SaddoBoxing: Since becoming the undisputed supper middleweight world champion, you have won the British Sports Personality of the Year Award and were awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award; has anything changed for you?
Joe Calzaghe: “Not much changes me, Iʼm still the same guy down to earth, but I do get recognised more on the streets. It is harder going into places than before where I wouldnʼt have been recognised, but now I am; itʼs because I am getting the recognition finally. I think I deserved that, though, for being a champion for so many years, the most asked question I always had before was if I thought I had the recognition I deserved?
“But, they canʼt ask me that anymore because I had the ultimate recognition now by being voted by the public as the British Sporting Personality of the Year which was a massive honour for me and capped of a great year for me. I was also just as proud to see me dad pick up the Trainer of the Year too, which was amazing you know? It was an absolutely fantastic year 2007, also with the boys in the gym, three world champions now and a lot of others who are looking deserving of a title shot.” More…
According to media sources, Bernard Hopkins recently stated in an interview that Golden Boy Promotions has made an $8 million offer to Joe Calzaghe’s promoter Frank Warren for Calzaghe to fight Hopkins in the United States on a Golden Boy promotion.
Earlier today, I contacted Calzaghe to inquire if the rumors were true and here is what the super middleweight champion had to say on the reports.
“If this is true, just tell me the time and date and I’ll be there!”, said Joe. “I have spoken to Frank [Warren] and he assured me that he has received no such offer from Golden Boy.”
Calzaghe even logged on to his computer during our conversation to see the article for himself, since neither he nor his camp had heard any such talk, either in person or through news sources, prior to my contacting him More…
Just briefly removed from a career best victory over Mikkel Kessler, WBO/WBA/WBC Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe talked exclusively to SaddoBoxing.
SaddoBoxing: Congratulations on your latest win, how are you feeling now champ?
Joe Calzaghe: “Awesome, it was a big fight you know, at this stage
of my career being 10 years as champion and never getting that career defining fight, never getting the motivation, and then obviously the Lacy fight happened and I thought that it was my defining moment but this surpassed that.
“Obviously I held all four major belts now, I’m the ring champion, and there were over 50,000 in attendance and beaten an excellent fighter like Kessler who I have no doubt will definitely be world champion again one day.
SB: You mentioned about being the Ring champion now, and holding all four major belts at some point, is there any belt that’s more special to you now, or do they all have their own value?
JC: “They are all special in their own way you know? At the end of the day, the WBO belt is obviously considered by a lot of people to be the least prestigious, but that’s been the belt I have held for 10 years, the one I beat Chris Eubank for, The IBF I won against Lacy and the WBC and WBA are considered to be the most prestigious and it was nice to complete the collection. The Ring championship belt, being the first fighter [at super middleweight]to win it; in their own way they are all special.” More…
In every sport that’s played, the participants will always carry the hopes of their nation in their selected sport. It has been proven at times that nothing can be more daunting that getting involved in an already tough test whilst you carry the hopes of the entire nation, and what can be more daunting whilst doing it in front of tens of thousands of people in a ring with someone who is literally trying to knock you out cold and crush the dreams of your people?
Joe Calzaghe is boxing’s longest reigning world champion; he has been carrying the hopes and dreams of his nation for over a decade. The Current undisputed super-middleweight champion was tipped to achieve greatness in his amateur days, and even more so when he turned pro.
As an amateur, Calzaghe had an outstanding record of roughly 120 rights with only 9 losses. It was a disgrace he was not taken to the Olympic Games as he seemed the hot favourite to bring home the Gold.
Last night in front of over 50,000 in attendance and the millions of people watching around the world, Calzaghe entered the toughest test of his career when he met the undefeated and highly rated WBC and WBA Super-middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler.
Once again, Calzaghe had the hopes of the nation on his shoulders and truly one of the greatest sportsmen to have ever come from Wales entered a must win fight. Anything other than a win would be unthinkable and devastating to Calzaghe and the nation, as people from all over the UK came to cheer him on in this his most definitive fight, something that can stifle entire teams, let alone one man who has to do it all on his own. More…
As The Ring’s super middleweight world champion Joe Calzaghe and WBO Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Maccarinelli head into their final week of preparations, I was honoured to be invited up to the Newbridge gym by “Big Mac” himself, to watch him, Calzaghe and promising undefeated light heavyweight prospect Nathan Cleverly work a high paced demanding training session exactly one week before their up and coming fights on November 3 at Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium.
When I arrived at the gym that houses three world champions, it was almost deserted apart from the presence of one of boxing’s most underrated figures, one Enzo Calzaghe.
The best trainer to have come from the British Isles, and one of the most accomplished and hottest trainers in the world right now was going through the final preparations to get everything ready to put his boys through their paces for the evening’s training session.
After a quick hand shake and introduction, he left leaving me alone in the room to take it all in. I was able to move around the currently empty gym and take in over 12 years of fight posters that hung around the gym that Joe and the others had featured in, but as I stood in front of the most impressive and humbling of all, a wall-wall floor length poster entitled “A Decade of Dominance” that featured all 21 title fights Joe had been in, it was then that I started to contemplate what I was set to expect when boxing’s longest reigning world champion, Joe Calzaghe arrived.
