BoxRec

He should look to fight Australian Danny Green

This has to be the most dangerous fight for Joe at super-middle, & one that Calzaghe could win, & get a heap of respect for it

McCoy always felt Calzaghes toughest test at super-middle would have been against Eric Lucas, who seemed to be on a roll until he lost controversially to german Marcus Beyer on points

After his controversial decision win, Beyer took on Green of course & again was lucky to win after being dropped heavily several times by Green who seemed to go nuts, intentionally using the head & was rightly disqualified

This made McCoy sit up & take notice

He may not have won the fight, but he looked a world class operator during it, before he threw it all away & done more damage to Beyer than Lucas did in their fight, but Green is a heavier puncher than Lucas, & styles make fights

So it was no formality that when Green met Lucas he would win, but win he did, stopping the durable Lucas in the 6th round to prove in McCoys big humble that Green is the most dangerous fight out there for Joe Calzaghe at super-middleweight

Green has won 17 fights, & all inside the distance, his only loss was on DQ

This is exactly the kind of fight that Joe needs!

I would love to see this match up, I agree Green is a fighter who seems to be prepared to fight all comers. Nobody, barring Roy Jones beat up Lucas in that way before. Lucas is a credible champion who has beaten past champions and fairly decent challengers (and I count Beyer as a victory for Lucas).

Following Ottke's good victory over Mitchell, I would have really looked forward to Calzaghe vs Ottke - but now even if the fight was made, it would only give the Calzaghe critics more to shout about - cause it Sven is looking old now. I still think a prime Ottke vs a prime Calzaghe would have been a hard one to call (wherever) - Ottke was/is a vastly underated champion.

However, I have heard that he was very lucky to have retained against Larsen and was hardly impressive against an out of sorts Starie and a Robin Reid who has been very inactive at a half decent level. I think there a many Super Middles who could take him now, but they might not have done a few years ago.

For me, there are only 3 fighters I'd like to see Calzaghe mix it with at this weight now, Green is THE one I'd primarly like to see fight Joe, I'd also rave about a Calzaghe vs Mundine match up and even Calzaghe vs Larsen.

As others have highlighted on the forum, a helluva lot rides on Gonzalez's fight this weekend with Erdei. If Erdei were to beat Gonzalez (and in Germany that's a distinct possibility), I very much doubt he could be lured out of Germany to defend his WBO light-heavy title against Joe. Thus the Welshman would be up a creek without a paddle. He's already made it public he intends to move up after his next defence on February 21, but where would he go if the WBO title was held in Germany! I doubt very much allegedly would allow his unbeaten charge to fight in Germany (he allowed Nelson I know, but I've heard whispers that Frank has just about given up on Johnny). So, yes, there's every possibility he could stay at super-middle, weightmaking permitted, and Danny Green does look the best of the current crop (outside Calzaghe and Ottke), and proved he was willing to travel when he flattened Lucas in Canada. But can Joe get up for these younger kids now? At 31, there's a lot of younger men coming through and Joe might find it hard to respect them as much as he respected the older, more established Eubank when he first won the WBO title. Calzaghe is the target now. Not the other way round. Perhaps, it's best if Erdei did win on saturday and Joe would thus be forced - if he did move up, to challenge for a proper title at last. Stick him in with Tarver, or the winner of the forthcoming Silvio Branco-Fabrice Tiozzo WBA light-heavyweight showdown. He's already a millionaire financially. Now make his legacy rich...