Joe Calzaghe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Joe Calzaghe | |
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Joseph Calzaghe |
| Nickname(s) | The Pride of Wales The Italian Dragon |
| Rated at | Super Middleweight |
| Height | 5 ft 11.5 in (1.82 m) |
| Reach | 185 cm (72.835 in) |
| Nationality | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Welsh[4] Image:Flag of Italy.svg Italian |
| Birth date | 23 March 1972 |
| Birth place | Hammersmith, London |
| Stance | Southpaw |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 44 |
| Wins | 44 |
| Wins by KO | 32 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Joe Calzaghe MBE, also known as "The Pride of Wales" (born 23 March, 1972 in Hammersmith, London) is a Welsh boxer, currently living in Cwmbran, Wales, and is one of the pound for pound top 10 boxers in the world according to the Ring Magazine.[1]
He is sometimes referred to as the "Italian Dragon" in reference to his mixed heritage (the dragon being both a Welsh emblem and a Sardinian myth), or the "Pride of Wales." He is the current WBO, WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine world super middleweight champion and the former IBF super middleweight world champion.
Calzaghe is the longest reigning title holder in any weight class in boxing, recently passing the ten year mark as the WBO super middleweight champion. Joe Calzaghe is part of the Team Calzaghe boxing gym.
In 2007, Calzaghe became BBC Sports Personality of the Year on December 9, beating Ricky Hatton into third and Lewis Hamilton into second, by gaining 28.19% of the public vote[2]. This made Calzaghe the first Welsh winner of this award since show jumper David Broome in 1960.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Calzaghe was born in Hammersmith, London to Sardinian Enzo Calzaghe and his Welsh wife Jackie. The family moved to Wales, soon after Joe's birth, where he was raised and educated.[3]
[edit] Amateur
Calzaghe started boxing aged nine, with the southpaw having 120+ fights and won four schoolboy ABA titles, followed by three consecutive senior British ABA titles (British Championships) from 1991 to 1993. This made him only the second boxer in history to win at Welter, Light Middleweight and Middleweight divisions.
[edit] Professional career
In September 1993 Calzaghe was signed up to the Terry Lawless and Mickey Duff stable and made his professional debut at Cardiff Arms Park on the Lewis-Bruno bill the following month. By June 1995, Calzaghe had won nine out of nine fights, seven in the first round and two in the second. At the end of 1995 Calzaghe was voted Young Boxer of the Year by the Professional Boxing Association and the Boxing Writers' Club, with Barry McGuigan's top tipping Calzaghe for 1996: "He punches ferociously, moves superbly and has the best of the European technique and US aggression."
By October 1995, he had won the British title, stopping Steve Wilson in the eighth round. Calzaghe's critics said that he had not really been tested, while Calzaghe said in reply that he could only beat whoever was out there and prepared to fight him.
In November 1996, Calzaghe moved to Frank Warren's stable. Warren, who had managed Nigel Benn for his first 20 fights, declared: "Joe Calzaghe is a far better prospect, in fact he is my fighter for the new millennium." Warren spent the summer of 1997 chasing a fight for Calzaghe with either WBC champion Robin Reid or WBO title holder Steve Collins. The fight with Collins was arranged, but at a late stage Collins withdrew because of injury, was stripped of his title, and then retired.
[edit] WBO Super Middleweight title holder
A fight against the recently deposed title holder and British boxing legend Chris Eubank was set up for the vacant WBO title for 11 October, 1997, in Sheffield. Calzaghe shocked the world by emerging victorious over the two time WBO champion, knocking down Eubank in the first round then claiming a unanimous points win. Eubank said of Calzaghe in a 2006 interview that "Joe is the proper article, a true warrior."
Calzaghe conceded that Eubank, even in his comeback, gave him the toughest fight of his life.
In 1998 he defended his title against Branco Sobot (winning by technical knockout in 3 rounds) and then Juan Carlos Gimenez (TKO in 10 rounds), a former opponent of both Nigel Benn and Eubank.
