Joe Calzaghe

In September 1993 Calzaghe was signed up and made his professional debut at Cardiff Arms Park on the Lennox Lewis vs. Frank Bruno bill the following month, halting 23 fight veteran Paul Hanlon in one round. By September 1995, Calzaghe had won thirteen out of thirteen fights, including seven in the first round and two in the second, including quickfire victories over the highly experienced American duo of Frank Minton and Robert Curry, with only the fully fledged British Light Heavyweight Bobbie Joe Edwards lasting the distance.

In October 1995, Calzaghe won the vacant British super-middleweight title, stopping the previously unbeaten Stephen Wilson in the eighth round.

At the end of 1995, Calzaghe was voted Young Boxer of the Year by the Professional Boxing Association and the Boxing Writers' Club, with Barry McGuigan top tipping Calzaghe for 1996: "He punches ferociously, moves superbly and has the best of the European technique and US aggression."[23]

After beginning 1996 with two more quick knockouts over Guy Stanford and Anthony Brooks, he successfully defended his British title with an easier-than-expected fifth round stoppage of the tough undefeated puncher Mark Delaney (21–0). Despite Delaney being a good fighter in his own right, Calzaghe's critics said that he had still not really been tested. Calzaghe said in reply that he could only beat whoever was out there and prepared to fight him. Calzaghe rounded off the year with victories over two experienced opponents in Warren Stowe and Pat Lawlor.

In November 1996, Calzaghe moved to Frank Warren's stable. Warren, who had managed Nigel Benn for his first twenty fights, declared: "Joe Calzaghe is a far better prospect, in fact he is my fighter for the new millennium."[24] Calzaghe continued his winning ways in 1997, defeating Carlos Christie, the unbeaten Tyler Hughes and the 45–2 Luciano Torres. Meanwhile, Warren spent the summer of 1997 chasing a fight for Calzaghe with either WBC Champion Robin Reid or Irish WBO Champion Steve Collins. The fight with Collins was arranged, but at a late stage Collins withdrew because of injury, was stripped of his title, and then retired.

After Collins retired, a fight against British boxing legend Chris Eubank was quickly set up for the vacant WBO title on 11 October 1997, in Sheffield. Calzaghe emerged victorious over the two-time WBO champion, knocking the granite chinned Eubank down in the opening seconds and claiming a unanimous points win. The judges scored the contest 118–110, 118–109, and 116–111 in favour of Calzaghe. Eubank said of Calzaghe in a 2006 interview that: "Joe is the proper article, a true warrior."[25] Calzaghe conceded that Eubank, even in his comeback, gave him the toughest fight of his life.[25] His popularity grew alongside the wider cultural movement of Cool Cymru, and Calzaghe was symbolic of the new Welsh identity which was forming.

In 1998, he defended his title against Branko Sobot (winning by technical knockout in 3 rounds). Sobot was a late replacement for Syrian-American Tarick Salmaci,[26] who pulled out after a row with his management.[26] Sobot was knocked down in the third round. He beat the count but immediately came under renewed punishment from Calzaghe,[26] forcing the referee to step in at 1:35 of the third round.

Calzaghe then went on to defeat perennial contender Juan Carlos Gimenez Ferreyra (TKO after 9 rounds), a former opponent of both Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank. Calzaghe became the first boxer to stop Gimenez Ferreyra, something which Benn, Eubank and Roberto Durán had failed to do in the past.

In 1999, Calzaghe started out by fighting his domestic rival, Robin Reid. Calzaghe was bitter that Reid had refused to face him whilst holding the WBC Championship in a unification bout and vowed to beat him, while Reid vowed to upset the odds by defeating Calzaghe and becoming a world champion again. After four rounds of the fight, Calzaghe seemed in total control and on his way to a comfortable victory, but then Reid won the next couple of rounds and it became a highly competitive fight thereafter with around five close rounds by the end of the fight that could have been scored either way, or even. Reid was also docked a point by the referee in the eighth round after a fifth warning for rabbit punches and low blows. It was arguably the closest that Calzaghe came to losing in his entire professional boxing career. After twelve rounds, the judges scored the fight for Calzaghe via a split decision (two judges scored it 116–111 for Calzaghe, while the other judge scored it 116–111 for Reid).[27] Reid was never given the opportunity of a rematch. Calzaghe badly bruised his hand during the fight and according to Calzaghe, he suffered a dose of food poisoning.[28] Calzaghe finished the year with another points win against Australian Rick Thornberry, where he broke his hand in the third round after looking like overwhelming his opponent early.

