By Samuel Lee
Chris Eubank on Calzaghe’s ranking:
Joe Calzaghe is the number one top fighter in the history of the game. He beat Chris Eubank, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones over 36 rounds when we each had one of our best ever performances left in us. He broke my all-time world record of consecutive unbeaten championship fights, and broke my all-time European undefeated streak. He collected all four championship belts at once. He never lost. Joe Calzaghe is the number one boxer, the top fighter, ever.
Eubank on Calzaghe-Froch:
Calzaghe would’ve won every round against Carl Froch because it’s just basic math; it’s 4 to 1. It’s a simple matter of speed. And Carl won’t mind me saying that because Carl is a gentleman.
Eubank on Froch vs Benn/Eubank/Watson/Collins:
I have to be very careful what I say. But any fight with Nigel Benn 100% depends on whether the opponent can absorb the hardest head punch they’ve ever been hit with, unless Benn went in with the attitude he went in with against Watson and Malinga which was to throw at arms and elbows until burn-out, in a demented fashion, with no focus on defense. So whether Carl would absorb Nigel’s punch, I don’t know. But I doubt it.
Carl isn’t the most finesse of boxers and doesn’t like a mover. He has long arms so struggles inside. What did I possess? Dexterious foot movement and complexity of short punch. You can draw your own conclusion.
Michael Watson in our second fight, his sole fight at super-middle, was physically unbeatable. I had to tap into the supernatural to beat him. Whether Carl has a Samurai sleeping inside of him, I don’t know, and I would doubt that.
I think Carl and Collins could be a messy war, but Carl has the better jab, better reach and better composure, so if he stood his ground and boxed and flurried, he could outbox Collins while not being outworked. So I would lean toward Froch on that one because Steve Collins couldn’t break an egg!
Eubank on Roy Jones Jr’s rating:
I believe the best fighter in the history of boxing was most likely Roy Jones, but it’s unfair to make that a statement because we don’t know for sure. But Sugar Ray Robinson, Mike McCallum, Sugar Ray Leonard, Joe Louis, Billy Conn, Henry Armstrong, Floyd Patterson and Herol Graham wouldn’t mind me saying that because they were gentlemen.
However, Floyd Mayweather Jr, James Toney, Duran and Whitaker might have an issue with it!
It’s interesting that Roy Jones told me the only fighter he ever felt could give him the most problems was me, because my critics like to point out that I somehow ‘ducked’ him, but he was never my mandatory contender and Roy Jones was most wary of facing me than any other.
Eubank on different between ‘great fighter’ and ‘living legend’:
There are many great fighters but only two or three in history have become a genuine living legend. Rocky Marciano, Nigel Benn; these are men who defied ultimate odds. When you would put your house on them losing, they found a way to win.
Joe Calzaghe proved his greatness in his last two fights by getting off the floor in the opening round to punch Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones all over the ring for the remainders, combined with his off-the-floor, same-round-win he had in about 2003 or so and it equates to greatness.
