Joe Calzaghe - A Look Back On An Unblemished Record.

By James Elliot.

It's been five years since Joe Calzaghe hung up his gloves and a lot has happened in his life and in the boxing world since he made that decision. There have been revelations of drug abuse from the former world champion since he retired in 2008 as he has admitted to sometimes struggling to cope with life outside the ring.

However at the end of last year Calzaghe's true greatness was cemented in boxing history forever when it was announced that he would be inducted into the boxing hall of fame. He was chosen at the earliest possible opportunity as a fighter has to be retired for a minimum of five years before they become eligible. Now that he has joined this prestige club surely there can be no doubt that Calzaghe will be remembered as one of boxing's great champions.

Being one of only a handful of world champions to retire with an unblemished 100% record is an achievement in itself.
To reign for ten years racking up 21 successive defences and then to subsequently defeat two all time legends away from home is something quite rare in this sport. Despite all this I realise there are still detractors out there who do not believe Calzaghe is worthy of this honour.

However if you take a good look at his career you will see why he deserves his place in Canastota New York.
Calzaghe started his amateur boxing career at the age of nine and won his first school boy title when he was 12. He amassed a superb amateur record winning over 100 fights and three consecutive senior British ABA titles in three separate weight classes (Welterweight, Light Middleweight and Middleweight). After missing out on the 1992 Barcelona Olympics Calzaghe turned professional the next year and made his debut at the Cardiff Arms Park defeating Paul Hanlon by a first round knock-out.
For the next four years he worked his way towards a world title shot picking up the British title on the way by stopping Stephen Wilson in the eighth round.

Calzaghe got his first shot at a world title belt in 1997 when he challenged former two weight world champion Chris Eubank for the vacant WBO Super Middleweight championship. In an exciting bout that went the distant Calzaghe showed in the first minute he was something special when he dropped Eubank with a left hand. He thoroughly out boxed his opponent and won a clear unanimous decision. For the next ten years Calzaghe dispatched each contender that was put in front of him, including an enthralling two round war with Byron Mitchell where he was knocked down for the first time in his career before rallying to stop him in the same round.

He also fought former WBC super middleweight world champion Richie Woodhall in a great encounter stopping him in the tenth round. It wasn't until Calzaghe fought Jeff Lacy in 2006 that he was recognised by the American boxing public as a top quality fighter. His bout with Lacy was in my opinion his best career performance as he gave the American a boxing lesson from the first bell, knocking him down in the final round and destroying his boxing career. Lacy was never the same fighter and never fought for a world title again.

Calzaghe was on the map so to speak with the US audience after registering that punch perfect performance.
He followed up the win over Lacy by outpointing current WBC Super Middleweight world champion Sakio Bika and then stopping Peter Manfredo Jr in three rounds reaching 20 consecutive defences of his world title. In terms of consecutive defences of a world title Calzaghe is fourth in the all time list behind Joe Louis, Ricardo Lopez and Dariusz Michalczewski.
This stat for me just solidifies why he's an all time great boxer. Calzaghe's final three fights were what enabled him to become a hall of fame fighter.

He decisively outpointed the undefeated unified Super Middleweight world champion Mikkel Kessler in front of 50,000 fans at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff. Using his superior boxing ability and work rate, the "pride of Wales" put his stamp on the 168 pound division as its number one fighter and became a four time world champion in the process. There was still one thing missing from Joe's glittering resume which was a fight in the States against a legendary fighter.

He found that opponent and venue in the seemingly ageless boxing master Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins whom he fought in Las Vegas. In his hardest career fight Calzaghe struggled to adapt to Hopkins tactics of smothering and countering on the inside with short sharp shots. He was dropped in the first round for only the third time in his career by a short counter right hand and looked somewhat bemused.

However he was able to adjust to the wily old veteran and in the second half of the fight out throwing and out landing the Philadelphia native forcing him to fake being hit by a low blow to try and catch his breath as the pace of the fight started to get to him. When the fight ended the result was still in doubt as many rounds had been close, but in the end Calzaghe was awarded the spilt decision victory and remained undefeated.

