Joe Calzaghe has found the big bouts have often eluded him during his ten-year reign as a world champion. Jermain Taylor lost his WBC and WBO middleweight titles to Kelly Pavlik in Atlantic City last Saturday and as Taylor crumbled to the canvas in the seventh round, another potential blockbuster for the Welshman went with him.

The previously unbeaten American had been put forward by HBO, the US cable television network, as an opponent for Calzaghe early next year, provided that the Briton was successful in his world super-middleweight title unification match against Mikkel Kessler at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on November 3 and Taylor beat Pavlik. But, despite having Pavlik on the floor and on the verge of defeat in the second round, Taylor was stopped himself.

“It was a shock to see Taylor beaten, but this is the reality of boxing - anyone can get beaten,” Calzaghe, 35, said. “The secret to my longevity is because I look at every fight as if I am the challenger.

“When you have been at the top for a number of years, complacency can set in, but the fear of getting my a*** kicked drives me to get out of bed and hit the mountain runs and then face the blood, sweat and tears in the gym. Maybe Taylor took his eye off the ball and was looking at future fights down the line and dismissed Pavlik’s threat.”

A week today, Calzaghe will mark a decade since he won his WBO super-middleweight title by beating Chris Eubank in Sheffield. During his time at the top, many big names have been talked about, but few have got into the ring with him and Calzaghe admits that he has sometimes lacked motivation when preparing for lesser challenges.

“It’s hard to keep your mind focused when big names and big purses are being talked about when you are training for a routine title defence because these are the fights that you could lose,” he said. “Kessler is a serious threat and I am training my heart out for this fight. I would be a fool to underestimate him.”

Amir Khan says that his ambitions to win a world title have not been damaged because of the sixth-round knockdown by Willie Limond in his most recent bout in July. “It was meant to happen, but I got back up again and came back stronger [to win an eighth-round stoppage],” Khan, who defends his Commonwealth lightweight title against Scott Lawton in Nottingham on Saturday, said.

Explore More Sport

• Athletics

• Boxing

• Cycling

• Sailing

• US Sport