By Scott Gilfoid: Former World Boxing Organization super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KO’s) couldn’t have picked a better time for him to retire from the sport just when Showtime has started kicking the idea around for a super middleweight tournament for the division to determine who the best fighter is.
For Calzaghe who spent much of his career facing less than stellar competition, it would mean that Calzaghe would have to battle it out for the next year against talented fighters like Andre Dirrell, Andre Ward, Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, Jermain Taylor and his old nemesis Mikkel Kessler.
It would be asking a lot for Calzaghe to take part in the tournament, because it would mean that he would have to face a lot of quality fighters that are in their prime and not at the end of their careers. I find it hard to see Calzaghe entering the tournament because it would be a big risk for his career, and he’d finish the tournament a year later in 2010, which would make Calzaghe 38.
I think he’s probably good enough to beat Kessler again, especially if the rules of the tournament make the fights shorter than average fights, like the The Contender reality televisions series. I also think Calzaghe would beat Froch, a slow moving British fighter with poor defensive skills. I know there’s no love lost between these two fighters, because Calzaghe never fought him. Calzaghe would probably beat him even now if it were a short fight.
I’m not so certain that Calzaghe could beat Froch if it were a full 12 rounds, because Froch would wear him down and catch Calzaghe with something big and take him out. Calzaghe was dropped in his last two fights against Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. If those two fighters were able to knock Calzaghe down, then Froch would clearly be able to drop him.
It’s good, though, that Calzaghe retired when he did, because he would have had big problems against the young lions Ward and Dirrell, who I see ripping Calzaghe to shreds and wiping the deck with him. They’re both faster, stronger and better athletes than Calzaghe in my book, and would have likely schooled Calzaghe if given the chance.
Dirrell is blinding fast and would be catching Calzaghe with shots that he doesn’t see. Calzaghe had a nasty habit of standing square in front of his opponents during his career throwing flurries of slapping punches. That kind of style of fighting would be eaten up by a fighter as talented as Dirrell, who would be like a kid in the candy store if Calzaghe tried to stand square to him and fight him like that.
It’s a style that works against lesser fighters but against a new age fighter like Dirrell who has more standard skills, Calzaghe would be in deep trouble. The same goes for Ward, who has better hand speed and power than Calzaghe.
This would be the wrong kind of opponent for the 37-year-old Calzaghe to fight and he’d end up probably getting destroyed in a one-sided beating. I’d really hate to see it happen. Although I think both Dirrell and Ward would have beaten Calzaghe at any point in his career without too many problems.
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