How Calzaghe rates with Britain's modern greats

It has become one of the ironies of Joe Calzaghe’s career – bitter ironies from his point of view – that much of his time with the media is spent examining a lack of profile. After years of training, fighting and abstinence, the truth is that one warble on X-Factor can bring a comparable degree of fame.

At 35, time is running out for the “Italian Dragon” to receive the wider recognition that a 44th consecutive victory would prove he undoubtedly deserves and it has to be asked whether his latest, enthralling points triumph over Mikkel Kessler will make a difference beyond Wales.

Saving your best work for Setanta in the middle of the night is perhaps not the way to win over a legion of new admirers. But, as Calzaghe would be quick to remind us, beating Jeff Lacy on terrestrial ITV last year still left him trailing well behind Beth Tweddle, the gymnast, in the race for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Lack of recognition has been as much a constant in Calzaghe’s professional career as his relentless ten-year run of title defences. He will deny that he cares about it, particularly after drawing 50,000 supporters to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, but of course it hurts.

It would hurt anyone with a record that sets him among the very best British boxers. At the weekend, he was tested by a couple of juddering Kessler uppercuts but still overcame a man seven years his junior to prove that he remains untouchable in the world super-middleweight division.

Calzaghe has given himself one more year in the sport and, given that he appears far too sensible to extend his career beyond his 36th year, that leaves a likely two bouts in which to turn respect within the boxing world to wider acclaim.

He may have to go to America if he is to secure the big bout he covets against Bernard Hopkins, which means that, like the Kessler contest that finished at 2.20am to create a transatlantic audience, it will be in the twilight zone when only the most committed fans will be watching. And Calzaghe is not about to broaden his appeal by resorting to tacky self-promotion.

He was asked to appear on Strictly Come Dancing, but his reply was as blunt as the jab that reddened Kessler’s face in the early hours of yesterday.

He has appeared in the odd charity football game, where he fancies himself, with some justification, as king of the stepovers, but he resolutely remains a quiet man of Newbridge.

His earthiness is endearing but, at a time when boxing has slipped to the margins of public consciousness, it does not do much for his profile. Calzaghe is too old to change even if he wanted to and, in any case, it sounds wrong when he trash talks. Even pictures of him in Saturday’s programme trying to look moody showed him in a pout. Not that you would say so to his face.

If there is something within Calzaghe that stops him being widely recognised as a truly great Briton – and his Italian-Welsh heritage may confuse things – it has much to do with the fight game. The public readily embraces those who succeed in minority sports – Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent became heroes for rowing a boat – but there is a cynicism towards boxing that has been exacerbated by the farce surrounding Audley Harrison almost as much as it has been dispelled by the recent brilliance of Ricky Hatton, Amir Khan and Calzaghe.

Hatton’s career-defining confrontation with Floyd Mayweather Jr comes on the eve of the BBC awards show next month, but not even a famous victory is likely to clinch the popular vote for the Mancunian. Calzaghe, meanwhile, can do no more to overtake Lewis Hamilton.

While trailing behind the Formula One sensation may not hurt as much as losing to Zara Phillips, Darren Clarke and Tweddle last year, it will only confirm his belief that he is unappreciated.

It is no fault of his, but how he could have done with a great British rival. He took the title from Chris Eubank way back in 1997 and has never had the opponents to reprise that great era of Michael Watson and Nigel Benn.

Perhaps the Welshman acknowledged the realities soon after a bout that was so tense, so gripping that the crowd became only truly raucous in the finale. When someone suggested that he deserved to be recognised as a sporting great, Calzaghe replied that “legends wanna get paid the right money”. No one would blame him if he has decided to chase hard cash over the next 12 months rather than something as fickle as fame.

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