Joe Calzaghe
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| Joseph William Calzaghe | |
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| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Joseph William Calzaghe |
| Nickname(s) | The Pride of Wales The Italian Dragon |
| Rated at | Light Heavyweight Super Middleweight |
| Height | 5 ft 11.5 in (1.82 m) |
| Reach | 190 cm (74.8 in) |
| Nationality |  Welsh |
| Birth date | 23 March 1972 |
| Birth place | Hammersmith, London, UK |
| Stance | Southpaw |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 45 |
| Wins | 45 |
| Wins by KO | 32 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Joe Calzaghe MBE (born 23 March 1972 in Hammersmith, London, England) is a British boxer, whose mother is from Wales and father is from Sardinia, and who currently lives in Newbridge, Caerphilly, and is rated by Ring Magazine as pound for pound one of the top 10 boxers in the world.[1]
He is sometimes referred to as the "Italian Dragon" in reference to his mixed heritage (the dragon being both a Welsh emblem and a Sardinian myth), or the "Pride of Wales." He is the current WBO, WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine world super middleweight champion. He also holds the Ring light heavyweight title. He previously held the IBF world super middleweight and the British super middleweight championships.
Calzaghe is the longest reigning title holder in any weight class in boxing, recently passing the ten year mark as the WBO super middleweight champion. He is part of the Team Calzaghe boxing gym.
In 2007, Calzaghe became BBC Sports Personality of the Year on December 9, beating Ricky Hatton and Lewis Hamilton by gaining 28.19% of the public vote.[2] This made Calzaghe the first Welsh winner of this award since show jumper David Broome in 1960.
Calzaghe holds notable wins over Chris Eubank, Robin Reid, Richie Woodhall, Charles Brewer, Byron Mitchell, Jeff Lacy, Mikkel Kessler, and Bernard Hopkins.
Contents |
Biography
Calzaghe was born in Hammersmith, west London, United Kingdom to Sardinian Enzo Calzaghe and his Welsh wife Jackie.[3] He has two children aged 13 and 10.
Amateur
Calzaghe started boxing aged nine, with the southpaw having 120+ fights and won four schoolboy ABA titles, followed by three consecutive senior British ABA titles (British Championships) from 1991 to 1993. This made him only the second boxer in history to win at welter, light middleweight and middleweight divisions. He also beat future WBO and IBF heavyweight world champion Chris Byrd as a middleweight in 1992.[4] Calzaghe received his only ever defeat when he boxed at amateur level when he boxed at the 1990 Welsh ABA final against Michael Smyth.[5]
Professional career
In September 1993 Calzaghe was signed up to the Terry Lawless and Mickey Duff stable and made his professional debut at Cardiff Arms Park on the Lewis-Bruno bill the following month. By June 1995, Calzaghe had won nine out of nine fights, seven in the first round and two in the second. 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's top tipping Calzaghe for 1996: "He punches ferociously, moves superbly and has the best of the European technique and US aggression."
By October 1995, he had won the British title, stopping Steve Wilson in the eighth round. Calzaghe's critics said that he had not really been tested, while Calzaghe said in reply that he could only beat whoever was out there and prepared to fight him.
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." Warren spent the summer of 1997 chasing a fight for Calzaghe with either WBC champion Robin Reid or WBO title holder 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.
WBO Super Middleweight title holder
A fight against the recently deposed title holder and British boxing legend Chris Eubank was set up for the vacant WBO title for 11 October 1997, in Sheffield. Calzaghe shocked the world by emerging victorious over the two time WBO champion, knocking down Eubank in the first round then 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."
Calzaghe conceded that Eubank, even in his comeback, gave him the toughest fight of his life.
In 1998 he defended his title against Branco Sobot (winning by technical knockout in 3 rounds) and then Juan Carlos Gimenez (TKO in 10 rounds), a former opponent of both Nigel Benn and Eubank.
