Tweet
At nine o'clock on Saturday morning, Joe Calzaghe will get out of his own bed at home in his four-bedroom detached home in Newbridge, shower, eat breakfast, skim through the morning papers and call his father, Enzo, who lives less than a mile away.
At midday, after being picked up by a driver, boxer and trainer - father and son - will head into central Cardiff, a 45-minute drive - and join Calzaghe Senior's stable of fighters in the hotel beside the Millennium Stadium where the banter will begin and adrenaline will start to flow.
It says so much about Joe Calzaghe that on the eve of creating boxing history in equalling a record which will rank him alongside modern boxing greats Larry Holmes and Bernard Hopkins, if he successfully defends the WBO super-middleweight title that Chris Eubank made famous for the 20th time against American Peter Manfredo, there is no fuss, no extra weight added to his broad shoulders, and certainly no panic. Saturday will be business as usual for Calzaghe & Son, a boxing business which has been a glittering success for nigh on two decades and two years, since Calzaghe won his first national schoolboy title.
Calzaghe, looking lean and mean yesterday, was calmness itself, and exuded great confidence which comes from his father's insistence on perfect preparation, something Enzo says he learned from his time in the music business, notably when he toured with Eighties pop band Bucks Fizz. The Calzaghes have certainly come a long way since the days of Eighties kitsch.
Calzaghe, speaking exclusively to *** yesterday in his role as an ambassador for Lonsdale, insists he will fight for no longer than two years more, dreams of fighting in Madison Square Garden in a superfight, and would like to be remembered alongside the likes of Rocky Marciano, as an unbeaten fighter with an Italian heritage.
If he needed any pressure to stir him up, the contest against Manfredo, a hugely popular fighter after starring and losing in the final of the US television series The Contender - watched by over 20 million people in the US and then exported to ITV1 in the UK - will be the biggest fight ever staged indoors in Europe. The Millennium Stadium crowd of nearly 33,000 will be the biggest since Nigel Benn's meeting Chris Eubank at Old Trafford in 1993, when 47,000 baying fans filled the Theatre of Dreams to see our favourite household sporting stars fight their long-awaited rematch. It would be a huge upset were Manfredo to beat the home boy, but these things can happen in sports most primeval playground.
Calzaghe revealed yesterday that it could be his final appearance in front of his home-town fans with (American TV network) Home Box Office paymasters knocking on the door and keen to take him to America before he hangs up his gloves.
Calzaghe explained: "I do want to fight Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, Mikkel Kessler [who currently holds two of the other world super-middleweight belts and is also unbeaten], and I would like to end my career with a series of superfights. I would fight on the east or west coasts in the States, but I think I'd prefer to fight at Madison Square Garden because of the tradition of great Italian-American fighters there, like Rocky Marciano and Jake LaMotta.
"I'd also love it if the Welsh fans came over and swarmed New York. It would be brilliant. Obviously, I wouldn't complain about Las Vegas because that's where Sugar Ray beat Thomas Hearns which I still remember watching from our council estate as a nine-year-old whipper-snapper like it was yesterday, and that's where Marvin Hagler made his name. But I'd prefer New York because it's my favourite city in the world.
"Obviously, I want to fight Kessler, too, because he is unbeaten, and I would fight him here or in the States. He's on the radar, and it would be great for the division if we could meet. He's yet to fight anybody near my level mind you, it would be a big step-up in class for him and I think he'd be a little overwhelmed by it all. He's hittable, he leads with his jab and I don't get hit with too many jabs because I shift on my feet. And my one-two is faster than his one-two. But if the Americans are calling for that then bring him on.
"People keep asking me how long I can keep fighting for. The truth is that at the moment I am still as sharp and as quick as I have been for almost a decade. I don't get hit often and I feel fresh. I have fought seven world champions, and on the day I realise that I am not the best any more, I will walk away. At the moment, in an ideal world, I am looking at 16 months to two years. I want to be one of the few fighters who retires at the top without getting a beating."
Calzaghe says he grew with pride when 20,000 tickets for Saturday's fight sold in a matter of weeks. "I do feel I'm finally getting my recognition in this fight. Many years ago, when the Millennium Stadium opened, I remember thinking that it would be great to be able to fight there one day, and here we are seven years on, with that dream coming true. The fact that it is also the biggest indoor fight ever to be staged in Europe fills me with great pride."
As for creating a new record, as a British fighter, at world level, he said: "Obviously, it is great to be talked about in the same breath as other great fighters and people I have either looked up to or admired, but at the end of the day, it is just a number.
"I don't see it as extra pressure, because I'm a fighter, it's my job, I have been a champion since 13 and the most important thing in my life right now is being ready for a guy who has been preparing to give me the most uncomfortable 36 minutes that he can possibly make for me.
"Being the champion means so much to me, and my focus in training for the last eight weeks has been about making sure that I leave the Millennium Stadium as world champion. The record is just a bonus."
Manfredo told *** earlier this week that he believes that Calzaghe is underestimating him by looking ahead at other fights. Calzaghe disagrees: "Look at Tyson losing to Douglas, Hagler losing to Leonard, and Lewis losing to Rahman. The favourites in those fights took it for granted that they were the best. One of my strengths is that I don't take any fighter lightly. I know Manfredo will have prepared for this fight with his heart and soul. I will need to match his desire, because I have been a champion for a decade, and the attachment I feel to this belt is so great, I will not give it up.."
