Joe Calzaghe weighs in on Ricky Hatton's return
by SC on Jan 15, 2010 11:58 AM EST
in News Analysis
25 comments
In his most recent column for the South Wales Argus, retired star Joe Calzaghe wonders if Ricky Hatton shouldn't retire rather than fight on. Fighting on is exactly what Hatton officially said he aims to do on Wednesday.
Ricky isn’t old, by any means, he’s only 32 I believe and as I retired considerably later than that, I can’t go preaching that he should give it up.
He lost his last fight by knockout and if that had been me, maybe I wouldn’t have wanted to go out like that either. But obviously I can’t say, because I’ve never been in that position.
Remember, kids: Joe Calzaghe never lost! (Nor did he ever fight anyone as good as Mayweather or Pacquiao, but trailing off now so that idont...)
Calzaghe does say he'd have preferred to see Hatton retire, but he also is about as diplomatic as one could expect about it. He basically is telling Ricky, "Godspeed and good luck."
In the article, Calzaghe also expresses deep regret that the horrible loser Joshua Clottey will be fighting Manny Pacquiao on March 13. (OK, I exaggerated that a bit.)
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Calzaghe
Calzaghe lost the Hopkins fight.You could tell by his reaction at the bell and when the scorecards were read.Plus his dad was on his case in the last few rounds more or less saying they needed the KO.I was never a big fan of Calzaghe partly because of his style but mainly because he didnt fight the best of his generation IN THEIR PRIMES.Yet he loves to talk about his undefeated record,etc.Is his opinion of himself and the actual reality really that different to that of Floyd Mayweather’s?Kessler has been exposed by Ward,to what extent we will find out in 2010.Lacy may never have been that good in the first place but certainly has done nothing since his shut out loss to Joe.Like i said,i honestly feel he lost to Hopkins(as do a lot of other fans on the forums) and the RJJ fight came 5-10 years too late.Calzaghe even said in his book that Jones was shot BEFORE he fought him.Imo,Roy would have beat him by UD in their primes,116-112 or summert.
I do rate him as a boxer who could hold his own against the best of his generation.Unfortunately,he didnt prove it by making the big fights at the right time.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Jan 15, 2010 1:07 PM EST reply actions
Like i said,i honestly feel he lost to Hopkins(as do a lot of other fans on the forums)
Have genuinely never understood this one. Hopkins did nothing in that fight but get tired and score a flash knockdown.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by SC on Jan 15, 2010 1:25 PM EST up reply actions
Hopkins landed clean shots.Calzaghe swarm but smothered his work and i bet you could not show me one time tjhat Calzaghe landed a clean,solid shot in the fight,because he didnt.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Jan 15, 2010 1:40 PM EST up reply actions
Fair enough
Hopkins did his usual grabbing and faked injury but when he turned it on,he showed that he could hit without getting hit cleanly.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Jan 15, 2010 1:41 PM EST up reply actions
Look at Lacy's face and tell me he didn't land clean shots.
Calzaghe wasn’t the prettiest fighter, nor did he fight the best in their prime, but he was a good fighter. The term “slappy” is thrown around but to be a pro boxer you have to be able to punch a bit. Jeff called him slappy and we all know how that went for Jeff.
by SmittytheCutman on Jan 15, 2010 6:17 PM EST up reply actions
I said he didn’t land clean on Hopkins.He landed clean on Lacy all night long.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Jan 15, 2010 6:50 PM EST up reply actions
I think he was convinced he was going to be robbed if he didn't dominate
It was the first time his entire career fighting overseas. But I had Calzaghe winning the fight by a point.
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"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
The majority of people saw the fight Calzaghe’s way, but because it was ugly and tough to score a lot of fans like you felt the other way, which is fair enough. I don’t know how you can be so adamant that Calzaghe lost, most peoplethat think he did scored it only very narrowly for Hopkins.
Joe broke Lacy as fighter. A lot fo very good judges had Lacy favorite for that fight, and he’s never been the same since. But lets not pretend that on prior evidence he was ‘never that good in the first place’.
Everybody knows the RJJ fight came way too late, but the way most people talk its like Calzaghe was in his prime and beat up an old man. He was right at the end of his career too (although clearly not shot) We could go round and round with fighters, ‘prime vs prime’, although most people would have RJJ over him.
The two big things with Joe was that he constantly injured his hands and never wanted to travel till the very end of his career, so that held him back. But then none of the very best would come over to fight him, so its not all his fault (apart from the injury pullouts against Glen Johnson).
