By James Hughes:Now that all the initial hysteria has died down about Joe Calzaghe’s recent retirement, it is a good time to take a comprehensive look at what ‘The Pride of Wales’ achieved and where that leaves his legacy.
The Early Years
Born in London, but moving to Wales soon after, Calzaghe took up boxing at an early age. He built a fine career record in the amateur ranks; winning 110 of 120 fights, securing 7 ABA titles – 4 schoolboy and 3 consecutive senior titles – becoming only the second boxer to win titles in welterweight, light-middleweight and middleweight divisions.
After turning professional and easily dispensing with 13 low quality opponents (12 KO’s), Calzaghe faced his first test by taking on Stephen Wilson (11-1), for the British Super-middleweight title. At a neutral venue (London), in October 1995, he won by an 8th round TKO. A couple of fights later Calzaghe won another battle for this title, taking on the undefeated Mark Delaney (21-0). Calzaghe went to his opponent’s home territory (Essex) and clinically defeated him by a 5th round TKO, which left Delaney a bloody mess with a broken nose.
In October 1997, almost 2 years since winning his first domestic title, Calzaghe secured his first world title. On a memorable night for him, he took on Chris Eubank (45-2-2) for the vacant WBO Super-Middleweight crown, in Sheffield (England). After an early trip to the canvas, Eubank made good on his promise to take the younger Calzaghe ‘to the trenches’. However, Calzaghe won a unanimous points decision.
At this point, it is worth dispelling a few myths about Calzaghe that his critics often mention. Firstly, that Calzaghe only fought in Wales. None of Calzaghe’s first 3 title fights took place in Wales. Secondly, that Calzaghe fought no quality opponents and avoided top fighters. The WBO title was vacant because Steve Collins withdrew from a defence due to injury and was stripped of it, and then preferred retirement to facing Calzaghe. Eubank, though undoubtedly past his best, was still a dangerous opponent. Indeed, he went on to compete in 2 more world title fights before retirement; losing a close contest to Carl Thompson for the WBO Cruiserweight title before being stopped in a rematch (on the doctor’s advice).
Other fighters that have been mentioned are Nigel Benn, Gerald McClellan and Julian Jackson. However, Benn lost his WBC Super-Middleweight crown in 1996 before Calzaghe’s second British title fight, and then lost 2 WBO Super-Middleweight encounters against Steve Collins before the year was out. Tragically, McClellan was permanently injured in February 1995, during a brutal battle for Benn’s WBC strap, which left Benn not the same fighter afterwards. Finally, Jackson was a middleweight who had lost 2 fights to McClellan for the WBC title before Calzaghe even became British champion, winning the vacant belt only when McClellan stepped up to face Benn (and losing it in his very first defence). Calzaghe would have received little credit for taking on Benn or Jackson and McClellan was never an option.
Defending the WBO Super-Middleweight title.
Calzaghe’s first defence of the WBO crown was against prospect Branko Sobot (14-1), who stepped in as a replacement for Tarick Salmaci. Sobot turned out to be overmatched, losing by 3rd round TKO. Maybe a better opponent could have been found than one who would go on to lose on every other occasion he stepped up in class. In contrast, his next 2 opponents were more worthy. Veteran fighter and mandatory challenger, Juan Carlos Giminez Ferreira (51-8-3), was a tough competitor who had been the distance in defeats to Benn and Eubank, while Robin Reid was a former WBC Super-Middlweight champion. Unfortunately, an agreement between Calzaghe and Reid’s teams couldn’t be reached when Reid held the WBC belt, thus rendering their fight only a ‘battle of Britain’ and not the unification fight that it should have been; they had records of 25-0 and 26-1-1. Calzaghe won a split decision (in Newcastle, England) after one of his less sparkling performances. The rest, as they say, is history. There was no rematch, but an in-form Calzaghe would have won if there had been.
In the Welshmen’s next defence, he defeated Rick Thornberry (23-2), though it’s questionable whether Thornberry deserved the chance given his record, which flatters to deceive a lot. A further unanimous points win followed against a better opponent, David Starie (22-1), who was the British and Commonwealth Super-Middleweight champion. This was another defence held away from home for Calzaghe, (in Manchester), but an opportunity missed given Calzaghe’s lacklustre display on a US-televised card featuring Mike Tyson.
