BoxRec

Boxerbeetle wrote:As much as it pains me to say as a massive Calzaghe fan since the very beginning of his career, I'm starting to think that Ward would have beaten him.

Thoughts?

Assuming they were of equal weight, I’d say based on Ward’s start the other night, Calzaghe would establish a rhythm quicker. I know that Joe could be caught out - like the Byron Mitchell fight - ate a big shot and went down - but I think Calzaghe was the match of Ward.

I wouldn't say Kovalev WOULD stop Joe but he certainly could, there's not a man in the world with a chin so strong that Sergey COULDN'T KO him.

What it would come down to would be whether Joe could go 12 without getting caught clean. I doubt he could. I reckon he'd win the majority of rounds but I can't see him getting through the fight without getting dropped or hurt. And I don't think we can compare getting hurt by Brewer or dropped by Bhop to taking a whack from Kovalev.
Joe never faced that kind of power

Boxerbeetle wrote:

jamesmcdonnell wrote:

Supremo wrote: Hopkins was hardly a puncher but put Calzaghe down did he not? And I don't think it's a big call to say that a guy with Kovalevs power would KO someone. If he lands clean then you're out. I think he would land clean on Calzaghe.

Calzaghe was as hard as nails, he was dropped a few times in his career, took some absolutely monster punches too, and despite being dropped a handful of times, never came close to being stopped. Brewer hit him with an absolute belter, Calzaghe went down, got up, and then proceeded to tear into brewer.

Calzaghe was caught against Jones and Hopkins with sneaky counters, but neither time was he hurt.

Brewer didn't put him down - are you thinking of the Mitchell fight?

Sorry yes, I always get those two confused. I remember he took an absolute monster of a shot from Kabary Salem, and I was amazed he even got up from it, he was blindsided and didn't see a thing.

Kovalev showed the other night that he's also a better boxer than folk gave him credit for- he matched (or exceeded depending on your reading of the fight) Ward who is one of the most talented boxers in our generation.

After Saturday I would certainly lean towards Joe.

Ward would slow Calzaghe's output down, much like Hopkins did, but Ward's one-shot-at-a-time style wouldn't win him enough rounds versus Calzaghe. He'd catch Joe with quite a few good, hard counters, but the judges would just see Joe throwing and landing multiple shots, frequently.

The Calzaghe v Kovalev match-up would be very interesting. Joe has been hurt/dropped by lesser punchers but I doubt he would be so gung-ho against Sergey and I could easily see him use his speed and flurries to get a decision.

Have to be honest, I wasn't massively impressed with either on Saturday night. I think it was mostly Ward's fault but there was just no rhythm or clean punching for 90% of the fight. It was rubbish.

Really don't see the point, Calzaghe fans will say him, Ward fans will say him, some very spurious being talked on all sides. 50-50 fight really and I would suggest anyone saying anything in other fights makes the point has actually missed the point, neither of them really stuck to what was expected and both tended to being awkward and unexpected.