By Lyle Fitzsimmons
At the time… it was a giant pain in the neck.
Waking up early to schlep 90 miles to an airport in Jacksonville. Gathering supplies to make the trip with an 8-month-old son. Enduring the “it seemed like a good idea, cost-wise” drive from arrival in Center City Philadelphia to accommodations two states away in New York.
And in mid-November, when autumn temperatures had dipped to levels no longer tolerable for a 38-year northerner turned 18-month southerner… I was wishing I was anywhere else.
But now I’m glad I went.
If I hadn’t, I would have missed the career swan song of a true ringmaster.
And, unfortunately, I’m not referring to Roy Jones Jr.
By announcing his retirement last Thursday, Joe Calzaghe retroactively made a chilly night at Madison Square Garden quite significant to both my journalism career and the sport’s recent history.
The jazz-reared Welsh import was at his free-form best in a stirring Gotham premiere, summoning scat-style weapons from Jones’ best days and using them with virtuoso skill after climbing off the deck against a faded but dangerous 39-year-old foe.
That he won as a clear betting favorite was hardly a surprise.
That he won by sweeping the final 11 rounds after a first-minute stumble surely was.
And though we Yanks didn’t know it for sure, it was the final high note of a brilliant career.
“(After the fight) I felt it, I knew that I was ready to call it a day and to move onto the next phase in my life,” Calzaghe said. “I confided in a few people that I trusted that I felt it was all over and then when I met the British press the next day I made it clear that I was pretty sure I was done.”
While largely unappreciated – and some say protected – for his initial 13 years on stage, a masterful Calzaghe surged to an undeniable crescendo over the last three years, improving his mark to a pristine 46-0 before Thursday’s voluntary bow-out.
A 36-minute undressing of Jeff Lacy was followed by a workmanlike rub-out of Sakio Bika in 2006, then by a three-round erasure of Peter Manfredo Jr. and a gritty vanquishing of Mikkel Kessler in 2007.
Opening-act foes in Bika and Manfredo? Perhaps.
Legitimate headliners in Lacy and Kessler, though. As clearly evidenced by their title belts and perfect records prior to pursuing unification.
Revisionist history notwithstanding.
Still, all were a mere prelude to 2008’s new British Invasion.
The near shutout of Jones came seven months behind what’ll be recalled as Calzaghe’s most significant win – a clearer-than-announced split nod over Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas – in which the Welshman got off the floor to win 23 of 36 rounds on three ringside scorecards.
I scored it 8-4 and thought – as American debuts go – it was Beatle-esque.
In Hopkins, he interrupted a renaissance that’s seen the old man topple Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright and Kelly Pavlik while returning to consensus pound-for-pound prominence.
And in Jones, he convincingly handled a still world-class fighter – though admittedly one living largely off past glory – at his heaviest career weight.
Bottom line, if anyone within 10 pounds had a better three years… I’d love to hear about it.
“I can bow out knowing that I have taken my career as far as I can,” Calzaghe said. “Anything else I did now would seem meaningless. I have beaten every great fighter in the world today who I could possibly face and I am happy to bow out with an unblemished record.”
Naturally, the departure has already been met with the mandatory “he’s ducking so-and-so” claims from naysayers convinced he’d need to move to heavyweight and simultaneously whip the Klitschkos before being deemed preeminent between 168 and 175.
It’s the same nonsense that greeted Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s 2008 sabbatical announcement, when – in spite of a victim list that included Corrales, Castillo, Gatti, Judah, Baldomir, Hatton and De La Hoya – the blathering masses cluelessly claimed the unbeaten Pretty Boy “hadn’t fought anybody.”
But that doesn’t mean we smart folks have to listen.
To his credit, a classy Chad Dawson – though Calzaghe was clearly at the top of his 2009 wish list – gave the abdicating champion his props on the way out, thanking him for leaving a competitive blueprint to challenge as he begins his own reign as light heavyweight monarch.
“I applaud Joe’s decision,” Dawson said. “Timing is everything, and to leave center stage at his peak is rare and certainly comparable to the retirements of Rocky Marciano and Jim Brown.
“Joe left on his own terms. What could be better? He has been a man for all seasons and will be an inspiration to me as I look to meet and beat his records. On behalf of all your boxing fans I say, ‘Thank you, Joe.’ And now I am ready to succeed (him) as the new king.”
Mighty big shoes to fill, Chad… but I wish you well in the effort.
And I’ve got a feeling you’ll do quite well for yourself.
As for you, Joe… not only do I applaud a professional job well done, but I thank you for making an otherwise taxing trip to Manhattan completely worthwhile in retrospect.
Oh, and in case his card doesn’t reach Newbridge in time next month… my son, Ryan – who last year made you the second-coolest person ever born on March 23 – had his own celebratory message.
“Happy Birthday” from the Club 3-23.
Cheers, mate!
Lyle Fitzsimmons is a 20-year sports journalist and a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com .
