BoxRec

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/6175236.stm

I had to laugh at the end sentence.....'I don't know if I want to take Joe Louis record(of 25 defences!!!!)or not'

Err,yeah,ok Joe

Should of kept the belt.

Maybe Jeff Lacy can win the belt back against some bum (Stieglitz would be perfect) and Calzaghe and Lacy can have another super unification fight.

Back to WBO pallava. Backwards step in my opinion.

Neri1983 wrote:Back to WBO pallava. Backwards step in my opinion.

The trouble is, the IBF may have requested Calzaghe to fight a decent, non-Frank-Warren selected mandatory at some point. Simply too risky.

The belts mean nothing. Stieglitz is a BS #1 ranked fighter (wtf had he done to be worthy of that?).

Btw, if Stieglitz is a 'decent' mandatory my name is Rula Lenska.

Taki... wrote:The belts mean nothing. Stieglitz is a BS #1 ranked fighter (wtf had he done to be worthy of that?).

Btw, if Stieglitz is a 'decent' mandatory my name is Rula Lenska.

Seeing as his big thing to continue past his original plan of 4 fights and done was to break Louis' record, I think he considers belts important. Calzaghe had his chance to unify the division, and he now blew it. Whoever has been the devil on his shoulder the last 9 months needs to be shot. He's goes from potential global star to complete uninterest.

I think that perhaps this move is the right one, if it means not having to face Stieglitz, a fight nobody is going to be interested in, and instead facing Taylor in what despite any of our misgivings, would indeed be a megafight.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I think that perhaps this move is the right one, if it means not having to face Stieglitz, a fight nobody is going to be interested in, and instead facing Taylor in what despite any of our misgivings, would indeed be a megafight.

He could've done both. Manfredo is no more a worthy candidate than Steiglitz. At least Steiglitz won a mandatory fight they put in front of him, all Manfredo has done is lose three times to JR MW's.

Mattyp151 wrote:

Taki... wrote:The belts mean nothing. Stieglitz is a BS #1 ranked fighter (wtf had he done to be worthy of that?).

Btw, if Stieglitz is a 'decent' mandatory my name is Rula Lenska.

Seeing as his big thing to continue past his original plan of 4 fights and done was to break Louis' record, I think he considers belts important. Calzaghe had his chance to unify the division, and he now blew it. Whoever has been the devil on his shoulder the last 9 months needs to be shot. He's goes from potential global star to complete uninterest.

Oh sure. And while Stieglitz was solvable, who knows who the IBF would have presented him next -- in the end -- terror shock -- an evasive counterpucher.

Can't take the risk to lose control over the choice of your opponents if you're after "breaking" Louis' record.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I think that perhaps this move is the right one, if it means not having to face Stieglitz, a fight nobody is going to be interested in, and instead facing Taylor in what despite any of our misgivings, would indeed be a megafight.

No, the next megafight will be Calzaghe-Lacy after Lacy will have won back the IBF belt against Stieglitz.

You've read it here first.

For my money Stieglitz would've been a worse fight than Manfredo, mandatory or not.
Taylor would be a huge fight, and if Calzaghe followed that with a LH title fight or a fight with Kessler then I could forgive him Bika and Manfredo... just.

Couldnt he have got the Stieglitz mandatory out the way instead of fighting Bika?

Taki... wrote:For my money Stieglitz would've been a worse fight than Manfredo, mandatory or not.
Taylor would be a huge fight, and if Calzaghe followed that with a LH title fight or a fight with Kessler then I could forgive him Bika and Manfredo... just.

Calzaghe wanted to fight Hopkins...enough said. Joe has so much work to do before he retires to make his mark, and he is doing nothing in that direction. Sure, a win vs Taylor would be big, but he's still not fighting the one fight he SHOULD take.

Mattyp151 wrote:

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I think that perhaps this move is the right one, if it means not having to face Stieglitz, a fight nobody is going to be interested in, and instead facing Taylor in what despite any of our misgivings, would indeed be a megafight.

