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Joe Calzaghe travels to Germany to defend his title against his previous one round KO victim. Their first fight was in April 2001, when Joe was arguably at his peak, coming off knockouts against Omar Sheika and Richie Woodhall. Since then he has defended seven more times with Charles Brewer and Byron Mitchell his only opponents of note. Calzaghe’s once rock solid chin has also shown signs of wear and tear having suffered two knockdowns in his last three fights. Veit won his first thirty fights against the usual suspects and found himself harshly exposed in his challenge for the WBO title at the Cardiff Arena. Calzaghe belted him out before the two-minute mark and few thought that we would see him contest another major belt, but a run of fifteen consecutive wins has seen him win the WBO interim super middleweight title.
His last three encounters have seen him defeat Kabary Salem, Lolenga Mock and Charles Brewer, a significant step up when compared to his forty-two other sacrificial lambs. Veit beat Salem on a split decision in a fight which saw ‘The Egyptian Magician’ lose two points for head butting in round five. Two rounds later, Salem gained some revenge when he broke the referee’s nose with a ‘Glasgow Kiss’ midway through the seventh. As a reward for this loss, Kabary was offered a shot at Calzaghe’s full belt which saw both fighters decked (and more point deductions for excessive use of the ‘Holyfield Hook’) before a wide decision went to the Welsh Wizard. Veit then beat the tough Congolese fighter Mock, who almost derailed the David Haye express, on points before stopping the shopworn, but always dangerous, Charles ‘The Hatchet’ Brewer. Interestingly enough, Brewer suffered a stoppage in his next fight against Mock; surely the end of the road for him.
Veit and Calzaghe were both born in 1973, but Calzaghe resembles a fighter on the downside of a long career while Veit is now looking to duplicate Sven Ottke’s lengthy, but dubious reign and could be the fresher boxer – even though he has had eight more fights. Mario has it all to prove this weekend while Joe is almost in a no win situation; anything other than a first round knockout is a worse result than the first fight, while the German will be buoyed by fighting on home soil, the revenge factor and a chance to establish himself in the wide open super-middleweight division.
The champion may just be one of those fighters Veit could never beat, no matter what the circumstances (ref: Joe Frazier against George Foreman), or the first fight may just be a result of a great champion at the top of his game against an unprepared challenger. While Joe is a BIG favorite to repeat his win, albeit in a few more rounds, this writer believes that the German is a better groomed boxer now and could fiddle his way to a hometown decision, in an ugly bout, against the over-confident champion.
