BoxRec

In McCoys big humble opinion it has to be Charles Brewer, who after losing to Calzaghe came back to stop Scott Pemberton(who recently defeated Omar Sheika twice) to show that he wasnt completely shot

Although Brewer may not have the greatest chinny chin chin he can hit pretty damn hard as he showed hurting Calzaghe to the body & is a great pressure fighter

When Calzaghe beat Brewer McCoy wasnt initially impressed, here was a guy who was previously stopped in 3 by Antwun Echols albeit controversially & was thought of as a shot fighter with a dodgy chin

But Brewer has looked great in his fights since Calzaghe & looks as if he still has quite a bit left in the tank

I agree with McCoy on this...Joe's chin was tested and he replied in style.The Best Super M weight out there,pure natural talent.

I remember Joe travelling to Brentwood in Essex to contest the vacant British super-middleweight title with local boy Mark Delaney, who was unbeaten at the time and going great guns. Delaney held all the aces. He had big support, was the 'house fighter' (the show was promoted by his manager, Barry Hearn), and had been 12 rounds before going into the fight, whereas Calzaghe had just blown out a series of relative nonentities.
But Calzaghe destroyed Delaney. He showed his class that night.

His last one, the Mitchell fight for me.

bennie wrote:I remember Joe travelling to Brentwood in Essex to contest the vacant British super-middleweight title with local boy Mark Delaney, who was unbeaten at the time and going great guns. Delaney held all the aces. He had big support, was the 'house fighter' (the show was promoted by his manager, Barry Hearn), and had been 12 rounds before going into the fight, whereas Calzaghe had just blown out a series of relative nonentities.
But Calzaghe destroyed Delaney. He showed his class that night.

The only problems with Delaney was that he threw his punches as though underwater.

He was painfully slow and carefully matched. A lack of speed is always gonna hurt you against Calzaghe. Having said that Joe did go into the lion's den and rip the title away.

I'd go for the Mitchell win too - showed his heart to climb off the canvas and blast the American out in the next few seconds. That was a sensational win.
I was really impressed when he beat Eubank too. That was make or break time for a young prospect and he came through in big style.

Late sub or not, Eubank was still a very dangerous proposition for such an untested fighter, and a huge step up in class for Calzaghe.

Calzaghe showed that he was a natural fighter that night, when he ripped into a Eubank from the off, showing him no respect at all. Anyone who doubts Calzaghe's power should watch that fight again, Eubank weight drained or now, always had a chin of iron, and tremendous powers of recovery, and he really had to walk through fire to finish on his feet that night.

Exactly JM, you just had to look at Nigel Benn's face in the studio after the fight. The ultimate warrior said, anyone who knocks down and outlasts Chris Eubank like that is definitely the real deal.

Eubank was a really good win and performance but a few places down the list for me, mainly due to the late sub thing and that I believe Eubank was training for a Light-Heavy (possibly even Cruiser) contest when he was called up, always tight at the weight that must have had a massive impact on him.

The Mitchell fight was the most exciting by far but Calzaghe's best win was against Brewer IMO.

On that night Brewer would have beaten every other fighter that Calzaghe has faced.

Omar Sheika was his best performance as a defending champion, although Sheika was over-rated.

His best performance in his career was his defining fight with Eubank.

Especially from a psychological point of view. Calzaghe proved that night that he had a champion's mentality. rather than trying to nick the fight from Eubank, he saw it as an opportunity to stamp his claim as the best in the division, and turned in an amazing performance.

It's a shame he hasn't really had a fight to live up to that since. His fight against Mitchell was equally impressive in other ways, but not exactly a defining fight.

Goz wrote:Eubank was a really good win and performance but a few places down the list for me, mainly due to the late sub thing and that I believe Eubank was training for a Light-Heavy (possibly even Cruiser) contest when he was called up, always tight at the weight that must have had a massive impact on him.

Eubank was scheduled to fight Mark Prince at Light Heavy that night.

stujones wrote:

Goz wrote:Eubank was a really good win and performance but a few places down the list for me, mainly due to the late sub thing and that I believe Eubank was training for a Light-Heavy (possibly even Cruiser) contest when he was called up, always tight at the weight that must have had a massive impact on him.

