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I GOT a phone call at the weekend from Welsh television, asking if I remembered saying in 1999 that Joe Calzaghe would be the fighter of the Millennium — I did.
I’ve believed for years Calzaghe would prove to be one of the best British boxers of all time.
And he showed just how good he is again with a magnificent performance against Roy Jones Jr last Saturday in New York.
Jones said he would be inspired by Barack *****’s election win but he finished the fight looking like John McCain — 72 years old.
It’s nice to be proved right, especially now all the new-found experts are out in force and the critics who called his punches slaps have become back-slappers saying they always knew Joe would be a superstar.
Step forward motormouth Steve Bunce, who not so long ago wrote an article saying that Joe didn’t have any more big fights left in him but is now his biggest fan.
As for revisionism, just look at some of the things that Joe said in the build-up to and after the Jones fight.
The Welshman claimed he had been fighting in small halls for the last three or four years, was denied the chance to unify the super-middleweight division and had to face men whose names he couldn’t even spell.
What a ****** statement. Calzaghe mainly campaigned at the biggest indoor venue in Cardiff, fought at the city’s historic castle and also had regular fights in big arenas in Newcastle, Edinburgh and Manchester.
He should have a word with David Haye, who regularly fought in small halls until facing Enzo Maccarinelli.
There’s only so much you can do to make unification fights happen. I made many written offers to the only big names during Calzaghe’s reign — Marcus Beyer and Sven Ottke when they were world champions. They didn’t want to fight Joe, whatever was on the table.
Bernard Hopkins and Jones also turned down offers going back to 2001. Joe said last year: “Hopkins can just get in the line and wait for me because of all the messing around he has caused me.
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“I was all set to fight him a couple of years ago and he doubled his financial demands after at first agreeing to the fight.”
In fact, Jones hardly fought outside of Florida.
As for exposure, many of Joe’s world title fights under Sports Network were shown on American TV on Showtime.
At one point, Joe was desperate for a rematch against one man whose name he could spell, Mario Viet, despite knocking him out in a round the first time they met.
He also said he didn’t get the kind of exposure that other fighters who were shown on terrestrial TV got.
But some of his early fights were on BBC and, for three years, ITV had been covering his fights, whereas Ricky Hatton was always on satellite but enjoyed a higher profile.
Calzaghe blames me and claimed that he pestered me to go to America for years.
But only last year he said: “Why go to America and fight in front of a half-empty arena? There’s no atmosphere there.
“Hopkins and Winky Wright are supposed to be two of the top pound-for-pound fighters yet their fight didn’t even sell out the Mandalay Bay. It drew something like 9,000 people and the majority of them will be given away by the hotel and casinos.”
In a newspaper article in April 2006, he said: “I’m not saying I would never go to America if the money was right but places like Madison Square Garden and Las Vegas mean nothing to me.
“Why should I give up home advantage if I don’t have to?”
That is what I had to deal with. He always said that his phobia of flying prevented him going from the States.
But I know what the real reason was and despite his bravery in the ring, it’s only very recently that Joe has wanted to travel.
His father Enzo and I always had to encourage him.
Over the years, I think we’ve been his biggest backers and it was our persuasion that managed to get him in the ring for a unification fight against Jeff Lacy when he wanted to pull out with a “hand injury”.
If he hadn’t taken that fight, he wouldn’t be bathed in glory now.
In all, Joe withdrew from 12 fights when he was promoted by Sports Network.
Whatever is going on between Calzaghe and Sports Network at the moment, I still believe he’s the best British fighter I’ve worked with and the best during my time in boxing.
He may have beaten a washed-up version of Jones on Saturday but I believe he would have beaten the American even in his prime.
Jones looked like a train had hit him. He only threw 12 jabs in the entire fight, while Joe threw nearly 1,000 punches.
His corner looked amateur and couldn’t deal with the bad cut. Before the fight, Jones also called him a slapper but admitted, “The pitter-pats were harder than I thought”. One look at his face confirmed that.
