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Seven months after the biggest win of his career, Joe Calzaghe returns to the MEN Arena in Manchester, England this Saturday night to make the 19th defence of his World Super Middleweight title against relative unknown Sakio Bika.
Unbeaten in 41 bouts, a unified world champion and former ABA Champion, Joe has done it all in the ring. At 34, he seems to be at the peak of his powers. A world champion since 1997, “The Pride Of Wales” has defeated the likes of Chris Eubank, Robin Reid, Omar Sheika, Richie Woodhall, Charles Brewer and Byron Mitchell. Add that to the one sided drubbing of Lacy and you would think Joe would be content.
These victories aside, Calzaghe has also suffered career frustration. He has seen big fights against the likes of Glen Johnson and Clinton Woods fall through because of injury. Also for one reason or another, matchups against the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver have also bitten the dust. Joe also missed his big Welsh homecoming at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in July due to injury.
In Bika, Calzaghe meets a man widely unknown in the boxing fraternity. Originally from Cameroon, he is now based in Australia. His only previous world title fight was a technical draw against WBC kingpin Markus Beyer after a cut caused by a clash of heads last year.
Although seen by many as a marking time bout for the champion, Joe must not take the challenger lightly. In his world title bid against Beyer, Bika acquitted himself well before the cut stoppage.
Bika will come to fight on Saturday night, but I feel that his style will be made for Joe. Although you can never assume in boxing, my main concern is not if Joe wins but that he comes out of the bout unscathed.
With a big bout hopefully in the offing next year against light heavyweight number one Clinton Woods, Joe will not only want to look impressive but also make sure the hands don’t suffer any more damage.
I think Calzaghe will come through this one by late stoppage, but I hope that 2007 will see him back in the ring in big fights against the real big names who he is more than capable of beating.
