Originally Posted by WWatt
Joe Calzaghe was off to the Barcelona Olympics where'd of lit up the games with his snappy flurries and sharp power punches and won the Gold in style, but got screwed out of it because the Welsh ABA felt he disrespected opponents the way he'd drop his gloves and tap opponents on the head, and Ali shuffles etc, and so screwing him out of the Olympics was kind of a punishment. Look how Amir Khan's career has taken off after his Olympic adventure, he was a household name in Britain before he even had one pro fight and Joe isn't even a household name in little Wales yet.
Calzaghe won the British ABA's three years in a row at three different weights, in sparkling form, KD'ing every one of his opponents. It was clear he was something special. His last defeat (to date) had come when he was 17 in Prague at the Junior European Championships and was described to make Roy Jones Jr's loss to Park Si-Hun look fair by comparison!
He turned pro under Mickey Duff, who described him as "the best British amateur to turn pro for about 10 years", despite having Naseem Hamed in his stable at the time. Calzaghe had it all - cockiness in abundance, good looks in abundance.. Calzaghe's attitude made Naseem Hamed seem humble by comparison and he was definately model-esque ala David Beckham.
Duff spoke of getting Joe fights in Italy as well as Wales so that he had two money-markets, and of Joe winning world titles at three different weights from super-middle to cruiser. Joe's first 19 fights went untelevised. In the meantime, Naseem Hamed had jumped ship to Frank Warren's stable and with his fights live on ITV in '94 became a household name and star as Prince Naseem. If Joe had signed with Warren from the start, he had that superstar potential, without a doubt.
Joe signed for Warren in the fall of '96, and when he fought Eubank to win his world title almost a year later it was only on British PPV and after midnight (Eubank had stepped in for Steve Collins at late notice, and they moved Eubank to the main event instead of Hamed) so not many saw it. And it was Eubank who made all the headlines and got all credit from the fight for being a good loser (the British public prefers a good loser to a good winner!), it wasn't the birth of Joe Calzaghe - it was just Eubank against an opponent, Eubank's return. It's unfortunate it had to be Eubank of all people he won the world title against, because he completely over-shadowed Joe as you'd expect (even despite losing). What he did to EUBANK was spectacular, flooring him spectacularly with the first punch he threw, if that was on ITV Joe would of been a star there and then.
Joe turned down the chance to fight at Madison Square Garden on HBO in Dec '97 because he hadn't recovered in time from the Eubank fight. HBO were going to sign him and built him up to a Roy Jones fight if he put on a good performance against Reid, he was broke his hand early on and was boo'd out the building. HBO were going to sign him and built him up to a Roy Jones fight if he put on a good performance against Starie, he was broke his hand early on and was boo'd out the building.
So it's the year 2000 and nobody has a clue who Joe Calzaghe is (despite being one of the most talented at his profession on the planet), outside of die-hard British boxing fans. He finally found his 1996/97 form again though against Sheika, Woodhall and Veit due to seeing a specialist about his hand injury after the Starie fight and getting it sorted. But five years later and only now has he really reached potential superstardom, for one reason or another, one being that Jones Jr, Hopkins, Tarver etc weren't willing to come to Wales, others being that Joe wasn't willing to give up his world title and campaign in America.
Can he still become a superstar? I think he can! Look at one of Joe's hero's Marvelous Marvin Hagler, he didn't become popular until the end of his career when he was well into his 30's. Joe's hero Sugar Ray Leonard has said that Joe still has superstar potential if he goes Stateside. In New York, there are a lot of Italian-American's who'd take to him, IMO. He can model underpants, aftershaves etc, get him up on billboards across Wales for starters.. he has a nice, straight nose because he's so F****** good he's never been hit on it. I think his sheer ring skill and boxing flair Stateside would attract him plenty of attention, if they saw him in the flesh. He has a unique style with the punching technique he uses, something to seperate him from the rest. And he's a bonafide warrior who loves standing and fighting - which the American's love. He's on ITV1 these days, too.
He can do a 'Hagler' with big fights against the Taylor's, Wright's, Tarver's, Hopkins's to finish his career and no unappealing mandatories inbetween. But Kessler would be the icing on the cake for his super-middleweight legacy because Joe has beaten all the best Brit's (Eubank, Reid, Starie, Woodhall) and all the best American's (Sheika, Brewer, Mitchell, Lacy) and just lacks that elite European (ala Kessler) to top it off. Clinton Woods is another option, to become a two-weight world champion. Next summer, he can fight at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.
It's all there for the taking. It's all in place IMO for him to become one of the all-time greats!
