BoxRec

Chad Dawson seems to be who the States are calling for, and that's understandable. Dawson has beaten a few World class fighters: Adamek, Glen Johnson, Tarver.

The only other fighter I can think of who would be worthwhile is Bernard Hopkins. The first fight was boring but hopefully a rematch would clear up any confusion as to who is better.

All in all, I would like Calzaghe to retire or fight Chad Dawson. I think he'd beat Dawson.

I was a little bit apprehensive and negative about Dawson a few months ago. I thought he was a little too green for my liking but after seeing what Adamek did at 200lbs, and seeing how Chad basically showed Tarver up, I would now love to see a fight between Joe and Dawson. I also had Dawson beating Johnson (who's a very good fighter, but I don't think he's world class) in a tight, but clear fight - 115/113 on my card. I just can't envisage Joe going to the USA again and taking on a very dangerous fighter, who's right bang in their prime though. I think Joe would beat Dawson. but it's probably a little bit too risky for Joe's liking. Shame really, but that's how Joe works. If he was a little bit more risky and ambitious then the guy had a chance to become one of the best fighters ever.

Asterix wrote:Chad Dawson seems to be who the States are calling for, and that's understandable. Dawson has beaten a few World class fighters: Adamek, Glen Johnson, Tarver.

The only other fighter I can think of who would be worthwhile is Bernard Hopkins. The first fight was boring but hopefully a rematch would clear up any confusion as to who is better.

All in all, I would like Calzaghe to retire or fight Chad Dawson. I think he'd beat Dawson.

If Dawson can flatten Tarver, maybe he'll fight him. I wouldn't expect Calzaghe to fight until the summer. From what I read he's going on holiday this month and will make his mind up by Feb.
HBO seem booked up until end of May, so there's time.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:And you really, honestly think Joe Calzaghe should stick around to fight Erdei, Diaconu, Garay, Bute, Inkin, actually anyone on your list?

I would rather he stayed around to fight those guys than retired. They are not the best people he could stick around to fight, but even victories over those guys would add to his legacy and bank balance.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:How on earth would beating Zsolt Erdei, Carl Froch or Denis Inkin turn him into an all time great?

Erdei is the Linear and WBO champion at Light Heavyweight. Beating Erdei would make Calzaghe a two weight Linear champion, which is a great achievement.

Froch is one of the best fighters in his division and it is a fight that would interest a lot of people. It would end rumours of Calzaghe being afraid of Froch's power etc, and make Calzaghe seem less like he was only willing to take the least risky route.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:Listen, there will always be a top 5 of fighters in any division one can reel off and say "why doesnt so and so fight them" but there comes a time when a fighter has realistically done it all.

"Done it all"? How many top fighters has he fought? If he stayed around he could add to his record greatly.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:Fighting these jokers on your list does eff all for Calzaghe and boxing as a whole

"Jokers"? You don't think beating Dawson would add to his legacy at all? You think it would be as if it had never happened, legacy wise? I don't believe that you really think that.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:

Autobarn wrote:Calzaghe seems to throw a fit, and go off on a string of obscenities, every time Hopkins is mentioned to him. That tells me Hopkins has got in his head. I don't think he'd go through that again, even in Wales, for lots of money. He'd do it if he knew the fight would be easy, but he's not a sporting fella, this Joe.

again, do you, or does anyone else really want to see Hopkins and Calzaghe "fight" again?

I would.

Not all of us want to watch mindless idiots throwing random punches and someone getting KO'd after a few seconds.

Anyway, judging by the RJJ-Calzaghe PPV flop, I'm not really sure people want to watch Calzaghe regardless

Why fight Taylor who was beaten twice by Pavlik. Why have another ugly and risky matchup with Hopkins. Why fight Lacy who Joe beat by a landslide. Why fight Johnson, Tarver or Dawson? because if Joe wants the money these fights are out there. If he has had enough of the fight game as he says he has, if he doesnt need the money and he doesnt want to risk his, 46 and 0, then its time to call it a day. If I was him I would have a final fight in Cardiff just for the fans and take on Froch if he can still make SM.