Calzaghe’s scored 2 more wins in 2000, the first being a comprehensive 5th round TKO of the highly-rated Amercian prospect Omar Sheika (20-1), who came across from the USA having just beaten Glen Johnson in a close encounter. He lost every round to Calzaghe and was cut over both eyes by the time of the stoppage. The second win, a 9th round TKO, came against another former WBC Super-Middleweight champion Richie Woodhall (26-2). Both fights were held in England, at Wembley and Sheffield. By now, Calzaghe had built up a respectable record and was probably approaching his peak physically; especially given problems with his hands and elbows had been a constant feature for a number of years and would continue to be so.
Calzaghe started 2001 with a spectacular 1st round TKO over the tall, undefeated, German fighter Mario Veit (then 30-0, just like Calzaghe). It was too much of a step up in class for Veit, Calzaghe’s mandatory challenger, whose record flattered him somewhat. Veit was down twice before the referee stepped in to stop the fight. It is unfortunate that Calzaghe next defended his title against Will McIntyre on the undercard of Tyson’s fight with Brian Neilsen. Given Tyson’s reputation and another chance for some exposure outside of the UK, a better opponent than the hopelessly outclassed McIntyre would have served Calzaghe better.
An improvement in the level of opposition was found in April 2002, when the Pride of Wales faced former IBF Super-Middleweight champion Charles Brewer (37-8), in his 10th title defence. This should also have been a unification fight, but Brewer had his title taken away from him (by the judges) fighting Sven Ottke. The German’s name and dodgy decisions would rightfully become synonymous over time; Brewer had tried in vain to regain his title, but a rematch ended via another split decision, both European judges scoring in favour of Ottke for the second time. Calzaghe, on the other hand, beat Brewer by a unanimous points decision. Unsurprisingly, Ottke would not fight anyone outside his home country, let alone Joe Calzaghe.
It is worthwhile to dispel some more myths at this point in time. Critics of Calzaghe like to point out that he didn’t fight the best fighters of this era, citing the names of Bernard Hopkins, James Toney and Roy Jones Jr.
Firstly, Toney was never a realistic option; he was winning his first world title (the IBF Middleweight belt) over 2 years before Calzaghe even turned professional and moved up to claim the IBF Super-Middleweight belt before this too. The last time he fought at that weight was in 1994, before Calzaghe had even won the British title. By the time Calzaghe had won his first world title, Toney had won lesser-regarded WBU titles in not just one division above, but two (light-heavyweight and cruiserweight). Infact, by the end of 1997, he was a full-time cruiserweight.
The man who beat Toney in his last super-middleweight bout, Roy Jones Jr, was a more realistic opponent for Calzaghe, fighting just one division above (as a light -heavyweight since 1997). The same could be said of Bernard Hopkins, fighting one division below (the IBF Middleweight champion since 1996). However, both men were respected in their own divisions and arguably had little to gain in fighting Calzaghe, who was a lesser known fighter. Hopkins would also have had to move up a division as Calzaghe simply couldn’t have boiled down to middleweight. Nevertheless, in 2002, by which point Hopkins was the undisputed middleweight king (holding 3 of the 4 major belts) and having dispatched Felix Trinidad by a late TKO, a fight was briefly agreed. Unfortunatley, Hopkins upped his price and no new agreement was found. By 2002, Jones Jr. also held 3 of the 4 belts so was the king of the light-heavyweight division. Unfortunately, no fight ever materialised between these two. Unlike Hopkins, Jones Jr. had a credible challenger within his own division, the German based Pole Dariusz Michalczewski, who had been WBO Light-Heavyweight champion for the best part of a decade. However, Jones Jr. didn’t fight him either, choosing a history-making move to win a heavyweight title over unifying the division. One can’t be too critical of Jones Jr. or Calzaghe for them not fighting by this point.
Unfortunately, without these fights happening, Calzaghe slipped back into fighting lower quality opponents again. Mandatory challenger, Miguel Angel Jimenez (21-1), was well out of his depth in losing a lopsided points verdict, while late replacement Tocker Pudwill was hopelessly outgunned in less than 2 rounds having stood in for Thomas Tate. Tate had lost middleweight title fights to Julian Jackson and Roy Jones Jr. and super-middlweight ones to Ottke, but may have been passable as an opponent. Pudmill was cannon fodder.
