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For every fan but the most ardent distracters, Joe Calzaghe has built an impressive set of accomplishments. He ranks in the very rare air of fighters who have successfully defended a title for 10 or more years. He remains undefeated. He has stepped in the ring with a host of current and former champions and dispatched with every one of them. Rare are controversial decisions in a Calzaghe bout – the majority are as starkly clear cut as the unprotected Brazilian rainforest. Calzaghe is a winner and he leaves no doubt about it. His record stands at 45 wins (32 by way of KO), with no losses and no draws and no no-contests. He is likely the best super middleweight of all-time. When we add it all up, it is a list of accomplishments that forms a legacy – a legacy worth protecting..
Joe Calzaghe is 36 years old. By boxing standards and by chronological standards for nearly every sport, this is no spring chicken. But Calzaghe has not been in any wars over his career and he is not as battle-warn as most fighters that enter the sunsets of their careers. Amazingly, his has been a path that has “aged” in virtually the exact opposite of many fighters.
Calzaghe was a young fighter who had alarmingly good power – 19 of his first 20 wins came by way of knockout or TKO. In fact, 30 of his first 33 wins came by way of the knockout. But unlike many KO artists, Calzaghe was generating his knockouts based on his speed, not on any one-punch knockout power. In spite of his huge KO ratio in his early career, he was not a KO-artist per se, but rather a speedster that made the adage “speed kills” come to life. At around mid-career and after 10 title defenses, it became evident that Calzaghe likely had brittle hands and would need to rely almost exclusively on his speed for the balance of his career.
What makes this a bit unusual is that most fighters that rely on speed in the early part of their careers find that their speed leaves them before their power does. Joe Calzaghe has been just the opposite – his power is somewhat diminished, but (at least until 2005), his speed seemed to continue to improve.
But alas, speed does eventually slip and when it does, many fighters have avoided looking like they were on the down-slope of their careers by changing their styles. By sitting down on their punches and adding more power to their game, many former speedsters have avoided (at least temporarily) looking as if they were “past-it”.
Calzaghe’s speed is slipping. Many feel his speed was at its peak in his 2005 fight against Mario Veit. If “speed kills” was ever the cliché for a bout, this was it. Calzaghe was amazingly fast and any fan that saw that bout was handed a treat in seeing what hand-speed is supposed to be all about. But it marked the pinnacle of what any speedster can look like. Was Calzaghe able to use his speed and movement and unusual southpaw style to hand the promising Jeff Lacy a one-sided loss like we rarely see at that level of the sport? Only a solid “yes” could be the appropriate response. But for the serious observer, Calzaghe’s speed looked just a click slower then a year or so earlier.
A little more than a half-year later, Calzaghe would find himself in the ring against the “I’m here to make you look bad”, Sakio Bika. It was an ugly fight and Calzaghe did walk away with a convincing win (177-110 on two cards and 116-111 on the other). But again, an observer (no longer needing to be a keen or serious observer), saw that Calzaghe’s speed was not where it once was.
Although we learned little to nothing about Calzaghe in his fight against Manfredo, even the casual observer was at least able to walk away with a minor truth about the bout. Calzaghe’s hands remained brittle. He suffered a hand injury in throwing one of his famous “slapping” combinations and to make matters worse, he injured his hand while not throwing with much authority. Were we watching the likely end of Calzaghe ever using his hands to score a legitimate KO ever again?
In his bout against Mikkel Kessler, some observers thought Kessler was unusually stiff and unusually lacking in the typical aggression of his. To be sure, Calzaghe had mastered the art of keeping an opponent from finding his rhythm, but few feel that they were watching Kessler at the top of his game. Add to this the rumors that Kessler had injured his hand in training and the fight begins to look like less than it may have been. Most importantly, Calzaghe again did not look as fast as he had in 2005 against Veit. It was now apparent that Calzaghe might very well be much closer to the sunset of his career than any one had imagined.
To say that Calzaghe’s win over the cagey veteran Bernard Hopkins was an ugly mess, would be an under statement. Granted, Hopkins can make a world-class runway model look awkward and ugly, but something was missing.
Calzaghe used to be able to use his speed in two primary ways – one to slap and the other to eventually sit down a bit on a straight punch every now and again. The straight punching from Calzaghe had completely vanished.
The speedster, who typically extends his career by sitting down on his punches, was not going to be the way Calzaghe would do it. Instead he was going to “wow” the judges with a great work-rate, but even the ardent Calzaghe fan could see that speed was being tarnished with the excessive slapping.
This leads us up to a possible match-up of Joe Calzaghe against the rising super-star Kelly Pavlik. One fighter is on the rise and the other is on the decline. It would normally be a classic match-up for this reason alone. But the Calzaghe legacy is as frail as his hands. His speed is slipping and he never learned the typical path of a speedster extending a career by shifting to a use of power. Calzaghe could not take this path because his brittle hands would not allow it. So we are left with a fighter who has perceptibly slowed and is unable to reach into his gut to use power. And this is the story of diminished speed, unusable power and the inevitable ravages of father time all coming together to place a frail legacy at great risk.
Should Calzaghe climb into the ring against the very dangerous and clearly in his prime Kelly Pavlik and win, the upside for his legacy would be obvious. All fans that see the Calzaghe legacy as frail would finally need to give him his due. However, should Calzaghe take his diminished speed and unusable power into the ring and lose, the loss will be huge. Calzaghe would be criticized for losing to a middleweight and he would be criticized for losing to who many will feel is the first legitimate, in-prime competition of his career.
