show me where.
Joe Calzaghe: Midnight at the Crossroads of his Career
By Curtis McCormick
June 28, 2003; On the eve of the biggest match of his career against former two time world champion Byron Mitchell, British boxing sensation Joe Calzaghe speaks to **********.com in an exclusive interview that examines the past, present and future of his sterling career. **********.com also had the great fortune to speak with Joe's legendary trainer, his father Enzo Calzaghe, as well as Frank Warren, Europe's biggest promoter, who handles Joe's career through his promotional company, Sports Network. You will not want to miss a word of this thought provoking article as **********.com continues to deliver the best fighters the world has to offer.
Joe Calzaghe, 35-0 (28), is one of the most accomplished boxers the UK has produced in recent memory. An unparalleled British amateur career has led directly into thirty five consecutive professional victories. Since winning his WBO Super Middleweight belt in 1997 over Chris Eubank, Calzaghe has defended the title a staggering 12 straight times.
Not one of those 12 matches was a non title affair. Only one of those 12 opponents had less than 20 victories (Branko Sobot 14-1) and only two had more than 4 losses (Juan Carlos Gimenez 49-8-3 and Charles Brewer 37-8).
Looking statistically at Calzaghe's last 13 opponents (includes Eubank to the 12 referenced above), a cumulative record of 378-33-6 (219) develops. That's a 92% win percentage, and averages out to approximately 29-3 (17) a fighter. Calzaghe's last 13 opponents were themselves stopped a total of 9 times in 417 collective fights. The pride of Newbridge, Wales produced 7 stoppages from those same 13 fighters, in just 13 fights. 5 of the 7 stoppage victims had never been stopped previously. Before fighting Calzaghe, the 13 had participated in 59 respectable (Legitimate world, European, Commonwealth, British, USBA, NABF) title fights. Statistics aside, certainly not all of the 13 opponents mentioned above were world class, but Robin Reid, Ritchie Woodall, Brewer, Eubank and David Starie were. A few of the remaining were late replacements or tune-up opponents, but Omar Sheika, Juan Carlos Gimenez, Rick Thornberry and Miguel Jimenez were all solid fighters when they fought Calzaghe.
Despite these accomplishments, many in the American media point to the fact that Calzaghe has yet to fight a current world title holder as "proof" that the WBO champion is a pretender to the super middleweight throne. This assertion doesn't sit well with Joe's father and trainer, Enzo. "I can pick up an American boxing magazine and I never see a glimpse of Joe's name in one," he said. "It's like he doesn't exist. It's all just American boxers and I can't understand it. Joe doesn't even get rated in the top 15 pound for pound
worldwide rankings in American magazines. We don't hear anything when Joe does a number on American fighters."
"What I really get upset about America is that the media won't accept Joe and his accomplishments. It's a sad story, but Joe's going to end up retiring without a bit of respect from America, I can see it coming. If he does a number on this guy Mitchell, what are they going to say? That he lost to Sven Ottke and was finished anyway? Joe is 35-0, made 12 title defenses and has boxed whomever they put in front of him. We're not moaners and groaners, we get on with our work, but we are so very frustrated by how America ignores Joe."
In direct contrast to an often voiced theory that Calzaghe has avoided or been reluctant to face his top competition, such as Ottke, Eric Lucas, Antwun Echols as well as Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins, Calzaghe's promoter Frank Warren has for years spent a great deal of time and effort trying to get Britain's longest reigning titleholder a defining match with such fighters, as he relates some of his recent attempts. "First off, with the Hopkins situation, we did a conference call with Don King, Hopkins, Showtime and myself," said Warren. "We had agreed to terms for a fight between Joe and Hopkins. The following day Hopkins came back and said that he wanted double the money that he had agreed to the day before."
"We've been trying to make a fight with Sven Ottke for quite awhile. In fact, we were willing to go have Joe go to Germany, where he was originally going to fight on July 14th. I was speaking with Ottk'e agent, Denny Mancini, and he said that Joe and Ottke would fight different opponents on the same card and the winners of the two fights would then fight each other at a later date. One of the problem's I've since found out about why we couldn't get that together, is that when Byron Mitchell fought Ottke, Wilfred Sauerland (Ottke's promoter) gave away any American TV rights to Don King. So, if I were to make the fight between Joe and Ottke, I would be expected to give the American TV rights to Don King, which I wouldn't do because obviously I've got a deal with Showtime."
"Regarding the fight with William Joppy, again I had agreed to terms with Don King and the fight was going to take place. Then Don King rang me and said that Joppy no longer wanted the fight. That's the reason Byron Mitchell is in now and I believe the only reason
Mitchell is now fighting Joe is because he lost his title to Ottke. Otherwise, I don't think we'd be seeing this fight."
Of all the fights that have yet to come off for Calzaghe, he's most frustrated by the ones with Hopkins and Ottke. "Obviously, fighting Hopkins would be a dream for me," he said. "Personally, I am convinced that I would knock Hopkins out. Unfortunately, someone else, like James Toney, is probably going to do it instead of me. I think that Hopkins was ripe to be beaten and that was the plum fight for me. Hopkins is still a big name and I think he is quite good at what he does, but I think that he's somewhat one paced and don't actually rate him as that great a fighter. I think with my hand speed, I would have caused him much trouble and I think that's the reason he wouldn't fight me."
"He was going to take the fight with James Toney for much less money than he was asking for fighting me. I think that tells you he didn't want to fight me. I would have been too busy, too awkward and had too much handspeed as well as being a southpaw. I think I would have overwhelmed him. He's a good fighter in his own right and in the end he's going to do what he wants to do and fight who he wants to fight. I'm disappointed, but the thing is, everybody wants a piece of Hopkins because he beat Trinidad."