Thankfully, Calzaghe didn’t waste his next fight. In June 2003, the dangerous American Byron Mitchell (25-2-1), came to Cardiff and had Calzaghe down for the first time in the Welshman’s career. Mitchell, twice a WBA Super-Middleweight champion, should have been bringing that portion of the title to Cardiff for a unification match, but a certain Sven Ottke was the beneficiary of yet another ridiculous split decision in Germany. Calzaghe came back strong from the knockdown, crushing Mitchell with a sustained attack in the second round to retain his title. Mitchell spent the next 4 years out of the ring and has done little in his comeback. At this point, worries about injuries aside, Calzaghe was coming towards his peak mentally; he’d just learnt what adversity was and come through the test.
Given Calzaghe didn’t fight again until March 2004, it’s really disappointing that his next opponent was another mismatch. Talk of a fight with Hopkins never produced anything so prospect Mger Mkrtchian (18-1), the mandatory challenger, was defeated by a 7th round TKO. But what of a fight with Roy Jones Jr.? He made history beating John Ruiz for the WBA Heavyweight title in March 2003, then came back down to light-heavyweight to win back his WBC title against Antonio Tarver (November 2003). Given Jones Jr. clearly struggled to come back down in weight so soon, maybe a fight with Calzaghe in spring 2004, rather than their fights against Tarver and Mkrtchian, should have happened. I have a feeling that Calzaghe, if he had won, would have received little credit though; critics would simply have declared RJJ to be shot. However, with more time to readjust to the lower weight, this might have been an interesting matchup.
Unfortunately, a messy divorce had Calzaghe’s mind was elsewhere for a while and an injury sustained during training meant that a scheduled June 2004 bout against Glen Johnson was called off. Johnson (then 40-9-2) had defeated Clinton Woods in his last fight to become the IBF Light-Heavyweight champion. Due to the 9 defeats on his record, and with it being prior to Johnson spectacularly knocking out Jones Jr. then edging out Tarver, Calzaghe probably wouldn’t have received much credit from his critics even if he’d taken the fight. Nevertheless, it would have looked better than Calzaghe’s next opponent, the American-based Egyptian-born, Kabary Salem (23-3). Calzaghe won, but the fight (held in Scotland, in October 2004) was a scrappy affair that did nothing whatsoever for Calzaghe’s reputation.
Things wouldn’t get any better for Calzaghe over the next couple of years, as Jones Jr. was TKO’d (2nd round) by Tarver in May 2004 for the WBC and WBA Light-heavyweight titles, then chillingly KO’d (9th round) by Johnson in September of the same year for the IBF strap. Johnson would go on to win and lose versus Tarver (for the IBF and IBO belts), while Tarver himself went on to beat Jones Jr. again before losing to Hopkins. During this time, Calzaghe had to scrap a proposed March 2005 defence of his WBO super-middleweight crown against Brian Magee (22-1) because of Mario Veit. The German had earnt himself the chance of a rematch as wins over Salem and Brewer made him the mandatory challenger. Veit’s team won the purse bids to take the fight to Germany and Calzaghe was faced with a stark choice – break his no rematch rule and forget a voluntary defence against Magee, or lose the title he’d held onto for so long. With Jones Jr. now damaged goods, Hopkins not interested and Calzaghe having pulled out of the fight against Johnson the previous year, he was in no position to gatecrash Johnson and Tarver. Calzaghe disposed of Veit (now an inflated 45-1) with a 6th round TKO, before beating blown-up middleweight Evans Ashira (24-1) with one hand after breaking the other early on.
Career-defining fights (at last)
Eventually, things began to turn around for Calzaghe. After the hand injury from the Ashira fight caused a November 2005 unification fight with IBF champion Jeff Lacy (21-1) to be delayed, the two fighters met in March 2006. Lacy, whose power had completely dismantled former Calzaghe victim Robin Reid, as well as Scott Pemberton and Rubin Williams, was over-hyped as the next Mike Tyson. Nevertheless, he was widely predicted by pundits, critics and the bookies to win and end Calzaghe’s reign. In what can only be described as a masterclass, Calzaghe made Lacy suffer for the full 12 rounds, including a 12th round knockdown. It was a display of such brilliance that it has to be a candidate for the best ever display by a British boxer. Due to the battering he took, and a serious shoulder injury in his next fight, Lacy hasn’t looked even a shadow of the fighter he was before Calzaghe destroyed him.
