Calzaghe Rejects Golden Boy Offer For Hopkins Rematch

[Technical_Skill]

Who has ever said Hopkins was scared? Of course he wasn't scared. He didn't want the fight in 2002 for whatever reason, but Calzaghe did get into serious negotiations with him to try to make it happen, getting as far as contracts being verbally agreed and drawn up, and he deserves credit for seriously trying to make the fight, that's the point. He can't be blamed for the fact that the fight didn't come off, and yet the haters in these threads do blame him.

He dominated an admittedly weak division for many years. He tried to get fights with some big names outside his division, but for whatever reason the fights didn't happen. In world ATG terms, he will not rank with the Haglers and Leonards, but he will rank one or maybe two levels below them. In UK ATG terms he'll be in the top 5 or so. In British terms, he'll be thought of as a legend, in world terms he'll be thought of as great but not as an ATG. And the majority of Calzaghe fans do see it that way, although a few over-rate him. But the haters who keep posting here diminish his achievements completely irrationally.

Thats cool, but I have seen people insinuate Hopkins was scared of fight calzaghe and didnt wanna come over and fight him, I just had to put that one to bed real quick. Its not a huge deal.

Here's the huge deal.

Calzaghe gets Motivated for Kessler (which i think he claimed was his greatest night) but cant get motivated for Chad Dawson. Funny that innit, a young, strong, very quick, talented fighter comes along, possibly with the style to give him nightmares, and he isn't motivated.

[Dave Rado]

He hasnt achieved that much yet.I am so dissapointed that there was a rematch clause with tarver.I like Chad,and stylistically I think him and Joe match well,but to say Joe is ducking him,well you are saying exactly the same thing about B-hop in 2002.It is what it is,and its all about money.I never said B-hop ducked Joe,you assumed that,what he did was renege on a deal he had already made and ask for double,and thats about greed,not about fear.

I think it's more complicated than you think. Hopkins and King hated each other around that time. I think that had more to do with the negotiations falling through than greed did. I think the doubling of his demand was a just ploy to get out of a fight he didn't want for whatever reason, but I think it had more to do with him feeling ripped off by King than anything else.

But that still has nothing to do with the fact that Calzaghe did do everything a man could have done to make the fight, and yet he still gets irrationally accused of having "ducked" Hopkins in his prime.

[Roger Mellie]

Thats cool, but I have seen people insinuate Hopkins was scared of fight calzaghe and didnt wanna come over and fight him, I just had to put that one to bed real quick. Its not a huge deal.

Here's the huge deal.

Calzaghe gets Motivated for Kessler (which i think he claimed was his greatest night) but cant get motivated for Chad Dawson. Funny that innit, a young, strong, very quick, talented fighter comes along, possibly with the style to give him nightmares, and he isn't motivated.

He aint gonna make 10 million dollars fighting chad,and thats a huge deal.

[Technical_Skill]

He hasnt achieved that much yet.I am so dissapointed that there was a rematch clause with tarver.I like Chad,and stylistically I think him and Joe match well,but to say Joe is ducking him,well you are saying exactly the same thing about B-hop in 2002.It is what it is,and its all about money.I never said B-hop ducked Joe,you assumed that,what he did was renege on a deal he had already made and ask for double,and thats about greed,not about fear.

Wait a minute, I also said "Lets see what Happens", because it might happen in the future, In this thread I dont remember saying "Calzaghe is ducking dawson", but i have said I dont think the fight will happen, thats just my opinion.

[Technical_Skill]

He aint gonna make 10 million dollars fighting chad,and thats a huge deal.

Who will he make 10 million dollars fighting in this economic condition?

[Dave Rado]

Calzaghe gets Motivated for Kessler (which i think he claimed was his greatest night) but cant get motivated for Chad Dawson.

Different time in his career. When he fought Kessler he hadn't already mentally retired, he hadn't already cleaned out his division and won two Ring belts, etc.

He mentally retired last November, and at that stage in his career he needed a big name and a future hall of famer in order to motivate him to continue. He said he'd have continued if there was a light-heavyweight equivalent of a Pacquiao for him to fight, but there wasn't. He gave props to Dawson as possibly having the potential to reach that level in the future but he isn't at that level yet. Most people outside hardcore boxing circles haven't yet heard of Dawson.

If he hadn't reached the point where he already felt ready to retire, he made it clear that Dawson would have been his next fight.

[Technical_Skill]

Different time in his career. When he fought Kessler he hadn't already mentally retired, he hadn't already cleaned out his division and won two Ring belts, etc.

He mentally retired last November, and at that stage in his career he needed a big name and a future hall of famer in order to motivate him to continue. He said he'd have continued if there was a light-heavyweight equivalent of a Pacquiao for him to fight, but there wasn't. He gave props to Dawson as possibly having the potential to reach that level in the future but he isn't at that level yet. Most people outside hardcore boxing circles haven't yet heard of Dawson.

If he hadn't reached the point where he already felt ready to retire, he made it clear that Dawson would have been his next fight.

Few Questions:

Who outside of Hardcore Boxing circles knew who Kessler was? Bernard Hopkins didnt even know who 'Kasslar' was

What do you think does more for his legacy, Becoming the undisputed best in 2 weight classes by beating the man some (like floyd mayweather) see as the future p4p no 1, or beating a shot roy jones who had already been KTFO twice before that and lost to tarver again after that too?

[Roger Mellie]

I think it's more complicated than you think. Hopkins and King hated each other around that time. I think that had more to do with the negotiations falling through than greed did. I think the doubling of his demand was a just ploy to get out of a fight he didn't want for whatever reason, but I think it had more to do with him feeling ripped off by King than anything else.

But that still has nothing to do with the fact that Calzaghe did do everything a man could have done to make the fight, and yet he still gets irrationally accused of having "ducked" Hopkins in his prime.

You are probably right Dave about the Don King situation.My point is this.To accuse fighters of the calibre of Calzaghe or Hopkins of ducking one another or other fighters is to dwell in the domain of the ******.Boxing is a professional sport,a highly dangerous one at that,where very few fighters find themselves in a position to make life changing sums of money.I have read Joes autobiography,and through his reign as world champion he was getting constantly frustrated with Warren,who happened to be in bed with King so to speak,at his inability/lack of desire to secure him the fights he wanted.All top fighters find themselves in this position if they are signed to one of these big promoters.For many years Roy Jones was a free agent and wasnt making fights with King,and therefore we didnt see many fights where he was fighting the very best.These guys are great fighters love em or hate them,and deserve respect for what they have achieved,and to all those who accuse joe of being scared of a hopkins rematch,I have to remind them that Hopkins had 36 minutes in a boxing ring to take Joe to school,and could barely get anything going at all.

[Kobe Bryant]

Who even wants to see Calz? I'm not payin to see a terrible fight. With a guy throwing punches like a woman.

[Kobe Bryant]

His last good performance was against Kessler. He actually looked like a boxer.