Joe Calzaghe: The Early Years

"I aim to prove that I am the greatest British Super-Middleweight - better than Nigel Benn or Chris Eubank. I have a dream that I can take on and beat Roy Jones Jr." - Joe Calzaghe April 1996 Joe's first ever defeat came when he was 10 years old, the referee was his opponents father and the referee gave the decision to his son instead of Joe, that was despite Joe coming out of the fight without a mark on him whereas his opponent (the referee's son) came out of the fight with puffy eyes, a fat lip and a bloody nose. Joe quit boxing for three years after that loss to concentrate on football instead. Joe's only ever loss apart from that came at the 1990 European's in Romania, Joe lost to a Romanian in the semi-final in what makes Roy Jones Jr's loss to Si-Hun Park look fair by comparison! Every witness to Joe Calzaghe's two losses in the amateurs claim Joe completely dominated the fights with talented handspeed and was absolutely robbed. So basically, Joe has never lost a boxing match in his entire life! Joe won four British Schoolboy titles in a row (1985-88), at Lightweight in 1985 and at Light-Welterweight 1986-88. He won the British ABA Junior's in 1989 and 1990 at Welterweight, he won the Welsh ABA Senior's in 1989, 1990 and 1991 at Welterweight, he was screwed at the 1990 Senior European Championships. He then went on to win three British ABA Senior titles one year after another at three different weights (Welterweight in 1991, Light-Middleweight in 1992, Middleweight in 1993). He turned professional in 1993 as a Super-Middleweight on the Lewis-Bruno undercard in Cardiff (live on HBO and Sky Sports). Politics didn't allow Joe to compete at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the Welsh ABA refused to nominate him because they felt he was disrespectful (dropping his gloves and tapping opponents on the head, and Ali shuffles etc). Only one boxer took Joe the full nine minutes as a Senior Amateur and that was that Romanian who Joe was utterly robbed against. It should be noted that Joe beat Chris Sanigar's Bristol boys at the 1992 ABA's - Glenn Catley and Dean Francis. Catley was a future world champion and Francis was a future European champion. So these were quality opponents. Joe stopped Francis easily in the semi and stopped Catley easily in the final. Before Eubank, the only fighter to take Joe the distance in the pro's was actually Chris Eubank's cousin Bobbie Joe Edwards, but Joe was fighting a Cruiserweight here in only his 10th pro fight. Calzaghe was turning heads in the paid ranks with the power and athleticism that was blowing away opponents. At 19-0-0 with 18 KO's (most of which TKO's in one or two rounds), Joe was all set to fight Charles Brewer in an eliminator to decide who fights Roy Jones, but Joe suffered an injury and had to pull out. I often wonder what would of happened had Joe not picked up that injury, had he beaten Brewer in 1996 and fought Jones Jr right after...