I'm pretty sure, if he really wanted to, Joe could make 168lbs again.

Horse wrote:He better not retire, there are too many good fights for him out there.

I would like to see Calzaghe have one more year in Boxing, but I just cannot see it! However, big money can soon change a person's mind so who knows, maybe he will box again!

However, I dare say Joe is financially secure & with him stating that training has become harder & harder of late, I reckon he will call it a day! I would really like to see him box Dawson because I believe that's Joe's toughest fight, along with Hopkins, at LHW.

Calzaghe might be liked by everyone (doubt he's going to lose sleep over it) but there is no denying that's he's been a great fighter!

Can you imagine if Calzaghe were to fight & beat Dawson? That would be a great victory for JC to have on his resume because Dawson is young, hungry, seen as a solid fighter. Dawson probably hasn't even reached his peak yet!

Come on Joe, I'm pretty sure you could still give a great deal for another twelve months, so how about it? Joe's at the top of his game & despite what most say, I don't think beating Jones is the perfect way to exit the sport!

However, if the desire, hunger is not there, then Joe should definitely hang them up!

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:

Autobarn wrote:Calzaghe seems to throw a fit, and go off on a string of obscenities, every time Hopkins is mentioned to him. That tells me Hopkins has got in his head. I don't think he'd go through that again, even in Wales, for lots of money. He'd do it if he knew the fight would be easy, but he's not a sporting fella, this Joe.

again, do you, or does anyone else really want to see Hopkins and Calzaghe "fight" again?

Not particuarly, but I wouldn't mind seeing 'em box properly.

It would be good if Joe were able to improve on the last showing however. If he was at home, had a few factors in his favour going into the fight...if he started a bit better, if Hopkins fell behind, and had to use some initiative going into the middle rds...it could get interesting. Or it could get messy.

However, I'm happy to watch the likes of Israel Vazquez, Celestino Caballero Rafael Marquez, Antonio Margarito, Tomas Adamek. Heck, I'm excited about who will take over at 168 post-Calzaghe. I had a great time watching Joe vs Lacy and Kessler, but the rest of it hasn't been much fun.

I think Joe definitely could improve on the last Hopkins fight, but if he has the fear of losing, he will have felt it for much of the Hopkins fight. Don't reckon he wants that kind of anxiety again, not when he beat Jones for lots of money in an easy win.

Perhaps if Tarver does his "king of the rematches" thing on Dawson, that will set up Calzaghe for another "legend killer" outing.

Tarver's not beating Dawson, not after their last fight.

Horse wrote:would rather he stayed around to fight those guys than retired. They are not the best people he could stick around to fight, but even victories over those guys would add to his legacy and bank balance.

Listen Horse, i know you are completely unable to understand how the world works away from your very narrow mindset, but i can assure you that there are very very few people in the world that reckon that fighting some names pulled from the boxrec listings such as Hugo Hernan Garay would add to Calzaghe's legacy

Erdei is the Linear and WBO champion at Light Heavyweight. Beating Erdei would make Calzaghe a two weight Linear champion, which is a great achievement.

Froch is one of the best fighters in his division and it is a fight that would interest a lot of people. It would end rumours of Calzaghe being afraid of Froch's power etc, and make Calzaghe seem less like he was only willing to take the least risky route.

Mate, its 2009, the idea of a "Linear Champion" is long gone, nobody in the real world gives a toss about alphabet titles and so called "Linear Champion" (And lets not forget he beat the mighty Julio Cesar Gonzalez to get that title) Since then Erdei has fought absolutely nobody besides 2 gifts from Garay.
Just go and look at his record and ask yourself why on earth anyone should give a flying toss about Zsolt bleeding Erdei.

"rumours of Calzaghe being afraid of Froch's power!!!"

Thats a funny fornicating statement, now im convinced you are on a wind up

"Done it all"? How many top fighters has he fought? If he stayed around he could add to his record greatly.