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)
Fair Points
Although i can honestly say that when Lacy was beating Robin Reid and Vanderpool,etc,he always looked one dimensional,slow and predictable to me.I cant remember exactly how i scored it but i think i had Hopkins up by a poijnt or two so yes i wasn’t being fair in making it sound as though it was obvious that Calzaghe lost.As i said at the end though,i believe Calzaghe could hang with any of the middle to light heavy fighters of his generation.I just think his 46-0 might not be as good as it looks on paper.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Jan 15, 2010 3:41 PM EST up reply actions
I may sound like i’m contradicting myself when i say this but i was very impressed with the Lacy win and Lacy was obviously a top 168lber at the time but what my point is is will anyone really even remember who Jeff Lacy was in 15 years or so?He wont be in any ‘Best of…’ lists,thats for sure.This is what i’m saying:Unless Kessler turns his recent form around,the biggest wins on Calzaghe’s ledger are going to be against Hopkins and Jones.Calzaghe peaked late,imo,and was at that peak around the time of Lacy/Kessler.He wasn’t far from it when he fought Hopkins and although Hopkins was 43 or so,the Pavlik performance proved he still had a lot left.But,Roy Jones peaked a long time before his fight with Joe,in the late 90’s-early 00’s.So therefore the biggest win on Joe’s record(at the moment) is Hopkins,which i thought Hopkins won (as i said:)).Just my opinion.I accept that Joe hand a lot of trouble with his hands throughout his career also,as his later career decrease in punch power showed.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Jan 15, 2010 3:53 PM EST up reply actions
Roy’s peak may even have been in the mid 90’s at 168.Thats the Roy i would have liked to have seen fight the peak 168 Calzaghe.The 2 best supermiddles of all time at their best.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Jan 15, 2010 3:56 PM EST up reply actions
I accept that Joe almost definitely ruined Lacy.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Jan 15, 2010 3:58 PM EST up reply actions
http://www.badlefthook.com/2008/11/10/658250/the-story-of-joe-and-jeff
When I was putting that together, I dug around old articles where boxing writers picked that fight. It’s astounding how many people thought Lacy would have his way with Joe. Calzaghe was an enormous underdog.
Really, it might have been the upset of the decade. Calzaghe toyed with Lacy and battered him, and almost nobody was picking Calzaghe to win that fight.
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"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by SC on Jan 16, 2010 1:59 AM EST up reply actions
Looking At Calzaghe's Record
I have to admit i was a bit unfair in my assessment of his legacy as he also had solid wins over the likes of Chris Eubank,Sakio Bika,Byron Mitchell and Robin Reid(albeit a close one).He could also have damaged Kessler psychologically before Ward even got to him.However,i watched the Hopkins fight 2 or 3 times and when looking for effective punching,i scored for Hopkins each time i watched it,though i can see why some scored it for Calzaghe.The judges did have it a SD after all.
In conclusion i would say he was not my favourite fighter by any means but i had a lot of respect for him and he was definitely one of the top 10,if not top 5 boxers of the 2000’s and one of the UK’s best ever.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Jan 16, 2010 5:10 AM EST up reply actions
I think Calzaghe deserved that win against Hopkins. His style’s actually pretty exciting too. Also, it’s not like Hopkins is far from his prime, or that Jones Jr. and Hopkins actually also fought Calzaghe in their primes as well. Calzaghe was relatively unknown in the U.S., and he was like a high-risk, low-reward commodity compared to the guys that Jones Jr. and Hopkins was fighting. The blame shall not be put on Calzaghe alone on that. When Calzaghe made a name for himself in the U.S., that’s when RJJ and Hopkins fought him, which was beyond 2005.
Another thing about the Jones fight. Most people agree that Jones still has fast hands even in his old age. What he’s lost is a hair of his reflexes which has in turn explosed his weak chin.
Calzaghe beat a washed-up Jones, but he didn’t take advantage of his chin in order to do it (unlike, say, Danny Green). Instead, he out-speeded, out-techniqued, and out-improvised Jones. This is not to say that Calzaghe deserves anywhere near full credit for that fight, but he deserves more credit than most people give him.
I meant to write ‘you could tell Calzaghe wasnt confident that he had won’ the Hopkins fight.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Jan 15, 2010 1:15 PM EST reply actions
I agree with Brick's comment above in response to this...
am no expert on body language, but thats what I thought too.
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)
Wondering,
what did he say about Manny/Clottey, sc?
It’s in the linked article. I was just joking, really — he essentially expressed disappointment that Clottey would be facing Pacquiao instead of Mayweather, given that Clottey lost his last fight to the guy Manny just pummeled.
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by SC on Jan 16, 2010 1:57 AM EST up reply actions
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