In 1999, Calzaghe started out by fighting his domestic rival, Robin Reid. Calzaghe was bitter that Reid refused to face him whilst holding the WBC championship in a unification bout, and vowed to beat him. After twelve rounds, the judges scored the fight for Calzaghe via a split decision. Reid was never given the opportunity of a rematch. Calzaghe damaged his hand early on in the fight and according to Calzaghe, he suffered a dose of food poisoning. Calzaghe finished the year with another points win against Rick Thornberry.
2000 started with another points decision against David Starie. This was followed by wins against the Omar Sheika (a five round stoppage), and former WBC champion and close friend Richie Woodhall.
2001 started with a first round stoppage win over unbeaten Mario Veit, followed by a win against Will Mcintyre on the Tyson undercard in Copenhagen.
2002 started with points wins against both the former IBF champion Charles Brewer and Miguel Jimenez in Cardiff, followed by a TKO of Tocker Pudwill, who took the fight at very short notice, in Newcastle in December.
Calzaghe's only fight of 2003 was in June against Byron Mitchell at the Cardiff International Arena. Calzaghe won by TKO in the second. Calzaghe suffered his first career knockdown in this fight being down himself in the second round.[6]
2004 started out with a defence against Mger Mkrtchian in Cardiff where he won with a seventh round knockout, followed by a points win over Karbary Salem in Edinburgh in October, during which Calzaghe was knocked down in the fourth round by a right hand. However, he dominated the fight and knocked Salem down in the 12th round, winning comfortably on all three scorecards, 116-109,117-109,118-107.
Veit got a rematch against Calzaghe in Braunschweig, Germany, in July 2005. Calzaghe beat Veit by technical knockout in the sixth round. On 10 September 2005, Calzaghe fought the Kenyan boxer Evans Ashira and won by a unanimous decision despite breaking his left hand in the third round. Calzaghe fought on one-handed winning 120-108, 120-108, 120-107.
IBF Super Middleweight Champion
His scheduled bout with IBF world champion Jeff Lacy for 5 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 unanimous points decision over Lacy who was a heavy pre-fight favourite with the bookmakers,[7] and pundits alike. Calzaghe dominated throughout the fight, with the British fight fans chanting "Over-rated" 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 recognition from The Ring magazine.
On 14 October 2006, Sakio Bika challenged Calzaghe. Two points were deducted from Bika for head butts, one of which led to a severe cut over Calzaghe's left eye which would cause him problems for the duration of the bout. Calzaghe won the fight on decision, to retain his undefeated run.
Relinquishing IBF world championship
On November 27, 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. on April 7, 2007, at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales to be shown on HBO. Because HBO didn't want to cover any fight with mandatory IBF challenger Robert Stieglitz, and with the opportunity if he won against Manfredo to fight Taylor in the summer, 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 of Germany." 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.
Fighting "Contender" Peter Manfredo Jr.
On April 7, 2007, Calzaghe met Peter Manfredo Jr. in front of 35,000 fans in Cardiff, Wales. Calzaghe was victorious on a third round stoppage, unleashing a flurry of punches on Manfredo, who threw nothing in return, thus drawing a stoppage from the referee. Manfredo and some commentators called the stoppage premature because Manfredo did not appear hurt. HBO's ringside announcers declared that the stoppage was "way too quick." Trainer Emanuel Steward did contend that Calzaghe was on his way to victory, but the stoppage taints the performance by no fault of his own.
Undisputed Title
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 Mikkel Kessler in Copenhagen, Denmark. The bout took place at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on November 4.[8]The fight was a unification bout for the WBO/WBA/WBC/Ring Magazine super middleweight titles. Calzaghe won by unanimous decision becoming the first undisputed super middleweight champion of the world and surpassed the 20 defenses made by Bernard Hopkins and Larry Holmes at middleweight and heavyweight respectively.[9][10][11] Only Joe Louis with 25 defenses of the undisputed heavyweight title and Dariusz Michalczewski with 23 defenses of the WBO light heavyweight title have more defenses of a title.
