Eleven years after Joe Calzaghe called time on a fifteen year career, debates still rage on about his standing against the best super-middleweights of all time.
Britain has produced some of its most glorious moments in boxing after the likes of Nigel Benn, Steve Collins and Chris Eubank gave us a lot to remember them by when they gained a lot of attention while fighting in the super-middleweight scene for quite some time during the 1990s.
But meanwhile Calzaghe, who was nicknamed ‘The Terminator’ during the first quarter of his career, was blasting through opposition and racking up an impressive knockout statistic while making his way toward a world title shot. That came in October of 1997 when he and a slightly faded Chris Eubank went to war for the WBO title. Joe won that, his first world trinket, by a unanimous decision.
But from here on is where most fans have a bone to pick with Joe.
For the next decade he was content to just make repetitive defence after defence of his title against challengers that few had heard of. In fairness, there were a couple of highlights! Joe’s fights with Robin Reid and Byron Mitchell forced him to dig deep and they simultaneously excited the crowd.
But other than those two contests, everything else about Joe’s time making defences as WBO champion were unfortunately mostly forgettable.
However, things did improve.
The hard hitting and exciting Jeff Lacy, the holder of the IBF crown, came to London to prove to everybody that Calzaghe was out of his depth in March, 2006. The odds even favoured him to win! But the betting agencies don’t get it right every time, and this was one of those times.
Calzaghe gave the American an absolute shellacking from rounds one to twelve. It didn’t look like Lacy could turn things around in his favour at any point of the match and a win for his opponent was inevitable. It was this fight that made people stand up and take Calzaghe more seriously.
The public the world over were now wondering if Joe, who was now known as ‘The Pride of Wales,’ could be considered as a candidate as an All Time Great.
After taking care of former ‘The Contender’ star Peter Manfredo Jr in three rounds in April, 2007 a showdown with unbeaten Dane Mikkel Kessler was negotiated and arranged for the later part of that year. The bout would take place in Britain for the WBO, WBA and WBC titles. Kessler gave Joe some things to think about early on, especially when he was shaken by uppercuts in the fourth round. But like many of the very best, Kessler found himself dealing with someone who knew how to adjust and change tactics accordingly. The fight from then on clearly went Joe’s way and he became the new unified champion after going the distance.
America was next and Bernard Hopkins was waiting.
Calzaghe, coming to the conclusion that he had done everything he could at the super-middleweight limit, moved up to 175lb. Bernard Hopkins already had two fights at that weight after defeating Antonio Tarver and Ronald Wright. With 19 successful defences of his IBF middleweight title and the first man to inflict defeat on Puerto Rican legend, Felix Trinidad, it made sense for Joe to fight him to boost his legacy.
The fight took place in Las Vegas at the Thomas and Mack Center in April, 2008 and all the Hollywood stars came out to support both guys. Calzaghe was floored by a heavy right hand in the first round. He rose to beat the count while looking a tad surprised. But Joe’s pressure and high work rate eventually became too much for the older man to handle. ‘The Executioner’ faced a points loss although there are some that think he did better than he was given credit for with his occasional sharp counter punches.
There was now only one last contestant that Joe felt he needed to deal with – the once formidable Roy Jones Junior. The fight would take place on November 8th, 2008 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, the “Mecca” of boxing. Unfortunately, Jones’ best days were behind him even though he scored a knockdown in the first round. Roy even managed to get a forearm in there before the champion was sent crashing down. But like the Hopkins bout, that would be all the success that Jones would have. From the second round on he was incapable of dealing with Calzaghe’s hand speed and prime reflexes.
In round seven, a cut opened by Jones’ left eye although it didn’t become severe enough for the fight to be stopped. When the final bell rang the unanimous decision that was read out was a formality in favour of Calzaghe. Max Kellerman asked him after if he would be interested in facing Chad Dawson, the latest kid on the block to receive the hype machine treatment. However, Joe expressed little interest and on February 5th, 2009 he elected to announce to the world of his retirement.
Somewhat surprisingly, like Lennox Lewis, Calzaghe has resisted any itches to return to the ring and seems content to enjoy his time away after all that he has achieved.
And what of his legacy?
For me, Joe Calzaghe has to go down as the best super-middleweight of all time. Some may say that Roy Jones’ campaign at 168lb, with such wins over James Toney and stopping every challenger there should give him that honour. However, he refused to travel to the UK and deal with Steve Collins and Nigel Benn. Joe travelled after being labelled as that fighter who would only fight in England.
Don’t get me wrong. His legacy isn’t perfect. Calzaghe should have travelled much sooner than he did and made the effort to take on a prime Roy Jones. Then there is the issue of a fight with then IBF champion Glen Johnson in 2004 which he pulled out of more than once.
But compare Joe’s opposition to someone such as Sven Ottke, who was always happy to just stay in Germany and be gifted several points decisions. And Chris Eubank who, while he had two great fights with Nigel Benn, was happy making money boxing in the UK and facing mostly guys the majority had never heard of.
I realise there is some wiggle room for a debate on this and I can never see anybody universally agreeing about the legacy of Joe Calzaghe.
But for me he gets the number one spot. Even if he has just done enough.