2000 started with another points decision against fellow Briton David Starie, in what was a dull fight that had a lot of holding and with the boxers' respective styles never gelling. This was followed by impressive wins against Omar Sheika (who was coming off a win over Glen Johnson) by fifth-round stoppage, and a TKO over former WBC world champion and close friend Richie Woodhall in ten competitive rounds, in what turned out to be Woodhall's last fight.[29]

2001 started with an impressive first-round-stoppage win over the unbeaten German No 1 contender Mario Veit (30–0), followed by a win against American contender Will McIntyre on the Mike Tyson–Brian Nielsen undercard in Copenhagen Denmark, marking his first defence outside Britain. Calzaghe dropped him in the third round with a ferocious left uppercut, although McIntyre managed to survive the count.[30] But the end was near. Calzaghe dropped McIntyre again at the start of the fourth, and this time the referee stopped the proceedings.[30]

2002 started with unanimous points wins against former IBF world champion Charles Brewer of the United States in Cardiff, followed by a shutout 12-round unanimous decision over Miguel Angel Jimenez (120–107 for Calzaghe on all three judges' scorecards), and then a quick second round TKO of American Tocker Pudwill,[31] who took the fight at very short notice as a replacement for the injured Thomas Tate, in Newcastle in December.[32] With the win over Pudwill, Calzaghe successfully defended his WBO super-middleweight title for the 12th time. After the fight, Calzaghe said: "I'm one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. I want to be remembered as one of the best British boxers ever."[33]

Calzaghe's only fight of 2003 was in June against another former world champion, in the shape of American Byron Mitchell at the Cardiff International Arena.[34] Calzaghe won by TKO in the second. Calzaghe suffered his first career knockdown in the second round, before rising to halt Mitchell in the very same round, thus becoming the first boxer to stop Mitchell.[35]

2004 started out with a defence against Armenian contender Mger Mkrtchian in Cardiff where he won easily by a seventh-round knockout, followed by a points win over Egyptian-American Kabary Salem in Edinburgh in October, during which Calzaghe was briefly knocked down in the fourth round by a right hand.[36] However, Calzaghe was not hurt, and he dominated the fight and knocked Salem down in the 12th round, winning comfortably on all three scorecards, 116–109, 117–109 and 118–107.[37]

Mario Veit worked his way to a rematch against Calzaghe in Braunschweig, Germany, in July 2005, marking Calzaghe's second defence on foreign soil.[38] Calzaghe beat Veit by technical knockout in the sixth round. On 10 September 2005, Calzaghe fought the Kenya boxer Evans Ashira and won by a comfortable unanimous decision over the former Middleweight title challenger, despite breaking his left hand in the third round.[39] Calzaghe fought on one-handed winning 120–108, 120–108, 120–107.

His scheduled unification bout with IBF super-middleweight champion Jeff Lacy for 4 November 2005 was initially canceled due to the break sustained to the metacarpal in his left hand. Warren successfully rescheduled it for 5 March 2006, and the match was won by an easy unanimous points decision over Lacy, who was a pre-fight favourite with the bookmakers[40] and American pundits alike. Calzaghe dominated throughout the fight, with British fight fans chanting "easy" at the American during the last three rounds. Calzaghe gained the IBF title and won every round despite a point being deducted in the 11th for an illegal behind the body punch. He also won the vacant The Ring and lineal titles,[41] becoming the first super-middleweight to be recognized as world champion by The Ring magazine.

On 14 October 2006, Calzaghe faced the rugged contender and future WBC super-middleweight champion Sakio Bika.[42] Two points were deducted from Bika for head butts, one of which led to a severe cut over Calzaghe's left eye[43] which would cause him problems for the duration of the bout. However, Calzaghe won the fight by clear decision to continue his undefeated run.

On 27 November 2006, it was announced that Calzaghe had signed a contract to defend his WBO super-middleweight title against former star of The Contender Peter Manfredo Jr. of the United States on 7 April 2007, at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, to be shown on HBO. Because HBO did not want to cover a fight with the non-American mandatory IBF challenger Robert Stieglitz of Germany, and with the opportunity to fight World Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor in the summer if he won against Manfredo, Calzaghe chose to fight Manfredo and as a result had to relinquish the IBF super-middleweight championship. Both Calzaghe and Warren claimed that, "Stieglitz doesn't mean anything outside Germany."[44] Stieglitz went on to fight Alejandro Berrio for the vacant IBF title, losing in 3 rounds. Berrio in turn lost the title to Lucian Bute in his first defense.[45]

On 7 April 2007, Calzaghe met Peter Manfredo Jr. in front of 35,000 fans in Cardiff, Wales.[46] Calzaghe was victorious on a third-round stoppage, unleashing a flurry of punches on the outclassed Manfredo, who threw nothing in return, thus drawing a stoppage from the referee. Manfredo and some American commentators called the stoppage premature because Manfredo did not appear hurt.[47] HBO's ringside announcers declared that the stoppage was "way too quick." Trainer Emanuel Steward did contend that Calzaghe was clearly on his way to victory, but the stoppage was no fault of his own.

