The 17 Fighters of Calzaghe's Era Who Were Better Than Him- are there more or less??

[DINAMITA]

Fighters of Joe Calzaghe's generation (Pernell Whitaker definitely cannot be included in this, he was at his peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Calzaghe didn't win a world title til 1997. Whitaker belongs to the era before, along with Chavez, Azumah Nelson, the young Holyfield and Tyson, McCallum, Camacho etc etc- guys belong to the era where their peak was) who were DEFINITELY better than him in my opinion, but others could be argued to be too, guys like Naseem Hamed, and current fighters like Miguel Cotto (who will overtake him soon). I rate them as greater on three counts: ABILITY, ACHIEVEMENT and RESUME:

(not in any order, but obviously RJJ is the clear no1)

ROY JONES JR
MANNY PACQUIAO
LENNOX LEWIS
BERNARD HOPKINS
JAMES TONEY
ERIK MORALES
SHANE MOSLEY
MARCO ANTONIO BARRERA
JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ
KOSTYA TSZYU
FELIX TRINIDAD
OSCAR DE LA HOYA
RICARDO LOPEZ
WINKY WRIGHT
FLOYD MAYWEATHER
JOHNNY TAPIA

There's 17 greater fighters from his own generation alone. Joe had talent, but he doesn't have the resume to back it up. Nine years from 1997-2006 doing nothing except beating up nobodies like Pocker Tudwill and Rick Thornberry while his contemporaries (that I have just mentioned) fought the best and each other.

He will never be considered top 10 of his own generation by the boxing world for this reason.

Thoughts??

[Smith]

Tapia & Wright, no no no no no.

[natonic]

Tapia & Wright, no no no no no.

I agree about Tapia not being better. Wright is close in my opinion.

[OBCboxer]

No Tapia

[DINAMITA]

I knew Tapia would be the one most people would disagree with. World champion at 3 weights, fought the best around. I think he is right up there with Calzaghe. And I definitely think Winky Wright was better. Undisputed light-middleweight champion, went undefeated for 8 years, again always fights the best, has 2 wins over a prime Shane Mosley and a dominant win over Felix Trinidad on the resume.

[DINAMITA]

Glad to see people are agreeing with the other 15 though.

[Maxmomer]

Wright is definitely way better than Calzaghe.

[Mantequilla]

Wright did not beat a prime Mosley.

Shane was a rather ordinary fighter post-forrest.

[Smith]

Glad to see people are agreeing with the other 15 though.Im not agreeing entirely with the other 15, i'm just discrediting your post due to the Wright and Tapia inclusions. Simmer down

[quintonjacksonfan]

Barrera is not better then Calzaghe. He got smoked twice by two different fighters Jones and Pacquio. Kessler is much better then Junior Jones in my opinion

[DINAMITA]

Dear God, look at the standard of fighter Barrera faced throughout his amazing career! Naseem Hamed was established in the top 10 P4P when Barrera beat him, he was a KO artist at featherweight, a beast, a higher quality and more dangerous opponent [U]at the time[U] than any challenge Calzaghe has taken on. And Barrera dominated him in a career virtuoso performance. Because of Hamed's subsequent loss of desire and retirement, people forget what a sensation it was at the time.
And Barrera won the best trilogy of the 21st century (aside from maybe Vasquez-Marquez, but I do prefer Erik-MAB personally) 2-1. Three 50/50 thrillers, both men putting it all the line, 2 ATGs, and Barrera coming out with the wins.
As if that wasn't enough, but the guy also had wins over excellent opponents like Paulie Ayala (a former Ring fighter of the year), Johnny Tapia (3-weight world champion), Kennedy McKinney, Rocky Juarez, Kevin Kelley, Robbie Peden, and he floored and pushed the top 5 P4P Juan Manuel Marquez all the way in the twilight of his career.

He is 1 of the 1s definitely better than Calzaghe.

[Unforgiven]

:lol:

I thought Rick Thornberry and Pocker Tudwill were made up joke names, then I checked on boxrec and I'll be damned, Calzaghe DID fight 'em ! :lol:

(Except it's Tocker Pudwill, but that's no better)

I'm half expecting to find Dusty Trunks and Willie Getup among the list of glorious challengers to Calzaghe's WBO super-middle title ! :lol:

[DINAMITA]

:lol:

I thought Rick Thornberry and Pocker Tudwill were made up joke names, then I checked on boxrec and I'll be damned, Calzaghe DID fight 'em ! :lol:

(Except it's Tocker Pudwill, but that's no better)

I'm half expecting to find Dusty Trunks and Willie Getup among the list of glorious challengers to Calzaghe's WBO super-middle title ! :lol:

Bcoz Dusty Trunks beat Calzaghe on points in the amateurs, Joe ducked him when the Trunkster wanted a shot at his WBO title back in '97. Dusty was so frustrated he quit, and went on to manufacture unique boxing gloves that give the palms of the hands extra protection when used as a slapping device.

[rekcutnevets]

It is funny that Tapia and Wright are the only fighters anyone has really had a problem with.

I agree Tapia is just a step below, but Wright's wins over Trinidad and Mosley are enough for me to have him above.

I think he lost to Hopkins, and is jeopardizing his legacy with Jones. If he overwhelms Jones with his high output all will be well. If he looks bad against, or loses to, Jones; he'll raise a lot more questions about his career.

Do me a favor, and post this in the general forum. I would like to see their take on this.

[Minotauro]

Besides Tapia and probably Wright and Marquez I agree those fighters are better then Calzaghe.

[teeto]

I really used to like Wright when he was being avoided, but for some reason started to go off him, both Tapia and him maybe aren't above him. But on the subject of the 2, imo Tapia was greater than Winky ultimately. Its debatable, and subjective so the argument can be made for both guys, but imo, Tapia in his absolute prime, was one of the finest (top-tier) his division ever saw

[Mantequilla]

I think Tapia at his best was better than at least Morales from that list.

[Sweet Pea]

I think Tapia at his best was better than at least Morales from that list.Morales may not have been a defensive savant, but offensively he was quite a fighter, along with being as tough as nails. I personally rank him above Barrera despite Barrera's superior technical skills, as he did better against similar opposition(Jones and Pacquiao) and was pretty much even with Barrera in their head to head matchups.

Tapia got hit quite a bit as well, even moreso than Morales when he got brave, which was pretty often. I think you underrate Morales a bit is the point of all this, but that's just me.