Fight against Bernard Hopkins
On April 19, 2008, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, Calzaghe defeated Bernard Hopkins and won The Ring light heavyweight championship by split decision in his first ever fight in the United States. Calzaghe did not get off to a good start. Hopkins dropped him with a right hand in the first round and began to get the better of Calzaghe on the inside. As the rounds went on, Calzaghe 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 blocked the shots with his glove. According to CompuBox, Calzaghe landed more punches on Hopkins than any of his previous opponents. In the end, judges Chuck Giampa (116-111) and Ted Gimza (115-112) scored the fight for Calzaghe, while judge Adalaide Byrd (114-113) scored the fight for Hopkins.[12]
Fight against Kelly Pavlik
On May 28, 2008 it was announced that Calzaghe's next opponent would be Kelly Pavlik with his WBO middleweight title on the line.
Professional boxing record
| 45 Wins (32 knockouts, 13 decisions), 0 Losses, 0 Draws[13] | |||||||
| Res. | Opponent | Type | Rd., Time | Date | Location | Notes | |
| Win | Bernard Hopkins | Decision (split) | 12 | 2008-04-19 |  Las Vegas, Nevada, USA |
Won Ring light heavyweight title held by Hopkins. | |
| Win | Mikkel Kessler | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2007-11-03 | Cardiff, Wales |
Super Middleweight championship bout for Calzaghe's WBO SuperMiddleweight title and Kessler's WBA and WBC titles. |
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| Win | Peter Manfredo | TKO | 3 (12), 1:30 | 2007-04-07 | Cardiff, Wales |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Sakio Bika | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2006-10-14 |  Manchester, England |
Retained IBF and WBO Super Middleweight titles. Vacated the IBF title after this fight. |
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| Win | Jeff Lacy | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2006-03-04 | Manchester, England |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title and won IBF Super Middleweight title. |
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| Win | Evans Ashira | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2005-09-10 | Cardiff, Wales |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Mario Veit | TKO | 6 (12), 0:42 | 2005-05-07 |  Braunschweig, Germany |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Kabary Salem | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2004-10-22 |  Edinburgh, Scotland |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Mger Mkrtchian | TKO | 7 (12), 1:05 | 2004-02-21 | Cardiff, Wales |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Byron Mitchell | TKO | 2 (12) | 2003-06-28 | Cardiff, Wales |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Tocker Pudwill | Decision (unanimous) | 2 (12), 0:39 | 2002-12-14 | Newcastle, England |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Miguel Ángel Jiménez | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2002-08-17 | Cardiff, Wales |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Charles Brewer | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2002-04-20 | Cardiff, Wales |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Will McIntyre | TKO | 4 (12), 0:45 | 2001-10-13 |  Copenhagen, Denmark |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Mario Veit | TKO | 1 (12), 1:52 | 2001-04-28 | Cardiff, Wales |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Richie Woodhall | TKO | 10 (12), 0:28 | 2000-12-16 | Sheffield, England |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Omar Sheika | TKO | 5 (12), 2;08 | 2000-08-12 | Wembley, England |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | David Starie | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2000-01-29 | Manchester, England |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Rick Thornberry | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 1999-06-05 | Cardiff, Wales |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Robin Reid | Decision (split) | 12 | 1999-02-13 | Newcastle, England |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Juan Carlos Gimenez Ferreyra |
TKO | 9 (12), 3:00 | 1998-04-25 | Cardiff, Wales |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Branko Sobot | TKO | 3 (12), 1:35 | 1998-01-24 | Cardiff, Wales |
Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Chris Eubank | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 1997-10-11 | Sheffield, England |
Won WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Luciano Torres | TKO | 3 (10) | 1997-06-05 | Bristol, England |
Relinquished BBBofC British Super Middleweight title after this fight. |
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| Win | Tyler Hughes | KO | 1 (10) | 1997-03-22 | Manchester, England |
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| Win | Carlos Christie | TKO | 2 (10) | 1997-01-21 | Bristol, England |
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| Win | Pat Lawlor | TKO | 2 (10) | 1996-05-15 | Cardiff, Wales |