At midday, after being picked up by a driver, boxer and trainer - father and son - will head into central Cardiff, a 45-minute drive - and join Calzaghe Senior's stable of fighters in the hotel beside the Millennium Stadium where the banter will begin and adrenaline will start to flow.
It says so much about Joe Calzaghe that on the eve of creating boxing history in equalling a record which will rank him alongside modern boxing greats Larry Holmes and Bernard Hopkins, if he successfully defends the WBO super-middleweight title that Chris Eubank made famous for the 20th time against American Peter Manfredo, there is no fuss, no extra weight added to his broad shoulders, and certainly no panic. Saturday will be business as usual for Calzaghe & Son, a boxing business which has been a glittering success for nigh on two decades and two years, since Calzaghe won his first national schoolboy title.
Calzaghe, looking lean and mean yesterday, was calmness itself, and exuded great confidence which comes from his father's insistence on perfect preparation, something Enzo says he learned from his time in the music business, notably when he toured with Eighties pop band Bucks Fizz. The Calzaghes have certainly come a long way since the days of Eighties kitsch.
Calzaghe, speaking exclusively to *** yesterday in his role as an ambassador for Lonsdale, insists he will fight for no longer than two years more, dreams of fighting in Madison Square Garden in a superfight, and would like to be remembered alongside the likes of Rocky Marciano, as an unbeaten fighter with an Italian heritage.
If he needed any pressure to stir him up, the contest against Manfredo, a hugely popular fighter after starring and losing in the final of the US television series The Contender - watched by over 20 million people in the US and then exported to ITV1 in the UK - will be the biggest fight ever staged indoors in Europe. The Millennium Stadium crowd of nearly 33,000 will be the biggest since Nigel Benn's meeting Chris Eubank at Old Trafford in 1993, when 47,000 baying fans filled the Theatre of Dreams to see our favourite household sporting stars fight their long-awaited rematch. It would be a huge upset were Manfredo to beat the home boy, but these things can happen in sports most primeval playground.
Calzaghe revealed yesterday that it could be his final appearance in front of his home-town fans with (American TV network) Home Box Office paymasters knocking on the door and keen to take him to America before he hangs up his gloves.
Calzaghe explained: "I do want to fight Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, Mikkel Kessler [who currently holds two of the other world super-middleweight belts and is also unbeaten], and I would like to end my career with a series of superfights. I would fight on the east or west coasts in the States, but I think I'd prefer to fight at Madison Square Garden because of the tradition of great Italian-American fighters there, like Rocky Marciano and Jake LaMotta.
"I'd also love it if the Welsh fans came over and swarmed New York. It would be brilliant. Obviously, I wouldn't complain about Las Vegas because that's where Sugar Ray beat Thomas Hearns which I still remember watching from our council estate as a nine-year-old whipper-snapper like it was yesterday, and that's where Marvin Hagler made his name. But I'd prefer New York because it's my favourite city in the world.
"Obviously, I want to fight Kessler, too, because he is unbeaten, and I would fight him here or in the States. He's on the radar, and it would be great for the division if we could meet. He's yet to fight anybody near my level mind you, it would be a big step-up in class for him and I think he'd be a little overwhelmed by it all. He's hittable, he leads with his jab and I don't get hit with too many jabs because I shift on my feet. And my one-two is faster than his one-two. But if the Americans are calling for that then bring him on.
"People keep asking me how long I can keep fighting for. The truth is that at the moment I am still as sharp and as quick as I have been for almost a decade. I don't get hit often and I feel fresh. I have fought seven world champions, and on the day I realise that I am not the best any more, I will walk away. At the moment, in an ideal world, I am looking at 16 months to two years. I want to be one of the few fighters who retires at the top without getting a beating."
Calzaghe says he grew with pride when 20,000 tickets for Saturday's fight sold in a matter of weeks. "I do feel I'm finally getting my recognition in this fight. Many years ago, when the Millennium Stadium opened, I remember thinking that it would be great to be able to fight there one day, and here we are seven years on, with that dream coming true. The fact that it is also the biggest indoor fight ever to be staged in Europe fills me with great pride."
As for creating a new record, as a British fighter, at world level, he said: "Obviously, it is great to be talked about in the same breath as other great fighters and people I have either looked up to or admired, but at the end of the day, it is just a number.
"I don't see it as extra pressure, because I'm a fighter, it's my job, I have been a champion since 13 and the most important thing in my life right now is being ready for a guy who has been preparing to give me the most uncomfortable 36 minutes that he can possibly make for me.
"Being the champion means so much to me, and my focus in training for the last eight weeks has been about making sure that I leave the Millennium Stadium as world champion. The record is just a bonus."
Manfredo told *** earlier this week that he believes that Calzaghe is underestimating him by looking ahead at other fights. Calzaghe disagrees: "Look at Tyson losing to Douglas, Hagler losing to Leonard, and Lewis losing to Rahman. The favourites in those fights took it for granted that they were the best. One of my strengths is that I don't take any fighter lightly. I know Manfredo will have prepared for this fight with his heart and soul. I will need to match his desire, because I have been a champion for a decade, and the attachment I feel to this belt is so great, I will not give it up.."
Comment