Since Joe's retirement his victory over Bernard Hopkins looks better every time the American steps into the ring.
He is still a world champion, competing at the top level of the sport and schooling young world title holders and contenders at the age of 48. The Welshmen's career finished in the bright lights of Madison Square Garden where he handed Roy Jones Jr a one sided beating for 11 rounds after again getting dropped in the first.

This victory put the finishing touches on a stellar career as Calzaghe announced his retirement in 2009 to keep his undefeated record and become one of only 10 world champions to retire without taking a loss. Out of those 10 boxers he surely ranks second behind the great Rocky Marciano. Joe Calzaghe was not a fighter who gained attention by his mouth but by his boxing ability.

He was a humble man with a great talent and has been recognised as one by the boxing hall of fame.
A perfect undefeated career fighting top fighters at home and abroad picking up four world titles on the way is a feat not many fighters can boast.

http://v2journal.com/16/post/2014/01/joe-calzaghe-a-look-back-at-his-unblemished-career.html

Nice piece Steffan err James. Good to see a balanced appraisal of joe's career.

So... just behind rocky and just ahead of terry marsh in the 'retired undefeated' list.

He was anything but humble.

Record is impressive but lets not include him in the same breath as legitimate ATG's such as Leonard, Hearns, ODLH, Trinidad etc.

And let's stop using the Jones win as a barometer already.

Herman Jaggery wrote:And let's stop using the Jones win as a barometer already.

The article isn't doing that, it mentions it in passing, which when talking about someones career it would be strange to leave out their last fight.

"The article wasn't doing that."




ok.

I'm not sure about unblemished career.

His Paso Doble wasn't the best we've ever seen and his Viennese Waltz was simply a disaaaaster, daaarling.

On the plus side, he did get to sh*g Christina Rihanoff, so not altogether a wasted exercise.

I think these are a good way of stimulating debate hampo, so good work fella. The more of an opinion they make, the more debate they stimulate, but even allowing for that, this one is more love letter than article... Without any attempt at even window dressing a bit of balance it does leave the author open to a bit of ridicule.

Tend to agree Milky, well written piece but think an attempt to even acknowledge the legitimate question marks and what ifs that hang over Joe’s career would have made for a better article. Comments like his greatness was sealed for ever when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame are real pinch of salt stuff, not sure nestling alongside the likes of Ingemar Johansen, Daniel Zaragosa and Barry Mcguigan is really a credible test of one’s greatness.

Can I add it's not my article incase anybody thinks I wrote it, mine contain much more spelling mistakes

hampo171 wrote:Can I add it's not my article incase anybody thinks I wrote it, mine contain much more spelling mistakes

many more.

See, that was a test.....I'm glad you paid attention.

Sorry mate, since Union went MIA I feel obliged to try and fill in for him.

It's one of the more sensible conversations we've had on here lately to be fair Jeff.

Much more grammatical mistakes.  

Poor hampo... You need a big disclaimer on these fella, to save you having to defend yourself everytime. May I suggest an introductory piece to each article.

THE PREPOSTEROUS THOUGHTS CONTAINED IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE ARE THE DERANGED RAMBLINGS OF THE AUTHOR NOT, ON THIS OCCASION, THE DERANGED RAMBLINGS OF HAMPO

... Or something similar

My deranged ramblings are never understood

To be honest, non of my posts on here are ever understood.

Worst thing McGuigan ever did was getting voted into the Hall. It must be like carrying a boulder on his back.

hampo171 wrote:My deranged ramblings are never understood

To be honest, non of my posts on here are ever understood.

I share your pain hampo  

Er, I don't remember him "thoroughly" outboxing Eubank at all.I do remember him looking in desperate trouble in the latter rounds;a narrow win against a champion whose better days were long behind him.Not to say that that result in itself wasn't good, Eubank was a brilliant fighter when he could be motivated.But Calzaghe head and shoulders above everyone else at super middle?Nah.

He beat Eubank comfortably in my recollection and Lacey was an excellent win.....

Kessler and Hoppo were excellent wins also with hindsight.....

A bonafide great.....and Is top of the modern british pile for me......

Great by todays standards..........But the Jones stuff was bollox......and the article is too one sided.