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Say It Ain't So, Joe: An All-Time Great Hangs Em' Up
FRI February 20, JAMES STILLERMAN - After months of speculation, all-time great Joe "The Pride of Wales" Calzaghe finally announced his retirement on February 2nd stating his mother and children wanted him to retire and that he had accomplished everything he wanted to do in boxing.
The thirty-six year old, highly-skilled southpaw has certainly accomplished a great deal over his sixteen-year boxing career that began in 1993 with a first round technical knockout over Paul Hanlon. Calzaghe retired with an undefeated record of 46-0, which was three victories off the all time undefeated mark of Rocky Marciano who went 49-0 as a heavyweight. Calzaghe made twenty-one defenses of his super middleweight belt over his ten year rule that began in 1997 when he bested Chris Eubank by unanimous decision for the vacant WBO belt.
The twenty-one title defenses is the third longest reign in boxing history behind Joe Louis' twenty-five and Dariusz Michalczewiski`s twenty-three. Calzaghe is tied with Sven Ottke who also made twenty-one title defenses in the supper middleweight division and many fight fans wished these two boxers had fought one another 10-years ago in what would have been a great fight between two undefeated fighters.
Over the years, Calzaghe defeated noteworthy pugilists such as Omar Sheika, Robert Reid, Byron Mitchell, Jeff Lacy, Sakio Bika, Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. Furthermore, despite having brittle hands that seemingly always caused him problems, Calzaghe still managed to knockout thirty-two of his opponents giving him an almost 70% knockout ratio which is only 6% behind knockout artist Mike Tyson.
Yet despite Calzaghe`s success, he really didn’t become a household name in America until 2006 when he destroyed undefeated star Jeff Lacy, who many fight fans believed would easily defeat Calzaghe. Instead, Calzaghe walked through the best punches Lacy had to offer on his way to landing 1,000 punches of his own and capturing the IBF belt. A year later in 2007, Calzaghe further cemented his claim as the best fighter in the division by defeating undefeated pugilist Mikkel Kessler and gaining two more belts, WBA and WBC as well as becoming the Ring Magazine super middleweight champion. That same year he also garnered the BBC "Sports Personality of Year" award for what he accomplished in the ring.
Last year in his final year of boxing, he traveled across the Atlantic Ocean. twice, as he defeated a legend in Hopkins by a close split decision garnering him the Ring Magazine light heavyweight belt and making him a two division champion. This bout marked the first time the American public got to see him up close and in person. In his final bout this past November, he defended his Ring Magazine light heavyweight belt by easily destroying Roy Jones Jr., winning a wide decision on the scorecards. At the end of the year, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom made Calzaghe the 2008 Commander of the British Empire which is the third highest honor a United Kingdom citizen can achieve.
Despite his great career, there are many people who believe Calzaghe was overrated. They cite that he rarely fought outside of the United Kingdom and when he did, it was toward the end of his career against aging fighters. Detractors also believe the only reason he remained undefeated and enjoyed the long string of title defenses was because he never faced the best competition, instead settled for weak WBO mandatory challengers.
While there is some truth to this criticism, Calzaghe was certainly not overrated. He beat a number of great opponents including the aforementioned, soon to be Boxing Hall of Famer's in Hopkins and Jones and another possible opponent, who very well might be there in the near future if he continues to box well in Kessler. Furthermore, if a fighter garners twenty-one title defenses and goes 46-0, it doesn’t matter who he’s fighting because these are unbelievable numbers that no one has ever obtained. Calzaghe`s list of opponents over the last three years of his career were as good as any other fighter over the same time period.
Calzaghe is arguable the greatest Welsh fighters ever to lace up the gloves as well as the best super middleweight boxer of all time. He’s also one of the better pugilists in the last decade making him a virtual lock for the Boxing Hall of Fame in five years.
Now there is a void in the super middleweight and light heavyweight division with Calzaghe`s retirement, so Chad Dawson, Antonio Traver, Glen Johnson, and Zsolt Erdei in the light heavyweight division and Kessler, Jermain Taylor, Lucian Bute, and Carl Froch in the supper middleweight division will battle it out for supremacy. Dawson and Kessler/Taylor are the favorites in their respective divisions to take over where Calzaghe left off.
Calzaghe has refused to rule out an eventual comeback so there is still that little glimmer of hope that he may come back and fight again against Dawson, Taylor, or maybe someone else. However, most likely fight fans have seen the last of Calzaghe in the ring since there is no financial incentive to fight anymore having made millions over the years and truthfully there is not much more he can accomplish in the ring. We wish Calzaghe nothing but the best of luck in his endeavors outside of the ring and hopefully he enjoys his retirement because he has definitely deserved it.
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