Calzaghe bares soul in autobiography
May 23, 2007
(C) 2007 PA SPORTSTICKER ENTERPRISES, L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
By Mark Staniforth PA Sport Boxing Writer
He is boxing's longest reigning current world champion and, with 20 defenses under his belt, ties legends Larry Holmes and Bernard Hopkins as the fighter with the fourth-longest winning streak in title history.
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In doing so he has established himself as the best super middleweight on the planet, and as a slick and sharp combatant who stands favorable comparison against British boxing's all-time greats.
Yet behind the invincible aura Joe Calzaghe's 43 victories have inevitably constructed, there exists an inherently reserved individual still wrestling the personal demons which threaten to sabotage his record-breaking reign.
It is a side of Calzaghe few have ever seen before, and it is revealed in his remarkably candid autobiography, "Joe Calzaghe: No Ordinary Joe," published by Century Books this week.
In it, Calzaghe chronicles the bullying which made his school life a misery, the pre-fight anxiety which frequently threatens to get the better of him, his discomfort with the culture of celebrity, and his fear of retirement.
Few could have guessed what was happening in Calzaghe's Manchester hotel room three hours before he was due in the ring to take on the rugged but relatively limited African Sakio Bika last October.
"I lie down on the bed, stressed out and feeling sick, when all of a sudden I get up, grab hold of the CD player and throw it as hard as I can onto the hard floor, smashing it to pieces," writes Calzaghe. "So I get down on my hands and knees and I start to clear the mess, I'm feeling sorry for myself and I break down in tears. I'm so (bleeping) stressed."
Or the feelings of emptiness which afflict Calzaghe when he is not training for a fight, leading to boredom and mood swings, and a mounting uncertainty about how the 35-year-old will cope with hanging up his gloves.
"I experience an unbelievable buzz through boxing, so when I come down there's not much to take the place of the excitement and for weeks on end I feel like I'm not really doing anything," Calzaghe writes. "My personality becomes very up and down, I become uninterested and I can be a proper pain. I can be okay one minute and the next minute I can switch. All of this worries me because one day I'll have given up boxing and I won't have a fight around the corner to give me my next fix.
"Maybe I'll retire and miss the buzz so much that I'll make a comeback, like (Sugar Ray) Leonard did and (Muhammad) Ali and a whole host of fighters, but I hope I'll be wiser."
In some respects, Calzaghe has always been a reluctant champion. Always personable away from the television cameras, he flatly rejects invitations to join the celebrity circuit, from reality shows to awards ceremonies.
Boasting the sort of good looks which could make him a high street billboard favorite, Calzaghe has instead insisted on keeping a low profile in his home region of south Wales, to which he virtually disappears between fights.
Yet such reluctance ought not to be mistaken for any lack of desire on Calzaghe's part to fight the very best of his era and go down in the history books as a Hall of Fame fighter.
"I'm a fighter and all I crave is respect as a fighter," he says.
Despite his magnificent and universally acclaimed victory over Jeff Lacy last year, Calzaghe's is still up to a point a hard-luck story, one which might have achieved even greater fights were it not for injuries and politics.
Approaching the end of his career whether he likes it or not, the 35-year-old Calzaghe remains as determined as ever to make his remaining time count by landing lucrative matches against the biggest American names.
"I would fight Bernard Hopkins, the light-heavyweight champion, Jermain Taylor, the middleweight champion," Calzaghe writes. "I would fight Winky Wright who boxed Taylor to a draw. I would fight all these guys tomorrow. But Hopkins is too shrewd a businessman and he simply doesn't want to fight me.
"I have no interest any more in Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver. Jones is washed up and Tarver was never that good anyway, he just caught Jones when Jones was shot and (Glen) Johnson did the same."
Calzaghe comes across as an engaging character and it is his willingness to strip bare his emotions, coupled with the fine journalistic quality of the book itself, which lifts it above the glut of ghost-written sports autobiographies.
It proves what most of us had assumed all along: that there is much more to Calzaghe than simply a focused individual who emerges from intentional obscurity once or twice a year to batter the best 12-stone rivals Frank Warren can find.
It would make a most fitting final chapter if Calzaghe can end his career with those mighty bouts he craves. It is everything he deserves, and might help him make that ultimate retirement decision a little easier to bear.
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