By Mark Boyles: With Joe Calzaghe announcing his retirement, the inevitable chorus of naysayers appear to be throwing criticism out there, arguing that his last two fights were against has-been fighters well past their prime. Firstly this struck me as odd, given that Hopkins, an “over-the-hill” fighter, went on to do a complete number on Kelly Pavlik, an up-and-coming fighter that many wanted to see step up and fight Calzaghe. Roy Jones Junior though, there’s no denying was a shadow of his former self.
With that being said, Calzaghe is no spring chicken, having clocked up 18 years or so as a professional fighter (and 120 amateur fights prior to turning pro) and is nearer forty than thirty. What happens if he continues and loses? What does that prove? A loss to the likes of Dawson would just be evidence that Calzaghe is past his best, and that Dawson could beat an aging and fading fighter, much like Calzaghe’s last two fights have proved Joe can do the same. In short, whilst it’s a disappointment to see him bow out with so many questions unanswered as to just how great he really is, the time is right. Look at the list of fighters that stick around too long, look at the damage it does to them, physically, mentally and in terms of damaging their legacies. Jones Junior was a true legend, after Ruiz though he’s been mediocre at best. De La Hoya looked appalling against Pacquaio, despite being, in his time, an amazing boxer. Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and a host of other names spring to mind. Why are people questioning the timing of Calzaghe retiring, when the alternatives are to fight on and sooner or later come unstuck against someone younger and fitter as age becomes a factor. There is no turning back the clock sadly.
What bothers me though, is the argument that Calzaghe fought 40-ish bums and a couple of faded American greats. Let’s look take a closer look shall we? (Also, lets remember that a good fighter isn’t always an American fighter, and people that aren’t known in the US can be pretty fine boxers.) Sure, his first few fights were one sided affairs, but show me a top class fighter who has a record that doesn’t start with a bunch of one sided fights. Nobody takes on a world class fighter on debut.
Firstly, Chris Eubank. Certainly aging himself at the time, but no slouch when it came to boxing. He had a granite jaw, and had been in with the best, had a good punch on him too. Not a bum, and arguably something that pretty much everyone who said Calzaghe couldn’t punch missed, was that Eubank could take a punch and Joe put him on the canvas. “slapping” or otherwise, as Eubank himself said, he slaps pretty hard.
Branco Sobot in his first defence was a late replacement, and didn’t last 3 rounds. Not really Calzaghe’s fault that his initial opposition, Tarick Salmaci pulled out, but you’d be able to argue that Sobot wasn’t class. Tarick went on to feature in “The Contender” in 2005 and fought in the final. Sobot you can call a bum, Salmaci we’ll just never know what would happen. One of the “if only” moments in boxing.
Juan Gimenez next? Oh all right, Former South American light heavyweight champion, WBC light heavyweight champion. Went the distance with both Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank, and was stopped in the tenth by Calzaghe. Age arguably a factor, but still, not a bum.
After that he fought former WBC Super Middleweight champion Robin Reid. At the time Reid had lost one professional fight, and lost a split decision against Calzaghe. Reid went on to fight Sven Ottke for the WBA and IBF titles, and he lost to Jeff Lacy for the IBO and IBF titles in 2005. I wouldn’t call Reid a bum at all, and given that many thought he beat Calzaghe, I think when you look at how others have fared over the years, that’s not a bad achievement.
I could go on, though that being said, there’s a fair few fighters in there that, well, are bums. You should be really complaining about the WBO ranking system though, rather than anything else, because as in any other sport out there, in boxing you can only beat what’s put in front of you. Add the benefit of hindsight into the mix and it becomes easy to criticise. Will Carl Froch be the only man to beat the legend that Jean Pascal becomes? Or will be simply be the first to have beaten a good journeyman fighter who never goes on to win a title or note? I’ll give you ten years to think about that one. Another point to note, as Mr Froch is discovering, is that when a fighter like, oh, say, Jermain Taylor, is your mandatory challenger and ducks out, you’re left with few options. It takes two to make a fight and to agree terms. Is it not entirely plausible that Jones Junior and Hopkins weren’t interested in a little known Welsh fighter who wasn’t going to be making American Pay Per View dollars? Especially when it’s a fighter that has a good chance of giving you more of a challenge than the popular pushover would? Well, now we’re into hypothetical questions, but it’s something to consider.
Lacy and Kessler were arguably Calzaghes career defining fights. First up, Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy. Mini Mike Tyson, the Saviour of the super middleweight division? The undefeated IBF world champion who was just too big and too powerful for Joe to have a chance against? It’s great how the pre-fight build up and opinion is so easily discarded. Lacy going into the fight was 4 to 6 favourite with bookmakers William Hill. Experts predicted that Calzaghe didn’t have the firepower and that Lacy would win by late stoppage as he wore Calzaghe down. That Lacy tore his shoulder up and spent a year out of boxing, came back and didn’t have the power he used to, and now is a shadow of the fighter he was is a shame. Surely the fact that, at the time, he was so highly regarded, and had the power to knock fighters like Reid out (who hadn’t been knocked down before) says a lot.
Biko and Manfredo were popular fighters, if very overrated. You can thank Stallone for that though, and again, the ranking system, or even HBO. Trouble is that beating popular chumps on TV gets you more exposure and money than beating great fighters in empty halls.
Kessler is probably the best Super Middleweight at the moment, and again, has only suffered one loss at the hands of Joe Calzaghe. Despite the fact that he’s not fighting in Vegas or The Garden too much. The problem might be that there aren’t so many truly world class American Super Middleweight fighters, and therefore the interest in the division stateside isn’t as high as some of the more “US dominated” divisions.
I suppose in all of this, and from doing some digging and some research, it’s shown that yes, not every fighter that Calzaghe beat was worth the time and effort, however, Morrade Hakkar and William Joppy aren’t exactly household names on BHop’s resume, in fact, there’s quite a few names that most won’t recognise on there. It’s a typical phenomenon, brought about by the boxing establishment and ranking system.
The big issue for me is who else really is that there were a lot of fighters unwilling to come to Calzaghe in Wales to fight. Calzaghe spent most of his career fighting in the UK and seemed reluctant to go too far to defend his title. Really you can attribute blame for this how you see fit, but to me, the champion holds the cards, and if he doesn’t want to fight in Vegas and you want his title, you go to where he’s happy. Again an issue with boxing, it’s too easy to say “oh, OK I’ll go get a different title then!” and hence good fighters don’t have to face good fighters at all. Blaming the fighters for the organizational failure, and the failure of the promoter to make the fight you want seems absurd to me. Frank Warren has a habit of keeping his men away from real dangerous opposition for longer than necessary in my view. Is that the decision of the fighter? Or something a contractually bound fighter can really change? I’d say no.
At the end of the day though, you can argue about pound for pound great fighters all you like, in a division where the competition wasn’t as hot as it was say, 20 years ago, Joe Calzaghe reigned for ten years and beat the best of the division. That they weren’t the best super middleweight fighters of all time is up for debate, but who do you blame for that? Benn, Collins, Eubank and McClellan? For being born five to ten years too early? Enzo Calzaghe for having a son ten years too late?
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