He's 37 years old, is in great health, has 3 kids and model for a girlfriend, not a scratch on him, millionaire, beaten all his domestic rivals from Legends like Eubank to his peers like Woodall and Reid, in his mid he 30's took the 2 young pretenders to his throne, Lacy and Kessler to the cleaners, then went over to the states and beat 2 faded (Jones, yes, Hopkins....umm dunno) but all time greats....

and what do you think he should do next

fight Zsolt Erdei or Denis Inkin...


hmmmm

You don't think beating Dawson would add to his legacy at all? You think it would be as if it had never happened, legacy wise? I don't believe that you really think that.

It would maybe add like 1% in some people's eyes, he's the guy who beat a 67 year old Glen Johnson and Sylvester Stallone's sparing partner...

Both of whom were destroyed by one Bernard Hopkins, who was beaten by one Joe Calzaghe who beat Roy Jones who also beat Hopkins, but lost to Stallone's mate and a 56 year old Johnson, who so on and so on

Aye, but if the man-ney's there, the man-ney's there. Don't think legacy matters too much. If Tarver somehow found the punch to beat Dawson - Dawson is vulnerable, and Tarver has reversed a bad loss to Eric Harding before. Then I'm sure Calzaghe-Tarver would be possible.

Another interesting one. Joe retires. Then he wants more man-ney. If Carl Froch is still WBC champ in a year or two, maybe holds a big win over someone like Taylor/Pavlik, or an up and comer like Ward/Dirrell - someone that the Yanks like - then Joe comes out of retirement for Froch. It could happen. Greed talks and provided that the man-ney is there, it's possible if Joe needs the man-ney for his promotional company or whatever.

Re Erdei - at one time, his promoter could have gotten him a unification, for the WBA title vs someone like Tiozzo or Danny Green. Even if he'd done that, it would not have exactly brought fame, it would have brought limited respect, and meant next to nothing in the bigger picture. Yes he has a couple of very stylish wins over Gonzalez and Ulrich, but what a waste of career. I would exclude Erdei from ANY big fight scenario.

Not sure Joe is afraid of Froch's power. Mabe just jealous because he doesn't have any D

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:Listen Horse, i know you are completely unable to understand how the world works away from your very narrow mindset, but i can assure you that there are very very few people in the world that reckon that fighting some names pulled from the boxrec listings such as Hugo Hernan Garay would add to Calzaghe's legacy

Garay has the WBA Light Heavyweight title. It would make Calzaghe seem like more of a champion at the weight. It is not one of the fights I would most like Calzaghe to take, but it is better than nothing.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:Mate, its 2009, the idea of a "Linear Champion" is long gone, nobody in the real world gives a toss about alphabet titles and so called "Linear Champion" (And lets not forget he beat the mighty Julio Cesar Gonzalez to get that title) Since then Erdei has fought absolutely nobody besides 2 gifts from Garay.
Just go and look at his record and ask yourself why on earth anyone should give a flying toss about Zsolt bleeding Erdei.

Some people do give a toss about that title. It is an important historical title, and will mean more in the long run than it does now.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:"rumours of Calzaghe being afraid of Froch's power!!!"

Thats a funny effing statement, now im convinced you are on a wind up

Why has he not fought him then?

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:He's 37 years old, is in great health, has 3 kids and model for a girlfriend, not a scratch on him, millionaire, beaten all his domestic rivals from Legends like Eubank to his peers like Woodall and Reid, in his mid he 30's took the 2 young pretenders to his throne, Lacy and Kessler to the cleaners, then went over to the states and beat 2 faded (Jones, yes, Hopkins....umm dunno) but all time greats....

and what do you think he should do next

fight Zsolt Erdei or Denis Inkin...

I think he should try to clean out the Light Heavyweight division and pick up all the belts. You might not think that there is a point to that, but I would enjoy watching him try to do it. For me it would pretty much double his record of achievements.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:It would maybe add like 1% in some people's eyes, he's the guy who beat a 67 year old Glen Johnson and Sylvester Stallone's sparing partner...

