By Glenn Userain: Whether or not Joe Calzaghe has felt any physical pain over the last month he must certainly be smarting, as unusually within the world of boxing his resume has been almost completely discredited and has turned into a who’s who of boxers who were either in complete decline or who never produced at the top level. Without even stepping into the ring the 46-0 fighter who was a world champion and title holder for little over 10 years at Super Middle Weight has watched his achievements be undermined significantly, and he only has himself to blame.
The shame of the whole issue is that Calzaghe was a worthy world champion, an extremely effective and well conditioned fighter. He put together some very good performances. But when you look at his record now there is not even one defining fight against a top level boxer in his prime.
Talk of being considered an all time great alongside the likes of Leonard and Duran could not be further from peoples’ minds when perusing their respective list of achievements. The irony of the whole situation is that in protecting his unbeaten record Calzaghe has left so many question marks over his career that it was being debated by boxing fans how good he actually was before he even retired.
Calzaghe has always pointed to four fights that prove he was world class and the best fighter at his weight at his time; Hopkins, Roy Jones Junior, Lacy and Kessler
Hopkins was beaten by a debatable split decision and had Calzaghe down hard in the first round. Let’s not forget that Hopkins was 43 years old at the time a full 15 years past his title bout with Roy JJ in one of the most physically demanding sports there is. There’s no doubting that Hopkins is still a good fighter after his schooling of the previously heralded Kelly Pavlik, but what would a 15 years younger Hopkins have done to Calzaghe? And why was the fight not made earlier?
Jeff Lacy was a fighter who never lived up to the hype that usually goes with unbeaten American prospects, unbeaten when he faced Calzaghe his career at the prime age of 32 has not got anywhere near the top level.
In the last few weeks Kessler who was unbeaten when he faced Calzaghe was comprehensively outpointed by American Pro novice Andre Ward who was in his 21st pro fight. As good as Ward promises to be Kessler looked one dimensional and out of ideas. He certainly has work to do to prove himself a worthy world level scalp on Calzaghes record and only time will tell.
Finally we have Roy Jones Junior who this evening in Australia was stopped after only 1:58 of his title bout against the Australian IBO cruiserweight belt holder Danny Green after being floored heavily with a right hand. There is no way that this should detract from what Roy JJ has achieved in his career, but what it does show is that he is no where near the fighter he was in 1993 when he beat Hopkins for the vacant IBF Middleweight title. The slide probably began with his back to back defeats to Tarver (twice) interspersed with a defeat to Johnson in 2004. Since then Roy JJ has looked a shadow of his former self but still took Calzaghe the distance in 2008.
Calzaghes protection of his unbeaten record has cost him dearly, for all the adulation he receives in the UK, history will judge him on the quality of opposition he faced. Of that there was not a great deal in the first place, but recently the few fighters that Joe claimed were world class have been exposed as either not good enough to be considered top contenders or simply well past their best. Boxing is a risky business and you can only be judged to be as good as the risks you have taken and triumphed from. Unfortunately for Joe and his fans he seems to have taken little risk and what he is left with now is a resume that may read unbeaten but with not even one fight against a worthy top level opponent in their prime.
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