Every time Joe Calzaghe steps into a ring, it is his legacy as much as his
world title that is on the line. After a decade as WBO super-middleweight
champion, he is Britain’s longest-reigning world champion, with the most
title defences. Victory against Mikkel Kessler in front of 50,000 people at
the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, tonight will not only give him the Dane’s
WBC and WBA titles, it could deliver him the crown of Britain’s best boxer
in history.
Some people will have you believe that today’s best boxers would not be good
enough to beat the men of yesteryear. But the reality is that the sport is
in a golden age and in Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton, whatever the result of
their next bouts – Hatton faces Floyd Mayweather Jr in Las Vegas next month
– Britain boasts two all-time greats.
“He already is Britain’s best ever,” Frank Warren, Calzaghe’s promoter, said.
“He’s certainly the best in all the time I’ve been watching the sport. No
one else has achieved what he has.”
But for some reason Calzaghe has seldom received the plaudits that he
deserves. Perhaps that is because he has been too shy to push himself into
the public spotlight, but that does not mean he does not want recognition.
Despite what he may say in public, the snub at the BBC Sports Personality of
the Year last year, when he failed to make the top three after a
career-defining win over Jeff Lacy, hurt him. He is around 25-1 to win the
award this year, behind Lewis Hamilton. If the motor-racing driver wins the
award this year it will back Calzaghe’s assertion that the voters like
losers.
Calzaghe, 35, is definitely a winner. It is 17 years since he tasted defeat,
as an amateur at the European Junior Championships in Prague to a Romanian
named Adrian Opreda. But while other sporting stars hide away, Calzaghe
remains down to earth. Before yesterday’s weigh-in at St David’s Hall in
Cardiff, the biggest thing on his mind was a family outing to the
supermarket to replenish his fridge.
“All I’m thinking about is what I’m going to go to Asda to get,” Calzaghe
said. “I’m going to go home and I’m going to eat and eat and eat. At this
stage you don’t give a s*** about the fight, you just give a s*** about what
you can eat out of the fridge. But there’s nothing in the cupboards to eat
because I’ve been on starvation until the weigh-in.
“I’ll eat everything. I carb-load after the weigh-ins, then I get a bit
naughty because I don’t think it matters what you eat on Friday. I eat
anything I want to eat. It’s pretty disgusting all churned up together but
then I’ll start carbo-loading, eating sensible food. I can’t wait to have a
pint on Sunday – I haven’t had a pint for seven weeks.”
The constant struggle with weight keeps Calzaghe insisting that he will not
try to beat Joe Louis’s all-time record of 25 world title defences. Calzaghe
has 21 to his name. If he beats Kessler, he has talked of wanting to move up
to light-heavyweight, with Bernard Hopkins, the former world middleweight
champion, a possible opponent.
When it was pointed out to him that Hopkins could probably make the
super-middleweight limit and would relish the chance to challenge for a pile
of belts, Calzaghe’s mind returned to his fridge and the thought of having
to starve himself again.
But Kessler is capable of spoiling everything. Unbeaten in 39 bouts, he is
seven years Calzaghe’s junior, a clever boxer and a hard puncher. Calzaghe
appears the more versatile, though.
“My style is never the same – sometimes I don’t even know what I’m going to do
myself,” Calzaghe said. “This guy is a very good technical fighter who can
punch. I can punch – I think a lot of people underestimate my punching
power. People say my fights are boxer against puncher, speed against power.
Listen, I’ve got power. You don’t put [Chris] Eubank on his a*** if you
can’t punch.
“Sometimes I go into fights with bad hands, then it can be a problem. But with
two good hands I’m going to be punching with power and I’m going to be able
to hurt this guy.” Things briefly threatened to spill over at yesterday’s
weigh-in, where Calzaghe scaled 11st 12½lb, while Kessler had to strip naked
before coming in on the 12st limit. Afterwards, as the boxers stood together
for photographers, they rubbed heads, exchanged taunts and had to be
separated. “I’ve been champion for ten years and have a lot of frustration
that I haven’t had my career-defining fights,” Calzaghe said. “It’s hurt in
the past when people have said I’ve picked easy opponents. I’ve been begging
for this because I’m not interested in Sakio Bika fights or Peter Manfredo
fights. The Lacy fight was amazing, but it’s taken 18 months to get this
fight. This is a proper fight, it’s going to be amazing. Just blank out the
crowd – you cannot start thinking about how many people are watching you
because it is just going to get on top of you.
“People think I haven’t got the hunger for this fight. Believe me, I’ve got
tremendous hunger to be able to train like I’ve trained. It’s great fighting
someone who has other belts, so I’ve got so much to gain in winning.”
Dates that define Welshman’s rise to the top
May 3, 1993 Equals record set by Fred Webster in 1928 by winning three
consecutive ABA National titles at three weights as he beats Dean Dorrington
to win ABA middleweight title in Birmingham, having been denied chance to
try for place at 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
October 11, 1997 Knocks down Chris Eubank early on in Sheffield but has
to battle on for the full 12 rounds before claiming the vacant WBO
super-middleweight title.
April 28, 2001 Knocks down Mario Veit, a highly rated German, twice in
first round to force early stoppage in Cardiff. Four years later, after Veit
has forced his way back up rankings, Calzaghe stops him in five rounds in
Brunswick, Germany.
June 28, 2003 Knocked down by Byron Mitchell, the former WBA champion,
in second round in Cardiff but gets up to return the “favour” and then force
stoppage in same round.
March 4, 2006 Wins IBF title and The Ring belt as he outclasses
highly touted Jeff Lacy at MEN Arena, Manchester. Calzaghe wins every round
on all three judges’ scorecards against previously unbeaten American.
Tale of the tape
Calzaghe
Height 6ft
Weight 11st 12Klb
Reach 74in
Chest 38in
(expanded) 40in
Forearm 11½ in
Thigh 21in
Neck 16½ in
Calf15in
Ankle 11in
Wrist 7in
Fist 12in
Kessler
Height 6ft 1in
Weight 12st
Reach 73in
Chest 38in
(expanded) 42in
Forearm 12½ in
Thigh 20in
Neck 15½ in
Calf 14½
Ankle 12in
Wrist 6½ in
Fist 11½in
Calzaghe manages to savvy the win after Kessler wears out winging for the KO. My prejudice is possibly my Welsh ancestry (Betws-y-coed).
Matthew Bowen, Charlottesville, VA / USa