Joe Calzaghe's legacy and career defining fights

http://www.secondsout.com/UK/colevan...s=217&cs=20548

By Ant Evans: Somehow a wretched, useless and utterly misleading phrase has become common currently whenever there is a debate as to the relative 'greatness' of a modern fighter; it has had and continues to have a deplorable affect on the quality of debate amongst boxing fans, writers and historians.

The dread truism is this: "career defining fight", and behind it is the sophomoric conception that somehow a single victory or performance is all that is required to transform a modern champion into an all time legend.

No, no, no, no! As my friend Glyn Leach of Boxing Monthly says only a career can 'define' a career but, somehow, this nonsensical ideology is used to justify such nonsense as attacks on Floyd Mayweather's career progression (no "defining fight", you see, despite Mayweather having beaten more fellow pound-for-pounders than any fighter in the last two decades)

And, this week, the same dogma was the support system behind lunatic claims that Joe Calzaghe (whose otherwise disappointing, stop/start career was apparently "defined" by his win over Jeff Lacy in March) could well be the best British fighter ever.

Joe Calzaghe is a very fine fighter, no question. But writing as a man who was penning articles championing the Welshman's world beating potential eight years ago (check old issues of BM or search the archives of this very site for evidence I'm not a Calzaghe-come-lately), proclaiming Calzaghe to be self-evidently superior in the history of British boxing is rank nonsense.

Best British fighter e-v-e-r? All because he beat Jeffrey from Florida? Yes, it seems so because no-one was calling Calzaghe the best active British fighter (much less the best EVER) before March 2006 and, let me be blunt, it is revisionist and ridiculous to claim Calzaghe's win over the powerful but inexperienced 'Left Hook' is even in the top five best wins for a British fighter.

As impressive as Calzaghe was in March, Ricky Hatton's win over Kostya Tszyu, Lennox Lewis's over Evander Holyfield (and others), Nigel Benn's win over Gerald McClellan, Lloyd Honeyghan's over Don Curry, Barry McGuigan over Eusebio Pedroza, Kirkland Laing's over Roberto Duran - and don't even mention the likes of Randy Turpin over Sugar Ray Robinson and even Bob Fitzsimmons over James J Corbett - were all much more impressive if only one has some perspective.

Fighters should be judged on what they achieved throughout there entire career. So, here, for the sake of offering some perspective, in reverse order, is bite-sized appraisal of Calzaghe's 20 world title fights thus far.

Key - By 'Opponent Grade' I mean how credible a threat Calzaghe's challenger was on a scale of A through to E (A being the best, E being a bum). Hindsight is a revealing thing, of course, so while I demoted Lacy down to a "B" rather than the "A" he was supposed to be before his listless effort in March, other opponents actually look better now than they did at the time Joe defeated them.

By 'Calzaghe Performance' I intend to give an indication as to the strength of performance Calzaghe gave on the night.

While I believe that it is possible for a fighter to perform so well in a bout that he is expected to win he still emerges with an enhanced reputation (think Oscar De La Hoya's win over Ricardo Mayorga in May) I don't think it is right to award an "A" for a flawless performance against as hapless an opponent as Tocker Pudwill, for example. Therefore, I made it a rule not to have vast variances between the grade for the opponent and performance.

Here we go...

w pts 12 Sakio Bika, October 2006
Calzaghe yet again lost momentum after a big win, pulling out for the third time v Glen Johnson in June... the big return post Lacy was always going to be a let down, though... hard fight to apprise... glass half full verdict: Calzaghe out-toughed a tough man who came to fight... half empty verdict: Joe was awkward against an opponent with little skill and look nothing like a pound-for-pound talent...
Opponent Grade: C
Calzaghe Performance: C

w pts 12 Jeff Lacy, March 2006
Having already scrubbed from the Nov 5 date Calzaghe again wanted out of the fight but Warren and father/trainer Enzo convinced Joe to fight on regardless of a niggling hand injury... the result salvaged Calzaghe's career and transformed the Welshman from world boxing laughing stock to pound-for-pounder over night...however, in hindsight, people remember that Lacy was hurt and forced very hard by Sheika...
Opponent Grade: B (hindsight is a revealing thing)
Calzaghe Performance: A

w pts 12 Evans Ashira, September 2005
Another nothing fight, this time with the excuse it was a warm-up to a unification bout with Lacy... the diminutive Ashira looked like a cross between a Zulu and a Hobbit in there... the 'challenger' had been dropped three times and KO'd in two in a middleweight title bout with Maselino Masoe, who himself lost his next two fights... Calzaghe badly hurt his hand in the fight but still won every round using only his right fist... which tells you all you need to know about this mismatch
Opponent Grade: D
Calzaghe Performance: D* (or as good as it could be for a one-handed man)

w rsf 6 Mario Veit, May 2005
Another fight Calzaghe had to take if he wanted to keep hold of his WBO belt... Calzaghe's promoter Frank Warren was surprisingly outbid for the fight and Calzaghe had to go to Germany for this rematch... Joe looked like he was forcing his work but a win in Germany is nothing to be sniffed at...
Opponent Grade: C
Calzaghe Performance: C

w pts 12 Kabary Salem, October 2004
The 'Nile Nutter' was coming off a loss to Veit and always figured to be a maul of an opponent and he was... he also became the second man to drop Calzaghe in three fights... another dreadful fight to watch and Calzaghe's career again seems in limbo...Salem was knocked out in his very next fight by 13-0 Lucian Bute
Opponent Grade: D
Calzaghe Performance: E

w ko 7 Mger Mkrtchian, February 2004
Eight months of inactivity again robbed the champion of the chance to sustain some momentum after an exciting win... the Armenian wasn't a total patsy, though, after losing to Calzaghe he went on to win the European Title...
Opponent Grade: C
Calzaghe Performance: C

w rsf 2 Byron Mitchell, June 2003
A return to proper world championship boxing - and how... after winning the opening round Calzaghe is decked for the first time ever - and hard - by the ex-WBA champ... badly hurt, Joe C nevertheless fights fire with fire and drops Mitchell seconds later... chasing the American to the ropes, Joe forces a (slightly premature) stoppage in the very same round... Mitchell was (you guessed it) coming off a loss, albeit a controversial one to Ottke in a IBF/WBA unification match...Mitchell hasn't fought since.
Opponent Grade: B
Calzaghe Performance: C

w ko 2 Tocker Pudwill, December 2002
Dubbed 'Captain Pugwash' by Sky Sport commentator, Pigswill (whatever) was a totally undeserving world title challenger when he fought Sven Ottke in 2000 and was even less deserving of this second shot here... Pugwash's last three opponents before this farce were 28-187-6 combined!... even though Pugwash was a two-week replacement, this was poor, poor, poor...
Opponent Grade: E -
Calzaghe Performance: Not applicable (He was a punching bag)

w pts 12 Miguel Angel Jimenez, August 2002
Ho-hum defence forced on Calzaghe by the WBO... five years into his reign as WBO champ Calzaghe looked bored here...Jimenez lost his next fight to Brian Magee and hasn't fought since...
Opponent Grade: D
Calzaghe Performance: D