By Mark Vester
Days away from what may be the final fight of his career, Joe Calzaghe lashed out at all the hype about American fighters being better than European fighters. He went on the kind of rant that will make him the sure villain when he faces Roy Jones Jr. on Saturday night at New York's Madison Square Garden.
“Americans can’t fight as well as they think they can. They have always been ignorant. That’s why they have never given me the respect I deserve. Things have changed. The US didn’t win one boxing medal at the Beijing Olympics, they don’t have one heavyweight world champ. In years gone by that was an unthinkable situation. The heavyweight division is dominated by Ukrainians and Russians," Calzaghe told The Sun.
Calzaghe says the times have changed, he feels Euro fighters are better than their counterparts in America and Euro fighters no longer have to come to America to make it big.
“Boxing isn’t what it used to be for America but they still say ‘You have to fight in the States or you’re just another European fighter’. I feel the Europeans are now better fighters than their American counterparts,” Calzaghe said.
Unless Jones pulls off an upset, Calzaghe plans to walk away from the sport with an undefeated record. He did open the door for a possible return if the right challenge presents itself.
“Only when I am out of boxing will I be able to say 100% that I am not coming back because I just don’t know how I am going to feel. Maybe six months or so after I have retired I’ll find myself bored s***less and there will be some other youngster coming through and I might think I could give him a going over," Calzaghe said.
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