For years, “the Pride of Wales” had maintained that the better the opponent, and the tougher the test, the better he would be. To many, he had proven this, with not just the Lacy fight, but the numerous other former title holders and touted prospects he has put away and destroyed. More…
Fresh off his stunning 12 round victory over one of the most dangerous cruiserweights in the world, WBO Cruiserweight Champion Enzo “Big Mac” Maccarinelli, 27-1 (20), took time out once again to sit down with SaddoBoxing to talk about his fight with Wayne “Big Truck” Braithwaite, a possible future show down with IBF champion Steve Cunningham and much, much more.
SaddoBoxing: How pleased were you with your performance against Braithwaite?
Enzo Maccarinelli: “I was very pleased. It was a bit of a hindrance where obviously I damaged the right hand. A lot of people thought I done it in the fight, I done it actually on the pads before I went into the fight. It was a strain on it [the right hand] and I cracked him in the second round with a right hand and I felt a lot of pain there.
“But it didn’t trouble me that much, it stopped me throwing as many as I wanted to throw, it took that weapon away from me. On the whole, I’ve got to be happy. 12 rounds comfortably against one of the most dangerous cruiserweights in the world, and I beat him in every round.”
SB: Before the fight, obviously you wanted to knock him out, but looking back now, do you think it was better for you to have shown the world that you can outbox one of the best at your weight over 12 rounds?
EM: “Yeah, a lot of people have called me just a puncher, and by all means, if I end the rest of my fights in the first round for the rest of my career, who am I to complain? It does bother me in the fact when people say all I can do in the ring is just punch, but Braithwaite was said to come and out box me, out punch me, had to much strength for me, and you know I really done a number on him. More…
With two of the biggest and most accomplished names in British boxing right now coming towards the end of their careers, the majority of the British fans seemed to all be looking in the direction of the quick handed, undefeated Olympic Silver Medallist, Amir Khan as the future star of British boxing.
For some time, Joe Calzaghe alone had flown the flag for Brittons on the world scene of boxing before “The pride of Wales ” was joined by Manchester ’s Ricky Hatton with his stoppage of the undisputed light welter king Kostya Tszyu in June, 2005.
Since then, both fighters have firmly established themselves in the pound for pound ratings world wide, with the flawless destruction of Jeff Lacy by Calzaghe and the relentless body punching of Hatton that forced ring legend Joe Louis Castillo to crumble in jut four rounds.
But, as we head into the second half of 2007, both fighters are nearing the end of their careers, Calzaghe wanting just 2-3 more fights, and Hatton’s trainer Billy Graham wanting Ricky to call it a day after his hopefull “Megafight” with pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr; It leaves us all asking who the next star of British boxing will be?
Ever since he turned pro back in 2005, the British fans and experts all had big hopes on Amir Khan as the one to represent and fly the flag for the British on the world scene. They were tipping him for greatness not long after his pro debut, and it seemed the fans were right behind him. More…
WBO Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Maccarinelli, 25-1 (19), makes the first defense of his belt on Saturday, facing Canadian Bobby Gunn, 16-2 (13), on the undercard of the Joe Calzaghe - Peter Manfredo headliner at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on ITV and HBO.
After a hard morning’s training session, Enzo invited SaddoBoxing down to a cafe in his local town
of Swansea, Wales for an exclusive interview and thoughts on his upcoming fight, his second HBO appearance and a lot more…
SaddoBoxing: With just a week to go, how is the training going?
Enzo Maccarinelli: “Excellent! It couldn’t be better. Since moving to Enzo’s [Calzaghe] camp there has been a difference in the atmosphere and intensity in the gym. I always thought I was a fit lad, but working with Enzo, I now know what fitness is!”
SB: You are about to make your first title defence; can you tell us your thoughts and impressions about this upcoming fight with Bobby Gunn?
EM: “To be honest, I have seen nothing of him really, all I know about him is what I have read, and he doesn’t sound much. The only fighter whom I have fought, who I have watched [previously] was [Marcelo Fabian] Dominguez, who had never been stopped.” More…
Gammer Suffers First Loss; Williams on the comeback?
On Friday night at the Cwrt Herbert Sports Centre in Neath, Wales on a joint Matchroom/Paul Boyce promotion, SaddoBoxing was ringside to see Danny Williams’ latest bid to get his career back on track by meeting local hero and undefeated British heavyweight champion Scott Gammer.
Williams had weighed in at his lightest since his professional debut in October 1995, was looking very fit. In contrast, Gammer had weighed in at a career high 17 Stone 1Lb (239.75lbs), and being a fighter who lacked power but relied on his speed and stamina, this was a spanner in the works for the Gammer team from the start.
Well renowned for suffering from pre-fight nerves, Williams doesn’t like to show up too soon for fights and left it late this time, only 30 minutes before he was due to meet Gammer in the ring. More…
