Beautifully put Lenny. Calzaghe will only be recognized among the hard core boxing fans. This, I believe, will see him stand the test of time when others are long forgotten. A great champion who is trying to unify a weight division which has never before been unified, that will happen at the end of the year but the Times On Line has reported little of this and instead focuses on Amir Khan - an up and coming, over hyped kid.

Mike Edmunds, London,

No I'm not Welsh. Nor am I, in any part, Italian. I 'm a proud Englishman. But I say with full honesty Joe is one the greatest boxers Great Britain has ever produced. A world class World Champion.
Yet, he gets very little recognition. Because he’s not English? Or because he’s a winner, maybe? Or that he’s not promoted by BBC TV?

More fuss was made over Cooper, Harrison, Bugner and Bruno, three of which never won a World Championship. Whereas Bruno let someone come and take his World title as easy as if his opponent simply asked for it.

We've had the likes of Buchanan and Watt from Scotland, Collins and McGuigan from the Emerald Isle, Regan and Robinson from Joe's neck of the woods, and Turpin and Conteh from England, to name but very few.
Yet the British Sporting establishment seem more interested in our losers than our winners.

My favourite boxer is Carmen Basilio.
Most of us 'sort of' agree that Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest boxer, Muhammad Ali was the greatest Heavyweight, etc. But we all have our own 'favourite' boxers such as Duran and Marciano, as well as favourite match-ups, such as the Sadler vs Pep or the, quite recently, Gatti vs Ward wars, etc.
Tommy Burns is up there, for all the same reasons.
So are men like Stanley Ketchel and Marvin Hagler.
Joe Calzaghe’s name belongs alongside any of those just mentioned.
Yet if it was left to the press and BBC, most people would not know how many defences he has made or even if he is a World Champion at all.
I cannot wait to read what he makes of it all.

I boxed as a junior, undefeated – that does not make me a boxer though - that's why I drive a London Black Cab - but I do have some insight into how hard it is.
Today I am a 6ft 2ins, 50 year old granddad, weighing in at about 60lbs above my fighting weight.
In my biased opinion, Boxing is the greatest individual sport, with football being the greatest team sport. Neither of which, I am any good at. But I know a few who are.

Lenny Etheridge, London, England UK