Sometimes the problem with Joe was getting him into the ring in the first place.
But as he showed with Charles Brewer, Byron Mitchell, Lacy, Mikkel Kessler and Hopkins, once he’s between the ropes, he’s a class act.
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People who say Joe lost to Hopkins are talking rubbish.
By going to the States for his last two fights, Joe has shown that unlike Jones and Hopkins, at last he’s prepared to travel.
Perhaps Joe’s biggest problem is that he came on to the scene just as Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn and Steve Collins were leaving.
He managed to beat Eubank to win the world title but would have had too much for Collins and Benn as well. Britain should be proud of his achievements but let’s not change history.
There was a time not so long ago when TV companies weren’t interested in him and I had to push him to get him where he is.
Will Joe fight on? I definitely think so. Unbeaten light-heavyweight champion Chad Dawson is an option.
Calzaghe is now close to Rocky Marciano’s magic 49-0 mark. Will the temptation be there to try and beat that?
Before the fight, he was adamant he would call it quits. But now that’s changed.
It’s not easy promoting yourself, though, as Haye will find out this weekend when he fights at the O2 Arena having only sold 2,000 tickets a week before the show and offering the punters a buy-one-get-one-free offer to fill empty seats.
Joe said he was going to pay himself £7million for the fight but he will be lucky to get half that based upon the poor ticket and pay-per-view sales, which is less than he got for his last fight. Who said promoting was a license to make money?
It also made me laugh this week when Hatton called on Calzaghe to retire — when he fights on himself despite being an accident waiting to happen.
I think if Joe boxes again and if Jones invokes the rematch clause it would be a massacre.
The secret to Joe’s success? Fantastic work rate, fitness, superb chin, hand speed, southpaw stance, determination and a big, big heart — the ingredients of a super champion.
I was and certainly am still a huge fan of Joe Calzaghe the boxer.
And after all these years, shutting up the doubters on both sides of the Atlantic, it’s nice to see my prediction about fighter of the Millennium come good.
I’ve believed for years Calzaghe would prove to be one of the best British boxers of all time.
And he showed just how good he is again with a magnificent performance against Roy Jones Jr last Saturday in New York.
Jones said he would be inspired by Barack *****’s election win but he finished the fight looking like John McCain — 72 years old.
It’s nice to be proved right, especially now all the new-found experts are out in force and the critics who called his punches slaps have become back-slappers saying they always knew Joe would be a superstar.
Step forward motormouth Steve Bunce, who not so long ago wrote an article saying that Joe didn’t have any more big fights left in him but is now his biggest fan.
As for revisionism, just look at some of the things that Joe said in the build-up to and after the Jones fight.
The Welshman claimed he had been fighting in small halls for the last three or four years, was denied the chance to unify the super-middleweight division and had to face men whose names he couldn’t even spell.
What a ****** statement. Calzaghe mainly campaigned at the biggest indoor venue in Cardiff, fought at the city’s historic castle and also had regular fights in big arenas in Newcastle, Edinburgh and Manchester.
He should have a word with David Haye, who regularly fought in small halls until facing Enzo Maccarinelli.
There’s only so much you can do to make unification fights happen. I made many written offers to the only big names during Calzaghe’s reign — Marcus Beyer and Sven Ottke when they were world champions. They didn’t want to fight Joe, whatever was on the table.
Bernard Hopkins and Jones also turned down offers going back to 2001. Joe said last year: “Hopkins can just get in the line and wait for me because of all the messing around he has caused me.
Showtime
“I was all set to fight him a couple of years ago and he doubled his financial demands after at first agreeing to the fight.”
In fact, Jones hardly fought outside of Florida.
As for exposure, many of Joe’s world title fights under Sports Network were shown on American TV on Showtime.
At one point, Joe was desperate for a rematch against one man whose name he could spell, Mario Viet, despite knocking him out in a round the first time they met.
