Joe Calzaghe says Floyd should retire if he won't fight Manny
by SC on Nov 24, 2009 1:58 AM EST
in News Analysis
43 comments
Joe Calzaghe discussed boxing, football (soccer) and more recently in his latest column for South Wales Argus, and he had this to say about a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather fight:
I am so impressed with [Pacquiao], he just gets better and better and now I think it’s tough to say whether it’s Manny or Floyd Mayweather is the pound-for-pound king.
Surely, Mayweather is going to take the fight? It’s the one everyone wants to see in 2010 and if Mayweather doesn’t fight him because of money issues, he should just retire.
Unless he’s going to fight the best, why bother?
Calzaghe is a guy that knows a thing or two about retirement, and frankly, about doing it legitimately. Calzaghe quit with a perfect record, which is Mayweather's dream it appears, and he did so after making the most money of his career with a "leave no doubts" fight at 168 against Mikkel Kessler, and then two trips to the United States to beat Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr., a couple of living legends (even with Jones faded).
Mayweather and Calzaghe were not too long ago the 1-2 in the P4P ranks in the opinion of many, and were often compared in several ways. I don't think I've ever seen a top fighter leave still fighting on a world class level, and seem as content as Calzaghe has since he hung up the gloves officially early this year.
Calzaghe is also delighted over the success of David Haye:
[T]he whole heavyweight division will improve now and hats off to Haye for picking John Ruiz as his first opponent, the guy is made for his style and he’ll knock him out pretty convincingly.
Obviously then Haye will go after one of the Klitschko brothers and that’s a different story, because they are huge guys who can fight. But David has every chance.
I still say people are underestimating Ruiz's chances against Haye, but I also know I'll stay in the minority on that one.
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i will 100% guarantee you that ruiz will KO haye. i’ve got a feeling, a feelin’ deep inside about this one oH YEAHHHHHHHHHH
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Nov 24, 2009 2:29 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
battle axe has spoken! (heads to online betting site.)
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
by Matt Miller on Nov 24, 2009 2:40 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Ruiz by Braid Removal? What round you got Battle?
by waldo47 on Nov 24, 2009 6:33 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
20 seconds
seriously though in 6
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Nov 24, 2009 12:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Hmm
http://www.buzzfeed.com/tosh.0/inappropriate-times-to-do-macho-man-randy-savage-ri9
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
by Brickhaus on Nov 24, 2009 7:42 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
actually it was a beatles lyric (minus the “about this one”), and i was pretty much delirious last night after MNF
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Nov 24, 2009 12:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Thats malarky!! He’s too slow. Haye can turn it up when need be.
by killah27 on Nov 24, 2009 12:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
and haye’s too chinny. wham and he’s out cold
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Nov 24, 2009 12:29 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
To tell u the truth I dont see Ruiz catching him like that.
by killah27 on Nov 24, 2009 12:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Or...
He could go for the Calzaghe plan and wait until Manny Pacquiao is old and washed-up AND THEN fight him.
by erod on Nov 24, 2009 7:44 AM EST reply actions 2 recs
… because Chad Dawson would have been a big pay day earning him a ton of LHW respect.
by ryanwk628 on Nov 24, 2009 9:16 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
oh right...
because he was in his youthful prime himself when he fought Hopkins and then RJJ….or maybe he moved up in weight at the End of his career to make the fights, and I think Hopkins proved himself pretty old and washed up next time out hey?!
Maybe he should go for the Calzaghe plan of when you retire, Stay retired. Beats the PBF retirement plan of staying retired until a much smaller guy ‘calls you out’….
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
by BrianBrock on Nov 24, 2009 10:27 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
That's irrelevant
It doesn’t matter if Joe was in his prime or not. People wanted to see the two fight when both were in their prime but Calslappy didn’t want to leave England. End of story.
I don’t even know why you mention Hopkins because we all know I’m talking about Roy Jones.
by erod on Nov 24, 2009 11:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
And RJJ was always reasonable and willing to make fights in different locations was he?