Eubank was scheduled to fight Mark Prince at Light Heavy that night.

Would have been quite an interesting nights entertainment what with Calzaghe-Collins and Hamed-Vasquez on the same card!

That Collins v Calzaghe never happened will always be one heck of a shame. My money was firmly on the old warrior retaining on points.

And please nobody bring up that "knockdown" Collins suffered in his previous fight as a sign that he was on the slide.

The Brewer fight looks more impressive when you consider he had took Ottke 12 rounds on SD before hand as well...

I still feel that he should have stopped Brewer though and also that he got caught far to easily by Mitchell.

Shame as Calzaghe hasnt really had any really big fights.

HH

Kilburn wrote: And please nobody bring up that "knockdown" Collins suffered in his previous fight as a sign that he was on the slide.

What about the knockdown Collins suffered in his last fight? Surely a sign he was on the slide?

Collins ducked Calzaghe, he knew he was in for a hammering.

MightyWarrior wrote:

Kilburn wrote: And please nobody bring up that "knockdown" Collins suffered in his previous fight as a sign that he was on the slide.

What about the knockdown Collins suffered in his last fight? Surely a sign he was on the slide?

Collins ducked Calzaghe, he knew he was in for a hammering.

Collins never ducked anyone MW, you know better then that.

I think Collins just relised that he had grown old as champ and wanted to retire whilst still on top of the tree. No shame in that.

You're right TT, Collins was a very tough guy who took on all comers.
I'm not implying he should be ashamed of anything: he made the right decision and got out while still champ....if only more boxers had the same sense.

Maybe ducked is too harsh a word, but to be honest I've never really warmed to Collins as a person.
Even now he insults Eubank whenever they meet, and goes eyeball-to-eyeball with him. I mean what is he still so bitter about? He won twice after all..
I'm just saying he knew Calzaghe was gonna beat him and got out while the going was good.

Calzaghe was ready for the fight and wanted it for sure but that doesn't mean he'd have beaten Collins, who was much more comfortable fighting at a hard pace than Eubank was and had an equally tough chin.

Calzaghe did prove a point against Eubank but I'll always consider him lucky that the real champs motivation ran dry just at the right time.

Steve Collins was hugely underrated.He was probably better respected in America.Collins Vs Calzaghe would have been an interesting fight but my money would have been on Collins,who's a nice guy,too.

You're right catweazel, Collins is well respected in the USA - they like their tough Irish fighters over there.
He was with the two brothers who looked after Hagler in Boston, I think.
Did he ever spar Hagler I wonder?

I was very impressed with him when he went 12 rounds with Mike McCallum - guess who was ring side that night all those year ago?
A young Chris Eubank.

Goody and Pat Petronelli.....

Collins was very underrated in my book, he was as tough as an Anvil, and had a fantastic workrate, and technically wasn't bad either.

I would have loved to have seen Watson v Collins at some stage, I think that could have been the best fight of all.

Benn and Eubank both had their shortcomings, Benn had a poor defence and a weak chin, Eubank was a lazy fighter who coasted too much and didn't like a hard pace.

Watson and Collins were more complete fighters, not as spectacular in any one area perhaps as Benn and Eubank, but did everything well.

Collins was the man, I would have loved to have seen Collins vs Jones. My memory of Collins was in I think round 4 of the rematch with Benn. Benn caught him flush on the chin with a telegraphed shot, something similar to Tak vs Jim Rock. I'm telling you, Sly Stallone wouldn't have choreographed the shot much better.

Collins walked through it and Benn's expression was "what have I got infront of me".

I believe all three of these British boys would have tested Jones in many ways. I don't think Jones ever faced a puncher like Benn, the anouthordoxness of Eubank (not forgetting Jones don't fight at a great pace) and the sheer psychoness of Collins.

Calzaghe's performance of Eubank was great, but would he have adopted such a strategy if Collins hadn't have exposed the one weakness in Eubank's armour a few years previously.

Calzaghe's impressive one round destruction of rated Austrian Mario Veit cannot be taken lightly, Veit who is now based in Germany beat Spaniard Jose Maria Guerrero recently in a dubious fight for the EBU Super Middleweight crown and showed he is no fool with a comfortable points victory .