcdonnell]

Im just refining my material

[banjo]

his career has been about as satisfying for me as a hand job from Abu Hamza.

[Autobarn]

Im just refining my material

, a euphemism

sometimes, his from the elbow way of punching looks like he's tossing something off

[banjo]

what a twat, I really hate this guy

Carl, that you?

[Phenomenal-Nutrition]

To be fair boxing is dying a death from where it was in the 80s. It was mainstream in the times of Tyson, Hagler, Leonard, Hearns - And then there was Britain's very own sensational MW era, topped off with Hamed. Calzaghe and Hatton's career's have been popular but nowhere near as mainstream and fights

I suspect what Calzaghe is saying though by 'the sport is dying' is:

'I can't get 10million like I did against Jones Jr, because my P4P was a flop stateside and there isn't a mega fight round the corner and the nearest big 1s are against Hopkins and Dawson, which don't give me the huge money because neither they or I are big enough draws, plus I stand a good chance of losing to them, and getting punched in the face hurts, what's the point?'.

[Chambers2]

Calzaghe has shown a real lack of class recently, he brings the criticism on himself. He left Warren because he wanted the big fights, but he's been in two extremely boring fights since.

According to Calzaghe nobody is worthy to face him, but he is only interested in money now, and maintaining his unbeaten record.

I've had a love hate relationship with Calzaghe, he's a great fighter, but his career has been about as satisfying for me as a hand job from Abu Hamza.

[stujones]

correction James, Warren was involved in the Hopkins fight... he is not responsible for the Jones farce.

[Old bones Ian]

The way i look at it is, we all come on this forum and say what we want. Imagine if we were accorded the same coverage as Joe, we'd all end up saying something that most others wouldn't agree with.
He's just doing what we do , only on a much bigger forum.

I'm not agreeing with what he's saying, but Joe knows alot more about boxing than i will ever know, so if he wants to slag it off, thats up to him. He's earnt the right

[stujones]

Can see your point Old Bones, and I guess sometimes a fighter can develop a love/hate relationship. However, I think it is hypocritical and I felt that when Eubank showed a similar disrespect to the job that made him more money than most can ever dream of.

[observer1]

To be fair boxing is dying a death from where it was in the 80s. It was mainstream in the times of Tyson, Hagler, Leonard, Hearns - And then there was Britain's very own sensational MW era, topped off with Hamed. Calzaghe and Hatton's career's have been popular but nowhere near as mainstream and fights

I suspect what Calzaghe is saying though by 'the sport is dying' is:

'I can't get 10million like I did against Jones Jr, because my P4P was a flop stateside and there isn't a mega fight round the corner and the nearest big 1s are against Hopkins and Dawson, which don't give me the huge money because neither they or I are big enough draws, plus I stand a good chance of losing to them, and getting punched in the face hurts, what's the point?'.

Lawlz

[nottingham forest]

what a twat, I really hate this guy

Carl, that you?

not quite just a big fan

[My T Sharp]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

No 2 PPV - WWE wrestler Vs UFC Champ

No 3 PPV - WWE wrestler Vs Boxing Champ

So how long before a boxing champ fights in the UFC???

[Gray-Fox]

My knowledgable sources inform me that Joe's purse for the Roy Jones fight was:

-£1.5m (note the minus)

He didn't make anything because he promoted it himself and lost everything.

[Gray-Fox]

My knowledgable sources inform me that Joe's purse for the Roy Jones fight was:

-£1.5m (note the minus)

He didn't make anything because he promoted it himself and lost everything.

Your knowledgable sources know feck all. Calzaghe was promoter in name only. He didn't invest a penny of own money - Setanta, HBO and MGM did that - he got paid shit loads. Meanwhile HBO lost money as PPV bombed, and MGM lost as they were giving away tickets stapled to $50notes.

Well, I was told by the person that told me...that the information came from Enzo Calzaghe.

I never said it was true.

[gobbles]

My knowledgable sources inform me that Joe's purse for the Roy Jones fight was:

-£1.5m (note the minus)

He didn't make anything because he promoted it himself and lost everything.

Your knowledgable sources know feck all. Calzaghe was promoter in name only. He didn't invest a penny of own money - Setanta, HBO and MGM did that - he got paid shit loads. Meanwhile HBO lost money as PPV bombed, and MGM lost as they were giving away tickets stapled to $50notes.

mgm? wasn't it at madison square garden?

it was MSG, they put up a load of money themselves. I heard Calzaghe and Jones were both on a guaranteed £5m.
If he had lost money, wouldn't he be carrying on? And he would certainly be jumping at the £5m Mick Hennessy says he has.

[gobbles]

For Joe Calzaghe to say "boxing is a dying sport, I'm glad to leave", is a massive slap in the face to all those fans who twice this year travelled to America during financially hard times to support their hero. I will always believe Calzaghe as a fighter is one of the all-time greats, but as a person he lacks class.

It almost wants me to see Froch knock him out now.

But you are misquoting him:

Here is what he said in a story which was not written by a boxing writer:

"I think boxing is a dying sport,'' he said. "Globally - in America for instance - you've got UFC (mixed martial arts), which has taken a lot off boxing, business-wise.

"There is too much politics in boxing. Too many belts and too many champions, which dilutes real champions like myself. There are four world champions in each division and it's bad because there are no stars any more. It's a big problem.

"America only had one medallist in the Olympics this year. In Britain we did pretty good but I'm glad I'm ending my career and not starting it because I don't think it's going to be that great in the future.''

No only did he say he was glad to be ending not beginning his career at this time, a key point. But there was a lot of context to what he said. These quotes were also picked out of a 15-minute interview. If he really thought it was dying, would he be doing his own promoting?

So you have misquoted him and taken those misquotes out of context then used them to bash him with. Well done!

It's no surprise he sounds so miserable if boxing fans a represented by people on here.

[gobbles]

Calzaghe has shown a real lack of class recently, he brings the criticism on himself. He left Warren because he wanted the big fights, but he's been in two extremely boring fights since.

According to Calzaghe nobody is worthy to face him, but he is only interested in money now, and maintaining his unbeaten record.

I've had a love hate relationship with Calzaghe, he's a great fighter, but his career has been about as satisfying for me as a hand job from Abu Hamza.

Warren promoted the Hopkins fight - another classic bit of using a totally wrong statement as a fact to try and bash him with.

He took the Jones fight for one last payday. What's wrong with that?

[MR UNTOUCHABLE]

JC was crazy IMO to agree with a 50-50 split with Jones. NO WAY!

As the sport dying? Well perhaps there's too many **** talkers like his dad running around talking outta their asses and putting people off.

Is it me or does EC REALLY think he's a celebrity in his own right now?

His dross gives me the creeps!

[Gray-Fox]

http://www.boxingtalk.com/pag/article.php?aid=16836

[gobbles]

http://www.boxingtalk.com/pag/article.php?aid=16836

Shaun George?? He's hardly the future. He was one of Tarver's sparring partners before he beat Woods.