He also said he didn’t get the kind of exposure that other fighters who were shown on terrestrial TV got.
But some of his early fights were on BBC and, for three years, ITV had been covering his fights, whereas Ricky Hatton was always on satellite but enjoyed a higher profile.
Calzaghe blames me and claimed that he pestered me to go to America for years.
But only last year he said: “Why go to America and fight in front of a half-empty arena? There’s no atmosphere there.
“Hopkins and Winky Wright are supposed to be two of the top pound-for-pound fighters yet their fight didn’t even sell out the Mandalay Bay. It drew something like 9,000 people and the majority of them will be given away by the hotel and casinos.”
In a newspaper article in April 2006, he said: “I’m not saying I would never go to America if the money was right but places like Madison Square Garden and Las Vegas mean nothing to me.
“Why should I give up home advantage if I don’t have to?”
That is what I had to deal with. He always said that his phobia of flying prevented him going from the States.
But I know what the real reason was and despite his bravery in the ring, it’s only very recently that Joe has wanted to travel.
His father Enzo and I always had to encourage him.
Over the years, I think we’ve been his biggest backers and it was our persuasion that managed to get him in the ring for a unification fight against Jeff Lacy when he wanted to pull out with a “hand injury”.
If he hadn’t taken that fight, he wouldn’t be bathed in glory now.
In all, Joe withdrew from 12 fights when he was promoted by Sports Network.
Whatever is going on between Calzaghe and Sports Network at the moment, I still believe he’s the best British fighter I’ve worked with and the best during my time in boxing.
He may have beaten a washed-up version of Jones on Saturday but I believe he would have beaten the American even in his prime.
Jones looked like a train had hit him. He only threw 12 jabs in the entire fight, while Joe threw nearly 1,000 punches.
His corner looked amateur and couldn’t deal with the bad cut. Before the fight, Jones also called him a slapper but admitted, “The pitter-pats were harder than I thought”. One look at his face confirmed that.
Sometimes the problem with Joe was getting him into the ring in the first place.
But as he showed with Charles Brewer, Byron Mitchell, Lacy, Mikkel Kessler and Hopkins, once he’s between the ropes, he’s a class act.
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People who say Joe lost to Hopkins are talking rubbish.
By going to the States for his last two fights, Joe has shown that unlike Jones and Hopkins, at last he’s prepared to travel.
Perhaps Joe’s biggest problem is that he came on to the scene just as Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn and Steve Collins were leaving.
He managed to beat Eubank to win the world title but would have had too much for Collins and Benn as well. Britain should be proud of his achievements but let’s not change history.
There was a time not so long ago when TV companies weren’t interested in him and I had to push him to get him where he is.
Will Joe fight on? I definitely think so. Unbeaten light-heavyweight champion Chad Dawson is an option.
Calzaghe is now close to Rocky Marciano’s magic 49-0 mark. Will the temptation be there to try and beat that?
Before the fight, he was adamant he would call it quits. But now that’s changed.
It’s not easy promoting yourself, though, as Haye will find out this weekend when he fights at the O2 Arena having only sold 2,000 tickets a week before the show and offering the punters a buy-one-get-one-free offer to fill empty seats.
Joe said he was going to pay himself £7million for the fight but he will be lucky to get half that based upon the poor ticket and pay-per-view sales, which is less than he got for his last fight. Who said promoting was a license to make money?
It also made me laugh this week when Hatton called on Calzaghe to retire — when he fights on himself despite being an accident waiting to happen.
I think if Joe boxes again and if Jones invokes the rematch clause it would be a massacre.
The secret to Joe’s success? Fantastic work rate, fitness, superb chin, hand speed, southpaw stance, determination and a big, big heart — the ingredients of a super champion.
I was and certainly am still a huge fan of Joe Calzaghe the boxer.
And after all these years, shutting up the doubters on both sides of the Atlantic, it’s nice to see my prediction about fighter of the Millennium come good.
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