Boxing: Calzaghe legacy will stand the test of time

Apr 21 2008 by Delme Parfitt, South Wales Echo

IT’S taken Joe Calzaghe 15 years as a professional boxer to construct a legacy that will be talked about 100 years from now and beyond.

Which is why, as he jetted out of Las Vegas last night with the Ring Magazine light-heavyweight belt over his shoulder and the crown of Wales’ greatest ever sportsman on his head, it was impossible not to be faintly anxious about just where he should go from here.

One thing is certain. Calzaghe and Welsh boxing will never have it as good as Vegas on Saturday night.

Not only did our valleys boy-made-good rubber-stamp his tag as the best in the world, it was a victory for Wales as well.

A victory from the moment Sir Tom Jones, boomed out Land of My Fathers, through the exemplary respecting of the American national anthem which contrasted so sharply to the Ricky Hatton disgrace last December, to the all-important moment of triumph for Calzaghe.

If the Dragon is emblazoned on your heart, it was a sequence of events to cherish for the rest of your life. Which is why our new national hero should be cautious about the next step he takes.

Calzaghe has already confirmed that he believes fighting 39-year-old Roy Jones Jr – in town this weekend to politely call out the man from Newbridge – would be a fitting way to end his career. Maybe so. But then again, maybe not.

Before going any further, nobody could blame Calzaghe for seeking to cash in on the confirmation of his superstar credentials with one more extravaganza. He has the rest of his life in front of him so why not make that even more financially secure than it already is – if he can?

But Calzaghe also has the rest of his life to dwell on his stellar career, and what better way to do that than under the backdrop of an unsullied, undefeated record.

The history of boxing is littered with fighters who never knew when enough was enough. It would be soul-destroying to see Calzaghe join their ranks.

There are those – Hopkins for one – who have gone on longer than their 36th year and stayed more or less at the peak of their powers.

But with every passing month, the odds lengthen on Calzaghe never experiencing a loss.

He admits that motivation is now becoming a problem for him, so you have to wonder how up for tackling Jones Jr he will be after what he did in Vegas.

He would certainly have far less to prove than he did against Hopkins when a desert environment, a new weight and a real-deal opponent gave him such a mountain to climb.

So once you’ve scaled Everest, why bother with Kilimanjaro?

There was a time when former four-weight world champion Jones Jr was the ultimate catch for Calzaghe.

Five or six years ago the New Yorker was considered the best pound-for-pound pugilist in the world, but when Frank Warren approached him Jones Jr considered Calzaghe too dangerous and balked at the idea of going to Cardiff to face him.

“I didn’t need him then, so why risk it?” he told me last week.

Well, Calzaghe doesn’t need Jones Jr now – so why risk it?

Of course, the man himself knows his body better than anyone. Only Calzaghe knows whether he genuinely has another bullet left to fire.

And he seemed so much happier going into the fight as a light-heavyweight that he may fancy a couple more goes at performing at the 175lb mark.

But he must also remember that whatever his reading on the scales, he is a fighter who relies on his speed and reflexes.

And they are attributes that age can rob a man of overnight.

So while Calzaghe deserves the upcoming Caribbean holiday he has planned with girlfriend Jo-Emma, he needs to think long and hard about his future path in between his poolside rum and cokes.

Yet before we become overly concerned with what may be further down the road, Wales must salute what it witnessed at the Thomas and Mack Centre on Saturday night.

The bout will not be remembered as vintage, but then again it was never going to be.

It was enough that for sheer tension it could have come straight out of a movie script, as the watching Sylvester Stallone would probably testify.

Calzaghe was floored in the first round when he didn’t see a short, straight Hopkins right that was heading for his chin.

He went down, and what unfolded up to round four suggested Hopkins was about to back up every last world of his pre-fight arrogance.

Calzaghe was as busy as ever, but he couldn’t find a way through the street-wise defence of his opponent and it was the Philadelphian who appeared to be landing all the telling blows.

Yet those fearing the worst had forgotten the sheer relentless will to win ingrained into the away fighter, not to mention his famed ability to adapt to trying circumstances.

Despite looking shell-shocked immediately after the knockdown, there was never a moment in the fight where Calzaghe wasn’t the man coming forward.

His work-rate was Trojan, and the statistics bore that out with him landing more than 400 punches on Hopkins compared to 243 that hit the target from the American.

Nobody was aware of that statistic during the wait for the verdict though, and hearts were pounding as the results were handed to the MC.

“The Ring Magazine light-heavyweight champion of the world...from NEWBRIDGE...” was the immortal line in the end.

The 14,200 fans crammed into the auditorium – 70% of whom were either Welsh or British, went wild. Hopkins shook his head in exaggerated disbelief, Calzaghe raised his arms in elation.

Boxing connoisseurs may have felt somewhat short-changed by the action, but the compelling drama of a gladiatorial scrap that went the distance gave all those who had travelled full value for money and more.

Late on Saturday night, the air balmy and the atmosphere of Sin City at its seductive height, the Welsh army – most more used either to the Edinburgh-Dublin-Paris-Rome rugby trail or away trips with Cardiff City – toasted their champion.

The one niggling footnote? Hopkins’ inability to accept being beaten by the better man and his total rejection of Calzaghe’s worthiness as the new champion.

His stance set new standards of ghastliness, even in modern-day boxing terms. He is not the first fighter to disagree with the decision of the judges, but the rambling gusto of his objection was breathtaking in its delusion.

Calzaghe was spot-on to dismiss his nonsense as sour grapes. The Welshman doesn’t know what it is like to lose, but he can certainly win graciously.

To his credit, it was only after having to sit through 20 minutes of Hopkins’ ridiculousness that he was willing to go on the attack himself, but even then, unlike his opponent, there was every justification in what he said.

Not that such verbals will matter in the greater scheme of things. What took place inside the ring is what will be remembered and Calzaghe, as he has done time and time again down the years, refused to blink when the ignominy of a humbling defeat looked him squarely in the eye.

Vegas has broken many a British fighter, but it has proved the making of Joe Calzaghe.

Today he stands imperiously at the summit of Wales’ sporting legacy.

The search for equals to have come from our small nation is futile, Calzaghe trumps them all.

Who knows just what the future now has in store? Whatever it is, we will always have our memories of Vegas.

delme.parfitt@mediawales.co.uk