Yes, and what about all of the other years from 1996 to 2006?
I am aware that at some points there were attempts to match Calzaghe with top fighters. These attempts always fell through up until 2006. Every boxer's camp says that their fighter always wanted to fight the best and that every time a fight fell through it was down to the other guy's camp.
Up until Lacy in 2006, Calzaghe fought few people of interest. He beat an old Chris Eubank. After that the biggest names on his resume were probably Mitchell, Sheika, Reid, Woodhall and Brewer. Nobody much of real note if we are talking about a pound for pound contender. In the period since Calzaghe became active Roy Jones Jr, who was often himself criticised for not taking the hardest fights, fought Tarver, Johnson, Ruiz, Woods, Griffin, McCallum, Toney and Hopkins. Hopkins fought Taylor, De la Hoya, Trinidad, Johnson and Jones Jr.
These are far more impressive lists of fighters. The idea that Calzaghe was more feared than Hopkins or Jones Jr is an obvious nonsense - Calzaghe, as he had fought few people of interest was underestimated if anything.
You can take the view that Calzaghe wanted all of those fights but nobody was willing to fight him. That's the kind of one eyed attitude which many fans of particular boxers take and it's not one that I share. His rivals managed to fight serious competition. The fact is that while Hopkins and Jones Jr were taking on top boxers, Calzaghe was beating up people who weren't in his league. He was however making a great deal of money for no risk doing so.
As I said, my problem with this is not that I begrudge any boxer the opportunity to make as much money as they can. Boxing is a tough sport with short careers. My problem is simply that Calzaghe wasted most of his prime years. Calzaghe is arguably as good as De La Hoya ever was. Unlike De La Hoya he may well retired with an unblemished record. But De La Hoya will be better remembered outside of his homeland because he fought the best over and over again.