Calzaghe in 2007

In May 2007, Frank Warren released details to BBC 5 Live and on his website that Calzaghe had accepted Mogens Palle's offer of $5 million to fight undefeated WBA & WBC world champion Mikkel Kessler. The bout took place at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 4 November.[48] The fight was a unification bout for the WBO, The Ring, WBA (Undisputed) and WBC super-middleweight titles. Calzaghe won by unanimous decision, surpassing the 20 defences made by Bernard Hopkins and Larry Holmes at middleweight and heavyweight respectively.[49][50][51] Only former heavyweight champion Joe Louis (with 25 defences), former light heavyweight champion Dariusz Michalczewski (23 defences), former minimumweight champion Ricardo López (23 defences), and former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (23 defences) have made more title defences.

Calzaghe was frequently described as undisputed champion,[49][50][52][53] but since he had relinquished the IBF title, others argued that this was not strictly accurate.[54][55] Reuters called him the "Undisputed King" of the division,[51] while David A Avila said he was "the true undisputed world champion. Forget about the IBF titleholder Alejandro Berrio. That's really Calzaghe's belt too."[56] The WBA describes an "Undisputed Champion" as one who holds any two of the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles;[57] which Calzaghe did after beating Kessler and had earlier done after beating Lacy.

On 19 April 2008, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas,[58] Calzaghe defeated Bernard Hopkins to win The Ring Light Heavyweight Championship by a split decision in his first ever fight in the United States.

Calzaghe did not get off to a good start. In the first round, Hopkins struck him with a right hand, knocking him down.[59] As the rounds went on, Calzaghe continued to push the pace and began to get his rhythm going by landing combinations at close range. Hopkins' key weapon was his right hand, but after a few rounds Calzaghe could see the right hands coming and easily blocked the shots whilst Hopkins gradually tired.[60] According to CompuBox, Calzaghe landed more punches on Hopkins than any of his previous opponents. Calzaghe also outlanded Hopkins in both total punches and power punches in each round of the fight.[61] American Judges Chuck Giampa (116–111) and Ted Gimza (115–112) scored the fight clearly for Calzaghe, while judge Adalaide Byrd (114–113) scored the fight narrowly for Hopkins. HBO's unofficial ringside judge Harold Lederman scored the bout 116–111 for Calzaghe.

Hopkins was upset with the official decision and said that he was robbed of a clear points win. Hopkins said, "I just really feel like I took the guy to school. I feel like I made him fight my fight, not his. I wanted him to run into my shots. I think I made him do that, and I think I made it look pretty easy. I think I controlled the pace, and I controlled the fight." He has also openly stated that he wanted a rematch with Calzaghe.[62]

Calzaghe said: "It was one of the toughest fights of my career. ... He is very clever. He was so awkward. It wasn't pretty, but I won the fight. ... It wasn't my best night, but I know I won."[63]

"The first four rounds, and after that Calzaghe got in his groove, much like he did when he fought Mikkel Kessler, and from that point on it was Calzaghe. And Calzaghe didn't fight as good a fight as he could've fought, and he still won decisively," Emanuel Steward said at ringside.

Calzaghe split with promoter Frank Warren in June 2008 and announced that he would promote his fights personally for the remainder of his career. The split caused Warren to launch a court case against Calzaghe, claiming that a verbal promise to promote the Roy Jones Jr. fight was broken and that Calzaghe owed him $1.4 million;[64] Calzaghe in turn claimed that Warren owed him past fees. In March 2009 the High Court ruled that Warren had persuaded Calzaghe to sign contracts under duress when Calzaghe was hungry and dehydrated preparing for matches and that Warren's company Sports Network Limited owed Calzaghe $2.8 million in unpaid fees.[65]

On 8 July 2008, after Calzaghe's split from Frank Warren, it was officially announced that the 39-year-old, Roy Jones Jr., and 36-year-old Joe Calzaghe had reached an agreement to fight for The Ring Light Heavyweight Championship in New York City at Madison Square Garden on 20 September 2008 on HBO PPV. Jones was on the comeback trail, and coming off a win over Félix Trinidad. After Calzaghe injured his right hand in training,[66] the fight was postponed,[67] with 8 November being set as the new date. Calzaghe was put down in the first round. Two close rounds followed before Calzaghe took control of the fight. In the eighth round, Jones sustained a cut over an eye, nearly forcing a stoppage. All three judges' decisions were 118–109 for Calzaghe.[68]

On 5 February 2009, Joe Calzaghe announced his retirement from professional boxing. He finished his career with a record of 46 wins and no losses, and becoming one of only fifteen world champions (to date) to retire as an undefeated world champion.[69] After his retirement, fellow boxer and friend, Ricky Hatton described him as "the best British fighter we've ever had."[70]

As of May 2023, BoxRec rates Calzaghe as the second greatest European boxer, pound for pound, of all time, behind Duilio Loi.[71][72]