In 1999, Calzaghe started out by fighting his domestic rival, slick counterpuncher Robin Reid. Calzaghe was bitter that Reid refused to face him whilst holding the WBC championship in a unification bout, and vowed to beat him. After 12 rounds, the judges scored the fight for Calzaghe via a split decision. Reid was never given the opportunity of a rematch. Calzaghe damaged his hand early on in the fight and according to Calzaghe, he suffered a dose of food poisoning. Calzaghe finished the year with another points win against Rick Thornberry.
2000 started with another decisive points decision against David Starie. This was followed by wins against the highly rated Omar Sheika (a five round stoppage), and former WBC champion and close friend Richie Woodhall.
2001 started with a first round stoppage win over unbeaten Mario Veit, followed by an equally decisive win against Will Mcintyre on the Tyson undercard in Copenhagen.
2002 started with points wins against both the highly rated former IBF champion Charles Brewer and Miguel Jimenez in Cardiff, followed by a TKO of Tocker Pudwill in Newcastle in December.
Calzaghe's only fight of 2003 was in June against the tough competition of Byron Mitchell at the Cardiff International Arena. Calzaghe won by TKO in the second. Calzaghe suffered his first career knockdown in this fight being down himself in the second round.
2004 started out with a defence against Mger Mkrtchian in Cardiff where he won with a seventh round knockout, followed by a points win over Karbary Salem in Edinburgh in October, during which Calzaghe was knocked down in the fourth round by a right hand. However, he dominated the fight and knocked Salem down in the 12th round, winning comfortably on all three scorecards, 116-109,117-109,118-107.
Veit got a rematch against Calzaghe in Braunschweig, Germany, in July 2005. Calzaghe beat Veit by technical knockout in the sixth round. On 10 September, 2005, Calzaghe fought the Kenyan boxer Evans Ashira and won by a unanimous decision despite breaking his left hand in the third round. Calzaghe fought on one-handed winning 120-108, 120-108, 120-107.
[edit] IBF Super Middleweight Champion
His scheduled bout with IBF world champion Jeff Lacy for 5 November, 2005 was initially cancelled due to the break sustained to the metacarpal in his left hand. Warren successfully rescheduled it for 5 March, 2006, and the match was won by unanimous points decision over Lacy who was the pre-fight favourite with the bookmakers,[4] and pundits alike. Calzaghe gained the IBF title, and won every round despite a point being deducted in the 11th for an illegal "behind the body" punch. He also won recognition from The Ring magazine as the true super middleweight champion.
The display against Lacy was one of the finest world championship displays by a British boxer, to rival the best of Fitzsimmons, Honeyghan, Eubank, Benn and Lennox Lewis. Finally, the world at large was taking notice of Calzaghe.
Calzaghe was tentatively scheduled to fight former IBF & Ring Light Heavyweight champion Glen Johnson in the featured bout of 8 July, 2006, card at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. He was forced to withdraw from the fight when he re-aggravated a hand injury. Johnson was unhappy at the late withdrawal and refused to offer Calzaghe another opportunity at arranging a fight.
On 14 October, 2006, Sakio Bika and Calzaghe fought in one of the more aggressive and dirty fights of his career. Two points were deducted from Bika for headbutts, one of which led to a severe cut over Calzaghe's left eye which would cause him problems for the duration of the bout. Calzaghe won the fight on decision, to retain his undefeated run. Frank Warren commented after the fight that he was unhappy with Calzaghe's showboating but was obviously contented with the win.
[edit] Relinquishing IBF world championship
On 27 November, 2006, it was announced that Calzaghe had signed a contract to defend his WBO super middleweight title against former star of Contender Peter Manfredo Jr. on 7 April, 2007, at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales to be shown on HBO. Because HBO didn't want to cover any fight with mandatory IBF challenger Robert Stieglitz, and with the opportunity if he won against Manfredo to fight Taylor in the summer, Calzaghe chose to fight Manfredo and as a result had to relinquish the IBF super middleweight championship. Both Calzaghe and Warren claimed that "Stieglitz doesn't mean anything outside of Germany." Stieglitz went on to fight Alejandro Berrio for the vacant IBF title, losing in 3 rounds. Berrio in turn lost the title to Lucian Bute in his first defense.
[edit] Fighting "Contender" Peter Manfredo Jr.