"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Nov 24, 2009 11:42 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Plus RJJ spent most of Calzaghe’s “prime” fighting at 175.
by strike4A on Nov 24, 2009 11:49 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
That's moot.
Joe not only moved up in weight when he finally fought Roy, but he also came to the US to fight him also. He could have done both back then as well but he didn’t. Why? Because he knew better. He saw an opportunity to pad his resume against a shot fighter with a big name.
by erod on Nov 24, 2009 1:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
He moved up to fight Hopkins, to be fair.
Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes
by SC on Nov 24, 2009 2:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Let’s see….Roy was widely considered the P4P best at the time. He was the PPV draw. Why exactly should Joe Calzaghe dictate anything about the location of the fight?
by erod on Nov 24, 2009 1:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
.Roy was widely considered the P4P best at the time
a shot fighter with a big name.
Sorry which one is it erod? It’s hard to make convincing arguments if you contradict yourself like this.
"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Nov 24, 2009 1:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
How is that a contradiction?
One was in 2000, the other in 2008.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
by Brickhaus on Nov 24, 2009 2:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
hmm I missed that I guess.
"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Nov 24, 2009 3:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
well it kind of does
How can you criticize him for fighting an an ‘old’ RJJ at 40 when he was 37 himself?!
I thought the ‘old’ thing was more valid with Hopkins being 44. And I think we equally all know that its not as black and white as Calzaghe not leaving England for there being no fight.
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
by BrianBrock on Nov 24, 2009 12:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
RJJ was 39 when he fought Calzaghe.
That’s my pedantic moment of the day done.
by strike4A on Nov 24, 2009 12:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
lol
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
by BrianBrock on Nov 25, 2009 6:02 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
It's not just about age...
It’s not simply about age. I said old & washed up and I thought it was pretty obvious I was talking about Roy Jones Jr, not Bernard Hopkins. Calzaghe telling someone to fight the best is comical because he did no such thing for the good part of his career. The best was Roy Jones. He avoided that fight like the plague until after RJJ lost 3 times, 2 by KO. It’s pretty safe to say he was no longer the best by that time.
Hopkins is a freak of nature. Not many boxers can fight past their late 30’s at a competitive level. I think Calzaghe’s wins over Hopkins and Kessler are his two best and only victories against elite boxers. He fought no one else of note (well Jeff Lacy but dude was severly over-rated) the rest of his career.
“Fight the best”….lmao….
by erod on Nov 24, 2009 1:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Actually
Joe and Jones never faced each other, but it’s not like Joe had much of a name until Jones had long been at LHW. If you want to get on Calzaghe’s ass about not facing someone, get on his ass about not facing Ottke (who was IBF champ for 5 years during Calzaghe’s reign, but neither side seemed to have ANY interest in making the fight) or Glen Johnson (with whom fights fell through during negotiations at least three different times).
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
by Brickhaus on Nov 24, 2009 2:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Joe fought a lot of WBO mandatories for most of his career. You could argue that he was never really a big enough name in the States to sell fights here. The most we would see of him were when he fought guys like Mario Veit, and most casual fans were like “who the hell are these dudes?” Probably his debut to most American fans was when he lit Jeff Lacy on fire, which was a big surprise to a lot of observers. You have some guys these days who want to play 20/20 hindsight, and pretend that “they knew” Lacy wasn’t all he was hyped up ot be, but Calzaghe dominated Lacy and made him look like an absolute amateur. It was a savage beating.
Calzaghe’s most important and defining fights were Eubank, Reid, Lacy, Kessler and Hopkins. Eubank and Jones were clearly past it, and there was a good 10 year stretch in between Reid and Lacy where he was basically anonymous. But if this is the end of his career I can think of worse ways to end it than Lacy, Kessler and Hopkins, and as a two-division champ.