He could've done both. Manfredo is no more a worthy candidate than Steiglitz. At least Steiglitz won a mandatory fight they put in front of him, all Manfredo has done is lose three times to JR MW's.

Well Steiglitz hasn't been appearing on any top 10 lists.

Fvck the IBF, same ABC org that kept Judah as champion after he lost to Baldomir.

This is a good move and makes a fight with Kessler more likely.

lvlarc_uk wrote:

Mattyp151 wrote:

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I think that perhaps this move is the right one, if it means not having to face Stieglitz, a fight nobody is going to be interested in, and instead facing Taylor in what despite any of our misgivings, would indeed be a megafight.

He could've done both. Manfredo is no more a worthy candidate than Steiglitz. At least Steiglitz won a mandatory fight they put in front of him, all Manfredo has done is lose three times to JR MW's.

Well Steiglitz hasn't been appearing on any top 10 lists.

Fvck the IBF, same ABC org that kept Judah as champion after he lost to Baldomir.

This is a good move and makes a fight with Kessler more likely.

How does it help the Kessler fight at all...infact, it makes it even less likely seeing as Joe doesn't have equal titles anymore, giving Kessler more bargaining chips.

Joe will want to fight in the UK where he is obviously a bigger draw in his hometown than Kessler is in his. But now Kessler has the lion's share of titles, and has more of a say to the crown at 168. Does that make Kessler the #1? Not at all. But you HAVE to see where it just makes things even more confusing.

Joe fights Steiglitz on the same card Kessler fights Andrade, put it on BAD on HBO and bam, there's your American interest and American dollars. Both have mandatories cleared, as Mundine will 99% take the JR WBA belt, and leave nothing but open paths for unification. Now, Calzaghe talks about fighting the MW champ, and not the guy he should.

Either way, Manfredo is a terrible fight. For fvck's sake the guy couldn't win a reality show.

lvlarc_uk wrote:

Mattyp151 wrote:

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I think that perhaps this move is the right one, if it means not having to face Stieglitz, a fight nobody is going to be interested in, and instead facing Taylor in what despite any of our misgivings, would indeed be a megafight.

He could've done both. Manfredo is no more a worthy candidate than Steiglitz. At least Steiglitz won a mandatory fight they put in front of him, all Manfredo has done is lose three times to JR MW's.

Well Steiglitz hasn't been appearing on any top 10 lists.

Fvck the IBF, same ABC org that kept Judah as champion after he lost to Baldomir.

This is a good move and makes a fight with Kessler more likely.

A Kessler fight is as unlikely as the immaculate conception anyway, unless Calzaghe suddenly grows some balls and sacks Warren.

THIS move means obviously to prevent that Calzaghe will ever have to fight ANY remotely dangerous opponent, as the IBF -- in contrast to the WBO -- wil unfortunately not allow Warren to choose Calzaghe's "mandatories".

This is the material boxing legends are (not) made of.

Funny thing is, with Markussen losing, Steiglitz could become his WBO "mandatory" as well.

These ABC org's do not want them unifying. WBC would not allow Kessler to fight Calzaghe before taking Andrade. Steiglitz is poor and brings NOTHING to the table. If IBF gave Calzaghe an ultimatum, then Calzaghe's camp made the right choice. IBF must be pissed about missing out on those fees too.

In this day and age the fighters define the belts. Shit, Pacquiao hasn't held a world title for over 2 years and he's still universally considered the best in the world. HBO will have no prob hyping up a fight between Calzaghe-Kessler, belts or no belts.

You already know that talks between the camps began, Warren offered the fight to Kessler to come to UK. I don't know the details, but then a few days later a report on Palle's website is up explaining that Kessler has to fight Andrade. Then a few days later Kessler is out injured. It's pointless talking about this fight right now as clearly Kessler has to either fight Andrade first, or drop the WBC title.