A further injury setback with Calzaghe’s left hand saw him pull out of a light-heavyweight fight with Glen Johnson in July 2006, so Calzaghe returned in November 2006, against rugged Sakio Bika (20-1-2), with a unanimous points win. He gave up his IBF title, to fight former Contender (Series One) runner-up Peter Manfredo Jr. (26-3) in April 2007 – a fight chosen to boost his profile in the USA – winning by a slightly premature 3rd round stoppage. Given his win over Lacy, I don’t think this fight with the overmatched Manfredo Jr. was really needed.
Another career-defining unification fight was on the way though, when Calzaghe faced WBA/WBC title holder, Mikkel Kessler (39-0), at the Millenium Stadium (Cardiff) in November 2007. In a classic fight that was compelling to watch, Calzaghe overcame Kessler’s strong start to win a fine unanimous points decision over a fighter who is easily the best super-middleweight fighting today. Calzaghe had now held all 4 major belts (IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO) and became The Ring magazine’s undisputed champion. But for circumstances beyond his control (Ottke taking belts to Germany and keeping them there), it would have happened sooner. He capped the year off by deservedly winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
With nothing left to achieve at super-middleweight, Calzaghe finally made the step up to light-heavyweight and finally got to face Bernard Hopkins (48-4-1), The Ring magazine’s champion. Despite suffering a first round knockdown, Calzaghe recovered from a slow start to win a split decision. The fight was close, but I have no doubt Calzaghe won, winning by at worst 114-113 (7 rounds to Hopkins’ 5, the 1st round being a 10-8 one of course). Calzaghe, aged 36, became a two-weight champion and beat a future Hall of Famer, one who proved that he’s not done just yet when schooling the previously undefeated middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik recently.
Conclusion – JC’s Legacy
Joe Calzaghe finished his career with a swansong victory over Roy Jones Jr. I don’t consider it as adding to Joe’s legacy because although Jones Jr. is also a future Hall of Famer, he was only competitive in 4 rounds of the fight and was clearly shot, losing unanimously on points.
Clearly, Calzaghe is the best super-middleweight ever. That, cannot sensibly be disputed. While he did fight some poor opponents (some mandatory, some not), he beat many decent opponents. He beat the very best the division could throw at him, including Denmark’s Kessler, a fine fighter in his own right. While he held onto his WBO title for over a decade, the other 3 titles changed in excess of 20 times. At one time or another, he held all 4 major belts. He was one of the longest reigning champions in the sport and retired undefeated.
Critics like to cite names of fighters he hasn’t fought, but most of these don’t stand up. Carl Froch, Britain’s second best super-middleweight has only just won a world title (WBC) with his thrilling win over Jean Pascal. Jermain Taylor, who should meet Froch as a mandatory first defence, has only just stepped up to the super-middleweight division and chose a needless eliminator against a shot Lacy instead of facing Froch for the title straightaway. If they fought, and if Calzaghe could make super-middleweight again (which he realistically cannot), then only the winner becomes a credible opponent. Lucian Bute, the IBF champion is often mentioned, but he barely held onto his title in his last fight against Librado Andrade, a man who Kessler beat comprehensively on points. Indeed, in the super-middleweight division, only a rematch with Kessler is a worthwhile fight to add to Joe’s legacy. To come back down in weight and beat Kessler again would be a special achievement, but a fight at a catchweight or light-heavyweight would also be intriguing.
Suggestions like Edison Miranda, who has fought primarly at middleweight and lost his highest profile fights are just plain ludicrous. Talking of middleweights, Kelly Pavlik is not viable after the manner of his defeat to Hopkins, but he’d have lost to Calzaghe regardless.
In the light-heavyweight division, a rematch with Jones Jr. would be pointless. A fight with Antonio Tarver, who achieved more with his mouth than his fists, is equally so. The time to fight Glen Johnson has come and gone, notwithstanding his narrow defeat to Chad Dawson. Dawson himself is merely a rising star in the division, who chose to fight Tarver for the IBF belt rather than travel to Romania to defend his WBC belt against Adrian Diaconu. There’s more than a touch of irony there given the criticisms of Calzaghe. However, there’s no doubt Dawson is the future, given his power, speed and skill. His graceful congratulations to Calzaghe on his recent retirement are also in stark contrast to Calzaghe’s comments about Carl Froch’s WBC win. Given the close scorelines in the Hopkins fight, it’s probably him who has the best case for a fight. Unfortunately, his pre-fight, in-fight and post-fight conduct means Calzaghe can’t be blamed for passing this up.
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