By Mark Vester
WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (43-0, 32KOs) hopes that once his career comes to an end, people will remember him as the best fighter in British history.
He wants to be regarded as being better than Lennox Lewis, Prince Naseem Hamed or Barry McGuigan. Calzaghe feels that his goal will be half-way there by beating WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (39-0, 29KOs) when the two fighters meet on Nov. 3 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The other half will be accomplished by moving up to light heavyweight and winning a world title in a second weight class.
"I would love to be remembered as the best," said Calzaghe to The Mirror. "Everybody is entitled to their opinion on that one. Barry McGuigan was pretty good and I used to love watching him as a kid. Fighters like Naz (Naseem Hamed) then came along and did tremendously well in a short period of time. The difference is I've kept going and I've had a longevity as champion. It's 10 years now and I don't plan on retiring just yet.
He told the paper that critics always attack the list of opponents on his record. Calzaghe says that he always wanted to fight the best and a good number of them turned him down.
"People always say, 'yeah, but who have you fought?'. Chris Eubank was one of our best fighters and I beat him to win the title. I've also beaten five or six former champions and it's not my fault they wouldn't fight me when they had their belts. I wanted to fight Robin Reid when he was champion. The same with Richie Woodhall. Nobody will be able to question me when I beat Kessler. I'll have held all four belts, and the Ring belt, and I'll still be undefeated in 17 years against - all-comers."
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