Mattyp151 wrote:

Taki... wrote:For my money Stieglitz would've been a worse fight than Manfredo, mandatory or not.
Taylor would be a huge fight, and if Calzaghe followed that with a LH title fight or a fight with Kessler then I could forgive him Bika and Manfredo... just.

Calzaghe wanted to fight Hopkins...enough said. Joe has so much work to do before he retires to make his mark, and he is doing nothing in that direction. Sure, a win vs Taylor would be big, but he's still not fighting the one fight he SHOULD take.

The same Hopkins who many people had top 5 p4p after he did a number on Tarver? Enough said.
Everyone knows boxers are only as good as their last fight (or last opponent), Calzaghe got plenty of plaudits after Lacy, despite all that had gone before, until the glow wore off and he signed to fight Bika. Any two of: Taylor/Wright/Kessler/Adamek/Erdei/Hopkins/Dawson/Briggs etc before he retires and much, if not all, will be forgiven.

lvlarc_uk wrote:These ABC org's do not want them unifying. WBC would not allow Kessler to fight Calzaghe before taking Andrade. Steiglitz is poor and brings NOTHING to the table. If IBF gave Calzaghe an ultimatum, then Calzaghe's camp made the right choice. IBF must be pissed about missing out on those fees too.

In this day and age the fighters define the belts. Shit, Pacquiao hasn't held a world title for over 2 years and he's still universally considered the best in the world. HBO will have no prob hyping up a fight between Calzaghe-Kessler, belts or no belts.

You already know that talks between the camps began, Warren offered the fight to Kessler to come to UK. I don't know the details, but then a few days later a report on Palle's website is up explaining that Kessler has to fight Andrade. Then a few days later Kessler is out injured. It's pointless talking about this fight right now as clearly Kessler has to either fight Andrade first, or drop the WBC title.

Quite right, the ABC's no sooner have a unififed champ, then they strip him at the first opportunity, it's just not in their interests.

I feel like puking!!!.... :x :x :x

Stieglitz is a real stiff, this means nothing at all.

Who is he going to fight for the belt? I see Markussen is still #3, and Barrios at 2#.

Axe wrote:Stieglitz is a real stiff, this means nothing at all.

Who is he going to fight for the belt? I see Markussen is still #3, and Barrios at 2#.

My money is on Haussler/Stieglitz.

Btw, Haussler is #3 now.

1 Robert Stieglitz IBF INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION Germany
2 Alejandro Berrio Colombia
3 Danillo Haussler Germany
4 Jeff Lacy United States
5 Luciene Bute France
6 Carl Froch
7 Dennis Inkin Germany
8 Sergey Tatevosyan Russian Federation
9 Jackson Chanet France
10 Rudy Markussen Denmark
11 Jurgen Brahmer Germany
12 Mario Veit Germany
13 Peter Manfredo, Jr. United States
14 Yusuf Mack USBA CHAMPION United States
15 David Gogiya Russian Federation

Taki... wrote:

Axe wrote:Stieglitz is a real stiff, this means nothing at all.

Who is he going to fight for the belt? I see Markussen is still #3, and Barrios at 2#.

My money is on Haussler/Stieglitz.

Btw, Haussler is #3 now.

1 Robert Stieglitz IBF INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION Germany
2 Alejandro Berrio Colombia
3 Danillo Haussler Germany
4 Jeff Lacy United States
5 Luciene Bute France
6 Carl Froch
7 Dennis Inkin Germany
8 Sergey Tatevosyan Russian Federation
9 Jackson Chanet France
10 Rudy Markussen Denmark
11 Jurgen Brahmer Germany
12 Mario Veit Germany
13 Peter Manfredo, Jr. United States
14 Yusuf Mack USBA CHAMPION United States
15 David Gogiya Russian Federation

Finally they updated (today, lol)...only took them 6 weeks since Rudy lost. Haussler is even worse than Berrio. The winner of this just might be one of the weakest champs in boxing, period.

And why is Lacy at #4? Perhaps a win next week will move him into the mix, he deserves it far more than any of the above 3.