Fights avoided or missed?

[kamicazze]

Ok just saw something on the Mayweather thread that got me thinking. Floyd gets a lot of flak for who he isn't or hasn't fought.
the list goes
Manny Pacquiao
prime Antonio Margarito
Light welter Miguel Cotto
Kostya Tszyu
Joel casamayor
and paul williams.

Without being biased but a) i believe he would have beat all these and b) i think its not entirely his fault
Pacman is well documented. Margarito was demandin a high fee even though floyd brought the audience, miguel cotto and floyd have gone different route but i do think there should have been a meeting in 2007. Kostya tszuy was retiring when floyd had his first light welter fight, casamayor had lost or struggled to guys Floyd had beaten at lightweight and Paul Williams was never a big enough name.

Roy Jones Jr.

Chris Eubank
Dariusz Michelewski
Nigel Benn
Steve Collins
Michael Nunn
Gerald mclellan
Iran barkley
Oscar de la hoya
B- Hop rematch
Juan carlos gomez or braithwaite
Chris Byrd
Lennox lewis
Mike Tyson
evander holyfield

See in all honesty, Eubank turned the fight down, michelewski was unwilling to travel and brought no money, benns manager turned the fight down, collins accepted the match - pulled out and later said he would have lost because it was just a payday, Nunn i dont know why, mclellan is obvious, barkley would have been a good easy name, de la hoya was a huge weight gap, He didnt need a b-hop rematch, the next 2 would have been to be 5 wieght champ, byrd would have been good. with the exception of lennox who was too big the other 2 didnt want to fight him.
this brings us to Joe
Calzaghe

Benn
Collins
Glen Johnson
Sven ottke
Glen cattley
Marcus Beyer
Clinton woods
Dean francis
Carl froch
Michael Nunn
william joppy
jermain taylor
kelly pavlik
winky wright
zsolt erdei
antonio tarver

Ok so theres a lot of names there. Collins and benn were retiring just after Joe beat eubanks, johnson fight fell through numerous times - joe should have fought him, ottke well that defies belief, cattley would have been an easy defence, beyer was an easy unification bout but beyer wouldnt travel at the time, woods was a weight above - when the match looked likely woods lost, apparently francis was the one guy joe was scared to fight, Froch wasnt a big enough name, nunn was campaigning for other fringe titles however would have been a far better name that pudwill, joppy was a middle and wanted a large sum, calzaghe opted for kessler rather than taylor who then lost to pavlik. Calzaghe opted for roy jones instead of pavlik who then fought hopkins, wright always wanted a big amount of cash, erdei is a pussy and tarver stated he didnt want joe.

so out of all them who do you think is the biggest culprit??

[Tommy Gunn13]

I cant see how Calzaghe was scared to fight Dean Francis,he beat him easily in the Ams...

[earsjohn]

Are you really saying that Roy Jones' legacy is harmed by not fighting Tyson, Lewis or Holyfield? Extraordinary.

[Craig14]

Your asking about Roy Jones legacy being effected and then mentioning some of the boxings recent greats from welter-heavy, just from that statement you must rate him very highly - so why does it matter that he didn't get into the ring with a blown-up and faded Dela hoya and a clearly out of his division Lennox Lewis.
Stupid thread.

[kamicazze]

im trying to justify roy jones not fighting them, and i just heard from a few sources that calzaghe didnt want to fight francis.

[charlieb]

I think you can definitely make a case for Floyd avoiding Cotto, during that window when Cotto was almost parallel with Mayweather and had stated he was ready for the fight, and both he and HBO wanted it. Floyd decided to retire instead.

It's obvious to all and sundry that he's currently avoiding Pacquiao. Whether it's a case of holding out to maximise the money on offer, or whether he really just doesn't fancy it, who knows.

As for the Margarito fight, my memory's a little hazy, but I seem to recall Floyd being offered around the 8 million mark for the fight, which he turned down and fought a lesser fighter for the same amount instead. Baldomir, I think. He gets a free pass on that one given that the legitimacy of Margarito's welterweight prime is now up in the air over the plaster incident.

I don't have a problem with the others on the list, Williams was always a skinny middleweight masquerading as a welter, Tszyu was the fight I regret more than any other not happening because I feel he had the style to pose Mayweather a lot of problems, but you can't fault Mayweather for that not coming off. Casa would've made for an interesting fight at one point, but back then Mayweather's ledger was hard to knock, so it doesn't feel like a case of avoidance.

To the post as a whole, I'd say Calzaghe's easily the most prominent culprit. The problem with these kind of fighters is that they're just so special that we hold them to a higher standard and it's quite easy to overlook assignents that were dangerous at the time, when they were handled with such ease.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

Michalczewski was as willing to travel as Jones was back then. Roy only started trouping in the recent past. I always took the position that Roy was less keen on the fight that Dariusz.

Absolutley - he always cited the Seoul 1988 Olympic rip off as his reason.

[keithmoonhangover]

Michalczewski was as willing to travel as Jones was back then. Roy only started trouping in the recent past. I always took the position that Roy was less keen on the fight that Dariusz.

I'd have bet on Michalczewski if he ever fought Jones.

[Dirk Kelly]

Wasn't Joe C, Collins manadatory and Collins retired rather than fighting him as Joe was 'beneath' him? Didn't Joe then fight Eubank for the vacant title?

[kamicazze]

Wasn't Joe C, Collins manadatory and Collins retired rather than fighting him as Joe was 'beneath' him? Didn't Joe then fight Eubank for the vacant title?

Yes, he pulled out citing a back injury. The fight was rescheduled for later that year and collins yet again pulled out. 2 years later in 1999 i think he was due to fight roy jones and pulled out of that one with a back injury. so which other fighters can you all say have missed the boat with opponents who were available to them?

[IRLangmaid25]

With Joe Calzaghe you could also add Glencoffe Johnson to the list. Calzaghe was scheduled to fight him but did his hand in

[lefthook82]

Off topic0ish

I remember when Calzaghe fought one African subsistence farmer and after the fight he was so keen to show everybody that he had hurt his hand. I think he was scheduled to fight Johnson or Lacy at the time. It was really embarassing to be honest.

[Trojans44]

I never understood why Mayweather didnt fight Cotto straight after Hatton. I bet he would have destroyed him and he would have gained massive respect as Cotto was extremely hot at the time. Its worth remembering that Baldomir was the undisputed 147 champ at the time when PBF fought him so its hard to fault him for that. People also forget that he fought Castillo who was the best lightweight in the world at the time in his first fight moving up from SFW and then gave him a rematch after a tough first fight. People criticise him for fighting Hatton as well but isnt he due credit for knocking out the undisputed, undefeated 140 champ?

He gets a bad rap but the only better ledger currently active is possessed by Pacqiauo who I believe will be comprehensively dominated by Mayweather.

[whiskey]

Neither Floyd nor Gatti wanted anything to do with Kostya Tszyu.

After he flattened Zab.

They hid behind the fact he was with Showtime, whilst they were HBO fighters.

I've got the KO magazines an Ring mags documenting it all. Kostya was a bit of a bogeyman when he was about. Oscar didn't fight him and Mosley skipped the division.