joe calzaghe this is a long read.

THE joe calzaghe fan club has expanded rapidly in the past few days-on a scale not seen since everyone wanted to become the best friend of the bloke who finally buttoned the lip of nasseem hamed. mexican Marco antonio barrera found the whole world queing up to shake his hand after he shattered the myth that had built up around the boastfull hamed. the sudden acclaim for calzaghe of course is nothing to do with him silencing a gobby opponent.Insead it is in appreciation of one of the greatest exhibitions of ring craft seen anywhere in the world. It is not easy to box three rounds with the pace,skill and brilliance that the 33-year old showed against jeff lacy. For calzaghe to manage it over 12 against a previously unbeaten world rated opponent is an achievement comparable to any by a welsh sportsman or team. Why joe is even getting praise in america, a country where british boxers are often viewed as conscientious objecters with gum shields. former champion James toney once said of the uk you love losers your woman are ugly and your men cant fight. Toney was at it again before the fight saying lacy is going to destroy your boy. Others in america have been generous it wouldn`t be sufficent to call calzaghe the prince of wales wrote michael woods in the sweet science on this night he was king of the universe. lacy`s trainer dan birmingham said he had never seen a better perfomance, while the american`s promoter gary shaw predicted calzaghe will be in the hall of fame one day. He is the worlds longest raining champion having seen off anyone willing to fight him in the nine years since he won the title against eubank he has a 41-0 record. If ever a fighter has earned the right to sell himself as the real deal it is calzaghe. There again maybe it is no big surprise that america appears to have been unaware of his quality. this is a country where huge numbers of people believe wwe wrestling is for real and the moon landings were fake. where the main baseball event is sold as the world series even though the rest of the planet canada aside are not invited to the party and the nfl football players are covered from head to toe in protective clothing unlike rugby played around the world. maybe it was asking a bit much for them to have been up to speed on the true worth of calzaghe it would have been a sporting crime had calzaghe retired without properly defining his career. now he has done that and routed the doubters. planet boxing is in awe.