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
by jrok on Nov 24, 2009 3:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I'm not going to lie
I thought Jeff Lacy was going to win. I was never impressed with his boxing ability but he had power and I figured he would win by KO. I just didn’t get JC’s boxing style and why it had won him so many fights. I didn’t think he’d look that bad though.
by erod on Nov 24, 2009 4:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Not that I was following boxing that closely at the time
But something like seven of Calzaghe’s prior fights had been aired on Showtime or PPV before the Lacy fight. My understanding is that he was starting to build up a decent name, but then he squandered it in the early 00’s by fighting scrubs for years.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
by Brickhaus on Nov 24, 2009 6:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
My understanding is that he was starting to build up a decent name, but then he squandered it in the early 00’s by fighting scrubs for years.
Yeah, that’s a pretty good understanding of it. I’m fairly sure that the casual fans had no idea who he was (and I’m pretty sure that most of them still didn’t know until he fought Lacy). I think Showtime might have aired both of his Mario Veit fights, but I don’t recall for sure. The first Calzaghe fight I recall seeing was Sheika on Showtime. I’m pretty sure that was Showtime’s first fight with him. It’s worth saying that I was real impressed with Calz back then, and I thought he had a great future. He sort of fell off my radar by the time he was fighting that Murderer’s Row of Veit, Salem, Ashira, etc.
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
by jrok on Nov 24, 2009 6:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
his bad hands held him back too
he almost never even fought Lacy….
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
by BrianBrock on Nov 25, 2009 5:56 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Back then Roy Jones was about as pleasant to deal with as an old woman’s fart in line at the grocery store. I can’t just go, “Calzaghe didn’t fight Roy!”
Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes
by SC on Nov 24, 2009 12:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I still say people are underestimating Ruiz’s chances against Haye, but I also know I’ll stay in the minority on that one.
I’m not. Ruiz has genuine boxing ability, and can ugly-up the fight in his favor, for sure. And Haye didn’t exactly set the world on fire against Valuev, who is crushingly slow and ponderous.
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
by jrok on Nov 24, 2009 12:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Does it really matter? I mean when you compared Jones and Calzaghe? Everyone knows that Jones would have eaten him for breakfast in his prime. Hopkins as well…
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
by Zocalo on Nov 24, 2009 10:34 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Back to his thoughts…
Well I agree with him about Manny. If he isn’t willing to face him… just leave the sport. Everyone knows he isn’t some ATG like he portrays…
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
by Zocalo on Nov 24, 2009 10:36 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a top fighter leave still fighting on a world class level, and seem as content as Calzaghe has since he hung up the gloves officially early this year.
If boxing history is any measure, then I really don’t believe this is not the last we’ve seen of Joe Calzaghe in a boxing ring. You can only sit around strokin’ it and reading other guys’ press for so long. Chances are tahat the Super Seven will culminate in some sort of Calzaghe comeback talk… ill-advised or not.
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
by jrok on Nov 25, 2009 12:24 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
he genuinely sounds ok with it
He really sounds like he’s done. He had a go at dancing, something a couple of years ago he swore he would never do, met a new girl…he’s in a different place now. He had a couple of real scares too with first round KDs in his last two fights, so he’ll be aware its not worth the risk of losing that 0 at this stage.
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
by BrianBrock on Nov 25, 2009 6:00 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I would think it would depend more on how many of them “0’s” were located at the end of his paycheck.
Also, I think it might eventually be an ego thing, or just a straight-up boredom thing. Lots of ex-fighters get bored after they retire. You could be right, but I think that would make Joe a very rare case.
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
by jrok on Nov 25, 2009 8:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
ah the reply is just below
forgot to press that pre messaging
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
by BrianBrock on Nov 25, 2009 4:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
it would be rare, I agree
I hope he doesn’t, anyway. I think the ‘0’ on his record may be more important to him than money though, he’s managed his well. We’ll see, though.
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
by BrianBrock on Nov 25, 2009 4:19 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I think it would be a bad idea too. Fighters who live and die on their freakish speed don’t usually tend to age very well (see Roy Jones Jr.)
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
by jrok on Nov 25, 2009 6:59 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
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