Why would Joe Calzaghe place so much at risk for one fight? I say let the cries of his detractors slowly echo into the past. Should he end his career with a likely win over Roy Jones, Jr., he will end an illustrious career, full of amazing accomplishments with an unblemished record – a feat that is so rarely accomplished that it could only add to his eventual legacy. A loss to Pavlik would likely tarnish his legacy in an irreparable manner.
Should Joe Calzaghe risk so much for a bout against Kelly Pavlik? Only he can decide if it is worth it. What do you think?
Joe Calzaghe is 36 years old. By boxing standards and by chronological standards for nearly every sport, this is no spring chicken. But Calzaghe has not been in any wars over his career and he is not as battle-warn as most fighters that enter the sunsets of their careers. Amazingly, his has been a path that has “aged” in virtually the exact opposite of many fighters.
Calzaghe was a young fighter who had alarmingly good power – 19 of his first 20 wins came by way of knockout or TKO. In fact, 30 of his first 33 wins came by way of the knockout. But unlike many KO artists, Calzaghe was generating his knockouts based on his speed, not on any one-punch knockout power. In spite of his huge KO ratio in his early career, he was not a KO-artist per se, but rather a speedster that made the adage “speed kills” come to life. At around mid-career and after 10 title defenses, it became evident that Calzaghe likely had brittle hands and would need to rely almost exclusively on his speed for the balance of his career.
What makes this a bit unusual is that most fighters that rely on speed in the early part of their careers find that their speed leaves them before their power does. Joe Calzaghe has been just the opposite – his power is somewhat diminished, but (at least until 2005), his speed seemed to continue to improve.
But alas, speed does eventually slip and when it does, many fighters have avoided looking like they were on the down-slope of their careers by changing their styles. By sitting down on their punches and adding more power to their game, many former speedsters have avoided (at least temporarily) looking as if they were “past-it”.
Calzaghe’s speed is slipping. Many feel his speed was at its peak in his 2005 fight against Mario Veit. If “speed kills” was ever the cliché for a bout, this was it. Calzaghe was amazingly fast and any fan that saw that bout was handed a treat in seeing what hand-speed is supposed to be all about. But it marked the pinnacle of what any speedster can look like. Was Calzaghe able to use his speed and movement and unusual southpaw style to hand the promising Jeff Lacy a one-sided loss like we rarely see at that level of the sport? Only a solid “yes” could be the appropriate response. But for the serious observer, Calzaghe’s speed looked just a click slower then a year or so earlier.
A little more than a half-year later, Calzaghe would find himself in the ring against the “I’m here to make you look bad”, Sakio Bika. It was an ugly fight and Calzaghe did walk away with a convincing win (177-110 on two cards and 116-111 on the other). But again, an observer (no longer needing to be a keen or serious observer), saw that Calzaghe’s speed was not where it once was.
Although we learned little to nothing about Calzaghe in his fight against Manfredo, even the casual observer was at least able to walk away with a minor truth about the bout. Calzaghe’s hands remained brittle. He suffered a hand injury in throwing one of his famous “slapping” combinations and to make matters worse, he injured his hand while not throwing with much authority. Were we watching the likely end of Calzaghe ever using his hands to score a legitimate KO ever again?
In his bout against Mikkel Kessler, some observers thought Kessler was unusually stiff and unusually lacking in the typical aggression of his. To be sure, Calzaghe had mastered the art of keeping an opponent from finding his rhythm, but few feel that they were watching Kessler at the top of his game. Add to this the rumors that Kessler had injured his hand in training and the fight begins to look like less than it may have been. Most importantly, Calzaghe again did not look as fast as he had in 2005 against Veit. It was now apparent that Calzaghe might very well be much closer to the sunset of his career than any one had imagined.
To say that Calzaghe’s win over the cagey veteran Bernard Hopkins was an ugly mess, would be an under statement. Granted, Hopkins can make a world-class runway model look awkward and ugly, but something was missing.
Calzaghe used to be able to use his speed in two primary ways – one to slap and the other to eventually sit down a bit on a straight punch every now and again. The straight punching from Calzaghe had completely vanished.
The speedster, who typically extends his career by sitting down on his punches, was not going to be the way Calzaghe would do it. Instead he was going to “wow” the judges with a great work-rate, but even the ardent Calzaghe fan could see that speed was being tarnished with the excessive slapping.
This leads us up to a possible match-up of Joe Calzaghe against the rising super-star Kelly Pavlik. One fighter is on the rise and the other is on the decline. It would normally be a classic match-up for this reason alone. But the Calzaghe legacy is as frail as his hands. His speed is slipping and he never learned the typical path of a speedster extending a career by shifting to a use of power. Calzaghe could not take this path because his brittle hands would not allow it. So we are left with a fighter who has perceptibly slowed and is unable to reach into his gut to use power. And this is the story of diminished speed, unusable power and the inevitable ravages of father time all coming together to place a frail legacy at great risk.
Should Calzaghe climb into the ring against the very dangerous and clearly in his prime Kelly Pavlik and win, the upside for his legacy would be obvious. All fans that see the Calzaghe legacy as frail would finally need to give him his due. However, should Calzaghe take his diminished speed and unusable power into the ring and lose, the loss will be huge. Calzaghe would be criticized for losing to a middleweight and he would be criticized for losing to who many will feel is the first legitimate, in-prime competition of his career.
Why would Joe Calzaghe place so much at risk for one fight? I say let the cries of his detractors slowly echo into the past. Should he end his career with a likely win over Roy Jones, Jr., he will end an illustrious career, full of amazing accomplishments with an unblemished record – a feat that is so rarely accomplished that it could only add to his eventual legacy. A loss to Pavlik would likely tarnish his legacy in an irreparable manner.
Should Joe Calzaghe risk so much for a bout against Kelly Pavlik? Only he can decide if it is worth it. What do you think?
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