By Simon Hirst: Often a hot topic of conversation in the boxing world, Joe Calzaghe had the luxury of doing what not many can boast and retire whilst still on top in the boxing world. Joe made 21 world title defences of his WBO Super middleweight title and beat Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr before announcing his retirement.
However, a scratch behind the surface as is often the way in boxing records and there are criticisms in his career.
When looking into legacies of a fighter’s career, one of the key things to do is highlight key wins they had, perhaps when a fight was deemed close beforehand or even the fighter went in as the underdog. The first key fight would be Calzaghe’s fight against Eubank, all be it against a Eubank past his prime. The vacant WBO title was at stake and Calzaghe put in an excellent performance to win his first title as a young professional. This key victory is often overlooked in favour of his later achievements, but should not be forgotten as it was the start of his long reign as champion.
Another great victory has to be the Jeff Lacy fight. The reason why some deem this irrelevant will be discussed soon, but at the time, he was unbeaten, fresh and vicious. Some felt Calzaghe had no chance. However, Calzaghe went into the ring full of belief and produced one of the most masterful of displays given in a world unification title fight.
The Kessler fight was also seen as a very close contest with perhaps Calzaghe shading it with the bookmakers. Some felt perhaps this was Kessler’s time to shine and take the torch. However, after a couple of close rounds and forced to take some big shots, Calzaghe got on top and won a comfortable decision in what some people deem as his best performance.
His win over the great Bernard Hopkins was also a huge win. It was his first major fight in America against a very game, wily Hopkins. Calzaghe had to come back from a knock down in the first round to claim a split decision, much to the American’s displeasure. It was a fight where Calzaghe had to prove adaptable and throw plenty to win rounds as Hopkins was at his awkward best.
Now looking with some hindsight, we can look at these opponents and make judgements on them and what they went on to achieve. Eubank was past his prime, this was known at the time, but given where Calazghe was in his career, provided a stern test. Lacy never recovered mentally from the beating he took and became somewhat gun shy in later fights. Calzaghe was certainly key to this. Kessler has gone on to prove he is one of the best in the division and still fighting at world class level and participating in the recent Super Six tournament. Hopkins is still mixing it with the best by going on to win, and more recently, lose his world title.
However, looking at the rest of Calzaghe’s career, an argument can and has been made against what people describe as soft opposition. When America had a prime Hopkins and Jones, Calzaghe never travelled to America to challenge them. Infamously, he was slated to take on Bernard Hopkins until the latter demanded more money at the last minute before it could be announced. Also, towards the end of his career, rather than fight some up and coming stars, he opted to fight an old version of Roy Jones. These stars included a then undefeated Kelly Pavlik and Chad Dawson. Some will say they have gone on to be beaten by opposition who Calzaghe would have, and in Pavlik’s cases, did beat, so therefore Calzaghe would have beaten them, but the fact remains they would have been names on Calzaghe’s record and would have added to his legacy by taking their undefeated streak.
Names of fighters who Calzaghe could have fought in his prime include Jermain Taylor who was middleweight champion, Antonio Tarver, Clinton Woods and Glen Johnson would have been good names on his record.
Calzaghe was also challenged frequently by Carl Froch, although I agree with Joe’s decision in not fighting him as I feel he would have beat Froch given where they were in their careers and did have bigger fights giving his age and time left in the sport. However, although Froch has gone on to lose two fights, his record is littered with world class opponents in their prime and it could be argued that Froch’s legacy may be more impressive when gone over with a fine tooth comb. One could certainly not accuse Froch of ducking the best.
In addition, Froch fought opponents in their home town and against the odds. This is something Calzaghe cannot say. Apart from the odd trip to Denmark and Germany, it was not until his final two fights that Calzaghe fought in America against opponents past their prime. The rest of his fights took place in the United Kingdom.
So since Calzaghe’s retirement, has his reputation been enhanced or tarnished? Well the fact some of the world class opponents he fought such as Mikkel Kessler and Bernard Hopkins went on to win more world titles certainly enhances his stock. It does prove that despite some calling his career padded, that when he did step up to world class and elite, he proved himself a cut above by finding a way to win. However, the Super Six tournament hasn’t helped his legacy as it has forced the best to fight each other, which highlights the fact that Joe didn’t always do this. By retiring on top is commendable as there is plenty of evidence to suggest some fighters don’t know when to retire. However, with his unbeaten record, fans are left to feel a little bit cheated as there were worthy challenges available coming up knocking on his door which he did not take.
From a personal view, there is no doubt that what Joe done was extra-ordinary, after all, you can only beat what is put in front of you, which he did. However, given the 46 wins he had, the fact that only four can be classed as being highlighted as world class opponents at a world class/elite level does suggest a certain padding. Carl Froch can boast 8 world class opponents in his last 8 fights, something that does tarnish Calzaghe’s record. It could certainly be argued that Calazghe became afraid to lose and too much attention was focused on his unbeaten record as opposed to the class of his opponent. Fighter’s in his division at the moment are not afraid to fight each other which makes the division red hot at the moment, whilst damaging Calzaghe’s legacy. Perhaps it was unfortunate that Calzaghe is not around now, but there is no doubt his legacy has suffered for it.
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