Joe Calzaghe
Joe Calzaghe | |
|---|---|
| Born | Joseph Calzaghe 23 February 1973 |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Other names | The Pride of Wales The Italian Dragon |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Super Middleweight |
| Height | 5'11 |
| Reach | Template:Cm to in |
| Stance | Southpaw (but can switch to orthodox) |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 44 |
| Wins | 44 |
| Wins by KO | 32 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Joe Calzaghe MBE, also known as "The Pride of Wales" (born 23 February1973 in Hammersmith, London) is a Welsh boxer currently living in Newbridge, Newport, and is one of the pound for pound top 10 boxers in the world according to the Ring Magazine.[1]
He is sometimes referred to as the "Italian Dragon" in reference to his mixed heritage (the dragon being both a Welsh emblem and a Sardinian myth), or the "Pride of Wales." He is the current WBO, WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine world super middleweight champion and the former IBF super middleweight world champion. He has told British football magazine Four Four Two that he is a supporter of Juventus
Calzaghe is the longest reigning title holder in any weight class in boxing, recently passing the ten year mark as the WBO super middleweight champion. Joe Calzaghe is part of the Team Calzaghe boxing gym.
In 2007, Calzaghe became BBC Sports Personality of the Year on December 9, beating Ricky Hatton into third and Lewis Hamilton into second, by gaining 28.19% of the public vote.[2] This made Calzaghe the first Welsh winner of this award since show jumper David Broome in 1960.
Biography
Calzaghe was born in Hammersmith, London to Sardinian Enzo Calzaghe and his Welsh wife Jackie.[3]
Amateur
Calzaghe started boxing aged nine, with the southpaw having 120+ fights and won four schoolboy ABA titles, followed by three consecutive senior British ABA titles (British Championships) from 1991 to 1993. This made him only the second boxer in history to win at Welter, Light Middleweight and Middleweight divisions. He also beat future WBO and IBF heavyweight world champion Chris Byrd as a middleweight in 1992.[4]
Professional career
In September 1993 Calzaghe was signed up to the Terry Lawless and Mickey Duff stable and made his professional debut at Cardiff Arms Park on the Lewis-Bruno bill the following month. By June 1995, Calzaghe had won nine out of nine fights, seven in the first round and two in the second. At the end of 1995 Calzaghe was voted Young Boxer of the Year by the Professional Boxing Association and the Boxing Writers' Club, with Barry McGuigan's top tipping Calzaghe for 1996: "He punches ferociously, moves superbly and has the best of the European technique and US aggression."
By October 1995, he had won the British title, stopping Steve Wilson in the eighth round. Calzaghe's critics said that he had not really been tested, while Calzaghe said in reply that he could only beat whoever was out there and prepared to fight him.
In November 1996, Calzaghe moved to Frank Warren's stable. Warren, who had managed Nigel Benn for his first twenty fights, declared: "Joe Calzaghe is a far better prospect, in fact he is my fighter for the new millennium." Warren spent the summer of 1997 chasing a fight for Calzaghe with either WBC champion Robin Reid or WBO title holder Steve Collins. The fight with Collins was arranged, but at a late stage Collins withdrew because of injury, was stripped of his title, and then retired.
Calzghes ability to switch between south-paw and orthodox makes him a hard opponent to fight.
WBO Super Middleweight title holder
A fight against the recently deposed title holder and British boxing legend Chris Eubank was set up for the vacant WBO title for 11 October1997, in Sheffield. Calzaghe shocked the world by emerging victorious over the two time WBO champion, knocking down Eubank in the first round then claiming a unanimous points win. Eubank said of Calzaghe in a 2006 interview that "Joe is the proper article, a true warrior."
Calzaghe conceded that Eubank, even in his comeback, gave him the toughest fight of his life.
In 1998 he defended his title against Branco Sobot (winning by technical knockout in 3 rounds) and then Juan Carlos Gimenez (TKO in 10 rounds), a former opponent of both Nigel Benn and Eubank.
In 1999, Calzaghe started out by fighting his domestic rival, slick counterpuncher Robin Reid. Calzaghe was bitter that Reid refused to face him whilst holding the WBC championship in a unification bout, and vowed to beat him. After twelve rounds, the judges scored the fight for Calzaghe via a split decision. Reid was never given the opportunity of a rematch. Calzaghe damaged his hand early on in the fight and according to Calzaghe, he suffered a dose of food poisoning. Calzaghe finished the year with another points win against Rick Thornberry.
2000 started with another decisive points decision against David Starie. This was followed by wins against the highly rated Omar Sheika (a five round stoppage), and former WBC champion and close friend Richie Woodhall.
2001 started with a first round stoppage win over unbeaten Mario Veit, followed by an equally decisive win against Will Mcintyre on the Tyson undercard in Copenhagen.
2002 started with points wins against both the highly rated former IBF champion Charles Brewer and Miguel Jimenez in Cardiff, followed by a TKO of Tocker Pudwill, who took the fight at very short notice, in Newcastle in December.
Calzaghe's only fight of 2003 was in June against the tough competition of Byron Mitchell at the Cardiff International Arena. Calzaghe won by TKO in the second. Calzaghe suffered his first career knockdown in this fight being down himself in the second round.
2004 started out with a defence against Mger Mkrtchian in Cardiff where he won with a seventh round knockout, followed by a points win over Karbary Salem in Edinburgh in October, during which Calzaghe was knocked down in the fourth round by a right hand. However, he dominated the fight and knocked Salem down in the 12th round, winning comfortably on all three scorecards, 116-109,117-109,118-107.
