By Simon Hirst: Joe Calzaghe vs Roy Jones Jr was the boxing highlight of the weekend and it proved to be a cracking fight to watch. Firstly, to all those who say it meant nothing significant, Joe beat a shot Roy Jones and that Jones lost no credibility, I do agree with that. What Calzaghe did prove that he’s still in his prime and whilst he shouldn’t retire, there aren’t many challenges out there for him.
Joe extended his unbeaten record to 46-0. Look at the names on his record. He became the first man to beat Jeff Lacy, a man whom all believed would eat Calzaghe up, and many believe that that was Joe Calzaghe’s best performance in a boxing ring. He took Jeff Lacy to school that night. Now to me, the Jones win was a much better victory than the one against Jeff Lacy. My first point is because look at Jones and look at Lacy.
If you’d have put them in the ring last Saturday night, who would have won? Jones all night long, probably every round! Secondly, look at what Jeff Lacy has achieved, then look at what Jones has achieved. If you’re Calzaghe, which one would you rather have on your record also taking into account my first point. In my opinion, a 45 year old Jones would be better than a prime Lacy.
Let’s talk about the manner in which Calzaghe won. First round, he gets knocked down on what replays show to be a forearm to the throat. Even so, a knockdown is a knockdown and Calzaghe admitted it hurt him. Then amazingly, Calzaghe next round whilst being quicker to the punch and dodging Jones’ shots, hangs his chin out, gets in the face of Jones, outworks him and doesn’t even defend him properly. Only from Joe would you see such confidence. It would only be arrogance if it was done to wind Jones up or if Joe got KO’d by it. Neither was the case. Jones didn’t know how to respond to this and was covering up and leaning on the ropes through the Calzaghe on slaughter. It made me think had he been fighting a prime Roy Jones, it would have been a lot closer fight than everyone predicted, but people seem to forget that it was Jones who didn’t make that fight happen, not Calzaghe who chased it. Whether Calzaghe’s ‘slaps’ hurt or not, if a man is punching you repeatedly and at the speed of which Calzaghe does, you have to cover up.
Talking of Calzaghe’s ‘slaps’ as his critics call them, I advise them to rewatch the video of the moment when Jones eyelid got busted open. If that’s a slap, then it’s a very hard one.
So where does Calzaghe go from this. Does he retire or fight on? If the right guy comes up, I think Calzaghe will fight him. If he fights again, I believe it will be next summer and probably his last fight. So who are the possible opponents? Chad Dawson has a good fight after his comprehensive win over Antonio Tarver, but could his fight against Glen Johnson which he barely won enclose the weaknesses? Also Bernard Hopkins also beat Antonio Tarver and with Calzaghe holding a victory over Hopkins as well, I believe Calzaghe would be the favourite to win it, despite what all Calzaghe’s critics say. Another opponent would be Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch who has been calling Calzaghe out for years and has started to prove his credentials in the super middleweight division. With a win over Pascal, Froch could elevate himself into contention and we could have one hell of a grudge match. Another possible opponent may be Clinton Woods for another all British fight. Woods coming off that loss to Tarver where it’s been claimed he wasn’t 100% and if that’s the case, it clearly showed. Woods has more to offer than he showed against Tarver and a match with Calzaghe could bring out the best in him.
Should Calzaghe retire, he’ll have achieved everything he wanted himself to achieve which is most important to himself. Not all fighters choose the right time to retire, most leaving it too late and suddenly they have scored a heavy loss because they fought one too many. However, with that said, Calzaghe, in my opinion, is still in great condition, his ability in terms of speed and work rate haven’t been caught by father time as of yet, but it tough to say when it will catch up with him. If it catches up with him in his next fight if he fights on, then he’ll regret not retiring. I believe he has one more fight in him. Let’s hope he gets it right and should he retire, he’s already cemented his place as one of the UK’s best boxers of all time.
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