Both of whom were destroyed by one Bernard Hopkins, who was beaten by one Joe Calzaghe who beat Roy Jones who also beat Hopkins, but lost to Stallone's mate and a 56 year old Johnson, who so on and so on

"It would maybe add like 1% in some people's eyes"? Are you on a wind up?

Why the fornicate would anyone want Calzaghe to fight Erdei, Inkin or Adamek or even Hopkins again after Lacy, Kessler, Jones and Hopkins?

They are no bigger names than Reid, Woodhall or Brewer, all former world champs. Even Sakio Bika is looking like a decent opponent now.

The only guy worth sticking around for is Dawson, who is being lauded for beating a dire Tarver.....

Captain Hook wrote:Why the eff would anyone want Calzaghe to fight Erdei, Inkin or Adamek or even Hopkins again after Lacy, Kessler, Jones and Hopkins?

Adamek is the Ring and IBF Cruiserweight champion. You don't think it would be a great achievement if Calzaghe went up to Cruiserweight and beat him?

Captain Hook wrote:They are no bigger names than Reid, Woodhall or Brewer, all former world champs. Even Sakio Bika is looking like a decent opponent now.

The only guy worth sticking around for is Dawson, who is being lauded for beating a dire Tarver.....

Calzaghe beat Reid, Woodhall and Brewer when they were former champs, it would be cool if Calzaghe fought a few more reigning champions before he retires.

Horse wrote:

Captain Hook wrote:Why the eff would anyone want Calzaghe to fight Erdei, Inkin or Adamek or even Hopkins again after Lacy, Kessler, Jones and Hopkins?

Adamek is the Ring and IBF Cruiserweight champion. You don't think it would be a great achievement if Calzaghe went up to Cruiserweight and beat him?

Captain Hook wrote:They are no bigger names than Reid, Woodhall or Brewer, all former world champs. Even Sakio Bika is looking like a decent opponent now.

The only guy worth sticking around for is Dawson, who is being lauded for beating a dire Tarver.....

Calzaghe beat Reid, Woodhall and Brewer when they were former champs, it would be cool if Calzaghe fought a few more reigning champions before he retires.

Yes it would but let's not forget he's not 25, or even 30.....he's knocking on and people on here want him to start giving chances to guys who have not yet proved themselves in fights that nobody wants to see.

Calzaghe for Erdei for example.. who would get excited about that one? What would that do for his legacy.

Answer = nowt....

The Hopkins rematch is pointless. horrible fight, JC won it.

Pavlik's stock has dropped and despite winning the WBC title Froch looked so easy to hit v Pascal that I wouldn't let him anywhere near Calzaghe.

Inkin? Come on, he's not even famous in his own house..

Dawson should be getting a caning for this Tarver debacle....

Captain Hook wrote:Yes it would but let's not forget he's not 25, or even 30.....he's knocking on and people on here want him to start giving chances to guys who have not yet proved themselves in fights that nobody wants to see.

Calzaghe for Erdei for example.. who would get excited about that one? What would that do for his legacy.

Answer = nowt....

I would get excited about Calzaghe vs Erdei. It would be one of Calzaghe's best wins, that is what it would do for his legacy.

Captain Hook wrote:The Hopkins rematch is pointless. horrible fight, JC won it.

Pavlik's stock has dropped and despite winning the WBC title Froch looked so easy to hit v Pascal that I wouldn't let him anywhere near Calzaghe.

Inkin? Come on, he's not even famous in his own house..

Dawson should be getting a caning for this Tarver debacle....

A second more convincing win over Hopkins would be a big deal, and would remove a few more question marks from Calzaghe's legacy.

Pavlik is still a big name, but it is certainly not as good of a fight for Calzaghe to take now, than it was a few months ago.

Inkin was one of the weakest opponents I put on the list. I only put him on there as it would still be a good win for Calzaghe if he fought him.

Calzaghe vs Dawson is the fight most people are calling most for in the Light Heavyweight division. Calzaghe would get a lot of kudos and improve his legacy significantly by beating a young, undefeated champion in the Light Heavyweight division.

You are probably the only person who would get excited about an Erdei fight, be realistic.