Veit got a rematch against Calzaghe in Braunschweig, Germany, in July 2005. Calzaghe beat Veit by technical knockout in the sixth round. On 10 September2005, Calzaghe fought the Kenyan boxer Evans Ashira and won by a unanimous decision despite breaking his left hand in the third round. Calzaghe fought on one-handed winning 120-108, 120-108, 120-107.
IBF Super Middleweight Champion
His scheduled bout with IBF world champion Jeff Lacy for 5 November2005 was initially cancelled due to the break sustained to the metacarpal in his left hand. Warren successfully rescheduled it for 5 March2006, and the match was won by unanimous points decision over Lacy who was a heavy pre-fight favourite with the bookmakers,[5] and pundits alike. Calzaghe dominated throughout the fight, with the British fight fans chanting "Over-rated" at the American during the last three rounds. Calzaghe gained the IBF title, and won every round despite a point being deducted in the 11th for an illegal "behind the body" punch. He also won recognition from The Ring magazine as the true super middleweight champion.
The display against Lacy was one of the finest world championship displays by a British boxer, to rival the best of Fitzsimmons, Honeyghan, Eubank, Benn and Lennox Lewis. Finally, the world at large was taking notice of Calzaghe.
Calzaghe was tentatively scheduled to fight former IBF & Ring Light Heavyweight champion Glen Johnson in the featured bout of 8 July2006, card at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. He was forced to withdraw from the fight when he re-aggravated a hand injury. Johnson was unhappy at the late withdrawal and refused to offer Calzaghe another opportunity at arranging a fight.
On 14 October2006, Sakio Bika and Calzaghe fought in one of the more aggressive and dirty fights of his career. Two points were deducted from Bika for headbutts, one of which led to a severe cut over Calzaghe's left eye which would cause him problems for the duration of the bout. Calzaghe won the fight on decision, to retain his undefeated run. Frank Warren commented after the fight that he was unhappy with Calzaghe's showboating but was obviously contented with the win.
Relinquishing IBF world championship
On 27 November2006, it was announced that Calzaghe had signed a contract to defend his WBO super middleweight title against former star of The Contender Peter Manfredo Jr. on 7 April2007, at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales to be shown on HBO. Because HBO didn't want to cover any fight with mandatory IBF challenger Robert Stieglitz, and with the opportunity if he won against Manfredo to fight Taylor in the summer, Calzaghe chose to fight Manfredo and as a result had to relinquish the IBF super middleweight championship. Both Calzaghe and Warren claimed that "Stieglitz doesn't mean anything outside of Germany." Stieglitz went on to fight Alejandro Berrio for the vacant IBF title, losing in 3 rounds. Berrio in turn lost the title to Lucian Bute in his first defense.
Fighting "Contender" Peter Manfredo Jr.
On April 72007 Calzaghe met Peter Manfredo Jr. in front of 35,000 fans in Cardiff, Wales. Calzaghe was victorious on a third round stoppage, unleashing a flurry of punches on Manfredo, who threw nothing in return, thus drawing a stoppage from the referee. Manfredo and some commentators called the stoppage "premature" because Manfredo did not appear hurt. HBO's ringside announcers declared that the stoppage was "way too quick". Trainer Emmanuel Steward did contend that Calzaghe was on his way to victory, but the stoppage taints the performance by no fault of his own.
Undisputed Title
In May 2007, Frank Warren released details to BBC 5 Live and on his website that Calzaghe had accepted Mogens Palle's offer of $5 million to fight Mikkel Kessler in Copenhagen, Denmark. The bout took place at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on November 4.[6]The fight was a unification bout for the WBO/WBA/WBC/Ring Magazine super middleweight titles.
Calzaghe won by unanimous decision becoming the first undisputed super middleweight champion of the world and surpassing the 20 defences made by Bernard Hopkins and Larry Holmes at middleweight and heavyweight respectively.[7][8][9]He is level with Sven Ottke (super-middleweight) and Ricardo Lopez (flyweight)in "title" defenses. Joe Calzaghe and Sven Ottke where both Super middleweight champions at the same time . They both claim to have world title defense records for the same time period causing many to question the validity of there streak. The only boxers with more defences than Joe are Dariusz Michalczewski (light heavyweight) with 23 defences of the WBO title and Joe Louis (heavyweight) who made 25 World title defenses. .
Calzaghe will face Bernard Hopkins on April 19in Las Vegas at light heavyweight, according to Calzaghe's promoter Frank Warren.
Professional boxing record
See also
References
- ^ "The Ring Ratings". The Ring. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
- ^ BBC News Sports Article retrieved 10th December 2007
- ^ www.joecalzaghe.com Retrieved 14 January 2007
- ^ Joe Calzaghe - Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia
- ^ "Clinical Calzaghe". BBC Sport. 2006-03-05. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
- ^ "Calzaghe-Kessler set Cardiff date". BBC Sport. 11 July 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
- ^ "Masterful Calzaghe hands Kessler first defeat". ABC Australia news. November 4, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
- ^ Paul Upham (November 42007). "Calzaghe Outboxes Kessler To Become Undisputed World Champion". SecondsOut.com. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Jason Abelson (November 42007). "Calzaghe Undisputed Super Middleweight King". TheFightNetwork.com. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ boxrec.com
External links
- Official Joe Calzaghe website
- Joe Calzaghe Fight-by-Fight Career Record
- Showtime fighter facts
- Boxing record for Joe Calzaghe from BoxRec (registration required)
- Statistics at BritishBoxing.net
- BBC Wales profile
- Joe Calzaghe Shirtless!
- 1972 births
- Living people
- People from Hammersmith
- People from Newbridge, Caerphilly
- Italian-Welsh people
- Welsh Roman Catholics
- Welsh boxers
- Super-middleweights
- IBF Champions
- WBO Champions
- World Super middleweight Champions
- BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year
- BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners
- Members of the Order of the British Empire