It appears Gary Shaw is a bit perplexed as well by Calzaghe's latest comments about an injury cropping up and putting the Lacy fight in jeopardy. Shaw thought the fight was as good as made but talking about a possible injury is a bit of a strange thing to do before a massive fight.
Calzaghe has made some ridiculous statements in his time but the Kessler one is stupid, "I'm not going to fight him because no one outside of Denmark has heard of him" Oh yeah well Mger Mkrtchian was a real household name when you fought him too wasn't he?
"Kabary Salem is a good fighter and deserves his shot at the title" was another pearl of wisdom he came out with prior to the Salem fight, he deserves his shot based on what? The fact he was coming off a loss to a guy you sparked in a round?
..... is the most laughable "champ" in any weight category.
His "record" consists of plentiful opponents he's called out but ducked thereafter (by pulling out or by having Warren offer them insulting deals). He has fought a handful of third-rate sandbox-kindergarden bumbumbumbums, and tons of fourth-rate journeymen who served as "warmups" for the great fight that never came - not in 10 years.
Now littel haymaker Joe is running scared of Lacy, although Lacy is no more than a one-dimensional slugger (the man to bet at s-m is Mike Kessler). You bet Warren will find an excuse in time, pull out and try to heap the blame on Lacy.
Maybe Woods isn't a top 5 light-heavyweight, but - in contrast to little haymaker sissy - he is at least game.
I think the fault lies not with Sports Network, but with Calzaghe himself. Calzaghe could have simply demanded that the big fights be made or he was leaving, but he has always been content to knock over whatever stiffs the WBO offer up, interesperesed with over the hill threats like Mitchell and Brewer.
If he had demanded the big fights, like Ricky did, then Warren would have made them happen, obviously he didn't.
I tend to agree, even though i have been critical of Sports Network in the past, as far as Calzaghe is concerned they served him up Glencoffe Johnson on a plate twice and the fight never happened. Hatton made his disapproval at his opponents public and hey presto he gets a fight with Tszyu.
Calzaghe meanwhile continues to beat up the same level of unworthies and does his best to avoid the big matchups. So i don't think a lot of criticism can be levelled at Warren and his lot in this case.
I think Warren & SN are partly to blame, they were happy to continue with the mediocrity and did scupper a few fights, but I think in the last couple of years its all down to Calzaghe. As mentioned above Johnson was delivered on a plate twice AT HOME and still Sicknote wormed his way out of it - that was a very winnable fight for him in fact I think he would definitely have beaten Johnson back then before he beat Jones & Tarver.
Yeah when i first read it i admit it was a bit of a letdown, i was expecting a brawl outside a nightclub, a press conference punch up or something Stu Jones is to blame :P
nickd wrote:I think Warren & SN are partly to blame, they were happy to continue with the mediocrity and did scupper a few fights, but I think in the last couple of years its all down to Calzaghe. As mentioned above Johnson was delivered on a plate twice AT HOME and still Sicknote wormed his way out of it - that was a very winnable fight for him in fact I think he would definitely have beaten Johnson back then before he beat Jones & Tarver.
I'll be very surprised if the Lacy fight happens.
I always thought Johnson would have given him fits.
jamesmcdonnell wrote:Because they were on to a very good thing. In fairness Eubank fought in America early in his career, and Benn went over there and caned Doug DeWitt and Iran Barkley. Collins also trained and lived in America for a lot of his career.
However, at the time British boxing was riding high, and it was easy for them to get people to come over, hence, Nigel Benn fighting McClellan at home.
I know, James. Why is Jones always made the scapegoat though - same with his dealings about Michaelswecki. Why is always Roy's fault. He was the champ.
Collins demanded rediculous money which meant if Jones' team accept the promotion would not have made any money. Its a good move by Collins, offer him a deal that just cannot be accepted and then calling him a chicken for ducking.
jamesmcdonnell wrote:Because they were on to a very good thing. In fairness Eubank fought in America early in his career, and Benn went over there and caned Doug DeWitt and Iran Barkley. Collins also trained and lived in America for a lot of his career.
However, at the time British boxing was riding high, and it was easy for them to get people to come over, hence, Nigel Benn fighting McClellan at home.
I know, James. Why is Jones always made the scapegoat though - same with his dealings about Michaelswecki. Why is always Roy's fault. He was the champ.
Collins demanded rediculous money which meant if Jones' team accept the promotion would not have made any money. Its a good move by Collins, offer him a deal that just cannot be accepted and then calling him a chicken for ducking.
Collins would hardly have landed a glove on Jones, it would have been an absolute massacre at 168. Jones would have beaten him to a pulp.