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| Win | Warren Stowe | TKO | 2 (10) | 1996-05-04 | Dagenham, England |
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| Win | Mark Delaney | TKO | 5 (12) | 1996-04-20 | Brentwood, England |
Retained BBBofC British Super Middleweight title. |
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| Win | Anthony Brooks | TKO | 2 (10) | 1996-03-13 | Wembley, England |
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| Win | Guy Stanford | TKO | 1 (10) | 1996-02-13 | Cardiff, Wales |
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| Win | Stephen Wilson | TKO | 8 (12) | 1995-10-28 | London, England |
Won vacant BBBofC British Super Middleweight title. |
|
| Win | Nick Manners | TKO | 4 (10) | 1995-09-30 | Basildon, England |
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| Win | Tyrone Jackson | TKO | 4 (8), 1:08 | 1995-07-08 | York, England |
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| Win | Robert Curry | TKO | 1 (8) | 1995-05-19 | London, England |
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| Win | Bobbie Joe Edwards | Decision (unanimous) | 8 | 1995-02-22 | Telford, England |
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| Win | Frank Minton | KO | 1 (8), 1:25 | 1995-02-14 | London, England |
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| Win | Trevor Ambrose | TKO | 2 (8) | 1994-11-30 | Wolverhampton, England |
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| Win | Mark Lee Dawson | TKO | 1 (6) | 1994-10-01 | Cardiff, Wales |
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| Win | Karl Barwise | TKO | 1 (6) | 1994-06-04 | Cardiff, Wales |
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| Win | Darren Littlewood | TKO | 1 (6) | 1994-03-01 | Dudley, England |
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| Win | Martin Rosamond | TKO | 1 (6) | 1994-01-22 | Cardiff, Wales |
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| Win | Spencer Alton | TKO | 2 (4) | 1993-12-16 | Newport, Wales |
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| Win | Paul Mason | TKO | 1 (4) | 1993-11-10 | Watford, England |
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| Win | Paul Hanlon | TKO | 1 (4) | 1993-10-01 | Cardiff, Wales |
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See also
- List of male boxers
- Reigning boxing champions
- Ring Magazine pound for pound
- List of The Ring world champions
References
- ^ The Ring Ratings. The Ring. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
- ^ BBC News Sports Article retrieved 10th December 2007
- ^ www.joecalzaghe.com Retrieved 14 January 2007
- ^ Joe Calzaghe - Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia
- ^ [http://www.newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7346607.stm.
- ^ Calzaghe scores explosive win. BBC.co.uk (2003-06-28). Retrieved on 2008-04-20.
- ^ Clinical Calzaghe. BBC Sport (2006-03-05). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
- ^ Calzaghe-Kessler set Cardiff date. BBC Sport (11 July 2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-12.
- ^ Masterful Calzaghe hands Kessler first defeat. ABC Australia news (November 4, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-12.
- ^ Paul Upham (November 4, 2007). Calzaghe Outboxes Kessler To Become Undisputed World Champion. SecondsOut.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-12.
- ^ Jason Abelson (November 4, 2007). Calzaghe Undisputed Super Middleweight King. TheFightNetwork.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-12.
- ^ Vester, Mark (2008-04-19). Joe Calzaghe Outpoints Bernard Hopkins to Win!. BoxingScene.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-20.
- ^ boxrec.com
External links
- Official Joe Calzaghe website
- Joe Calzaghe Fight-by-Fight Career Record
- Showtime fighter facts
- Professional boxing record for Joe Calzaghe from Boxrec
- Statistics at BritishBoxing.net
- BBC Wales profile
- Boxing-Enzyklopädie
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Tanni Grey-Thompson |
BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2001 |
Succeeded by Mark Hughes |
| Preceded by Gareth Thomas |
BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2006,2007 |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Zara Phillips |
BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2007 |
Incumbent |
| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by Steve Collins Retired |
WBO Super Middleweight Champion September 11, 1997 – present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Jeff Lacy |
IBF Super Middleweight Champion March 4, 2006 – November 27, 2006 Vacated |
Succeeded by Alejandro Berrio filled vacancy |
| Preceded by Mikkel Kessler |
WBC Super Middleweight Champion November 4, 2007 – present |
Incumbent |
| WBA Super Middleweight Super Champion November 4, 2007 – present |
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| Preceded by Bernard Hopkins |
The Ring Light Heavyweight Champion April 19th, 2008 - present |
Incumbent |