He would fight once more at most, the only legitimate name being Dawson.

Captain Hook wrote:You are probably the only person who would get excited about an Erdei fight, be realistic.

He would fight once more at most, the only legitimate name being Dawson.

If he wanted to, he could fight more than once. He still has the ability to beat the best out there, so I don't know why there is such a rush for him to retire.

Erdei has gone so badly to seed that even I don't want to see him fight Calzaghe.

Adamek, I agree on. It would be an audacious challenge for the main cruiserweight title, vs a blown up/outgrown light heavy. If promoted right, it would be an event. But obviously, you have to factor in King (not easy to deal with), the risk (cruiserweight who can bang - hard!), the fact that current promoting = big name vs old big name, + HBO.

Kind of makes a Dawson fight seem more meaningful (if not lucrative sadly), given that Dawson won the first 9 or so rds before getting dropped and hanging on for wide PTS victory over Adamek. Along with wins over Tarver, Johnson, Harding. Don't see Joe taking a Dawson fight even if Dawson was some hugely charismatic, consistently exciting guy who could command massive purses and draw big fights - because there is a strong chance of losing.

As to Inkin, Universum have seemingly mishandled his career something rotten. Going from Interim title fights to fighting 6 rounders! Balzsay will kick his arse next Sat. Universum should have sent him over to Wales when Inkin was on a high, rather than waiting for him to go off the boil. Ah well, he took the belt when Joe gave it up. How do you say "Thankyou Joe in Russian"?

Joe does seem to have it in for Froch. If Froch gets some good wins, some good audiences (in the arenas and on TV, he had around 2.5m on ITV), finds favour in the UK & on the international scene....I have the feeling Joe will continue criticising. Calzaghe may not like someone else taking the limelight (though his "fights" with Hopkins, Jones and the ratings they got may have put HBO off from accepting cocky British super middles any time soon). So what do you do, keep on moaning, or have a fight about it?

Calzaghe had the chance to go Prime v Prime with Hopkis and RJJ about 6 years ago.

The ship has sailed son, he may aswell retire and call it a day. He could have finished facing a Prime RJJ, Hopkins, Tarver, Winky and then (now) face guys like Dawson etc. He may have got a few losses, but would have had alot more respect, like Hatton.

But i guess he was set on guys like Kessler, Lacy, Pudwill and Ashira

You know, im not at all surprised he is so bitter now. Any criticism he recieves is deserved

observer1 wrote:Calzaghe had the chance to go Prime v Prime with Hopkis and RJJ about 6 years ago.

The ship has sailed son, he may aswell retire and call it a day. He could have finished facing a Prime RJJ, Hopkins, Tarver, Winky and then (now) face guys like Dawson etc. He may have got a few losses, but would have had alot more respect, like Hatton.

But i guess he was set on guys like Kessler, Lacy, Pudwill and Ashira

You know, im not at all surprised he is so bitter now. Any criticism he recieves is deserved

So Kessler is crap then eh?

Tarver was never that good, Winky is a light middleweight and Hopkins alltime standing is drastically overrated(bit like Calzaghes really)

observer1 wrote:Calzaghe had the chance to go Prime v Prime with Hopkis and RJJ about 6 years ago.

The ship has sailed son, he may aswell retire and call it a day. He could have finished facing a Prime RJJ, Hopkins, Tarver, Winky and then (now) face guys like Dawson etc. He may have got a few losses, but would have had alot more respect, like Hatton.

But i guess he was set on guys like Kessler, Lacy, Pudwill and Ashira

You know, im not at all surprised he is so bitter now. Any criticism he recieves is deserved

what kind of arsehole comment is that ? Kessler is by far the stand out name in the SMW division and if he was American he would be worshipped like Pavlik was .

There is only one fight out there for Calzaghe and that be Big Cobra Froch.

I would love to see Calzaghe/Hopkins II, partly because I enjoyed it, but if Joe did take on Hopkins in Wales and won more convincingly then that would eradicate question marks on their first fight, which I though Hopkins just about nicked.