On April 7, 2007 Calzaghe met Peter Manfredo Jr. in front of 35,000 fans in Cardiff, Wales. Calzaghe was victorious on a third round stoppage, unleashing a flurry of punches on Manfredo, who threw nothing in return, thus drawing a stoppage from the referee. Manfredo and some commentators called the stoppage "premature" because Manfredo did not appear hurt. However, some people such as Emanuel Steward added that it would have been "only a minute or two" before Calzaghe had "ended things properly."
[edit] Undisputed Title
In May 2007, Frank Warren released details to BBC 5 Live and on his website that Calzaghe had accepted Mogens Palle's offer of $5 million (US) to fight Mikkel Kessler in Copenhagen, Denmark. The bout took place at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on November 4.[5] The fight was a unification bout for the WBO/WBA/WBC/Ring Magazine super middleweight titles.
Calzaghe won by unanimous decision becoming the first undisputed super middleweight champion of the world and surpassing the 20 defences made by Bernard Hopkins and Larry Holmes at middleweight and heavyweight respectively.[6][7][8]He is level with Sven Ottke (super-middleweight) and Ricardo Lopez (flyweight). The only boxers with more defences than Joe are Dariusz Michalczewski (light heavyweight) with 23 defences and Joe Louis (heavyweight) who made 25 defences.
[edit] Professional boxing record
| 44 Wins (32 knockouts, 12 decisions), 0 Losses, 0 Draws[9] | |||||||
| Res. | Opponent | Type | Rd., Time | Date | Location | Notes | |
| Win | Mikkel Kessler | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2007-11-03 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Super Middleweight championship bout for Calzaghe's WBO SuperMiddleweight title and Kessler's WBA and WBC titles. | |
| Win | Peter Manfredo | TKO | 3 (12), 1:30 | 2007-04-07 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Sakio Bika | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2006-10-14 | Image:Flag of England.svg Manchester, England | Retained IBF and WBO Super Middleweight titles. Vacated the IBF title after this fight. | |
| Win | Jeff Lacy | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2006-03-04 | Image:Flag of England.svg Manchester, England | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title and won IBF Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Evans Ashira | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2005-09-10 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Mario Veit | TKO | 6 (12), 0:42 | 2005-05-07 | Image:Flag of Germany.svg Braunschweig, Germany | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Kabary Salem | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2004-10-22 | Image:Flag of Scotland.svg Edinburgh, Scotland | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Mger Mkrtchian | TKO | 7 (12), 1:05 | 2004-02-21 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Byron Mitchell | TKO | 2 (12) | 2003-06-28 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Tocker Pudwill | Decision (unanimous) | 2 (12), 0:39 | 2002-12-14 | Image:Flag of England.svg Newcastle, England | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Miguel Ángel Jiménez | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2002-08-17 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Charles Brewer | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2002-04-20 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Will McIntyre | TKO | 4 (12), 0:45 | 2001-10-13 | Image:Flag of Denmark.svg Copenhagen, Denmark | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Mario Veit | TKO | 1 (12), 1:52 | 2001-04-28 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Richie Woodhall | TKO | 10 (12), 0:28 | 2000-12-16 | Image:Flag of England.svg Sheffield, England | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Omar Sheika | TKO | 5 (12), 2;08 | 2000-08-12 | Image:Flag of England.svg Wembley, England | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | David Starie | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 2000-01-29 | Image:Flag of England.svg Manchester, England | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Rick Thornberry | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 1999-06-05 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Robin Reid | Decision (split) | 12 | 1999-02-13 | Image:Flag of England.svg Newcastle, England | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Juan Carlos Gimenez Ferreyra | TKO | 9 (12), 3:00 | 1998-04-25 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Branko Sobot | TKO | 3 (12), 1:35 | 1998-01-24 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | Retained WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Chris Eubank | Decision (unanimous) | 12 | 1997-10-11 | Image:Flag of England.svg Sheffield, England | Won WBO Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Luciano Torres | TKO | 3 (10) | 1997-06-05 | Image:Flag of England.svg Bristol, England | Relinquished BBBofC British Super Middleweight title after this fight. | |
| Win | Tyler Hughes | KO | 1 (10) | 1997-03-22 | Image:Flag of England.svg Manchester, England | ||
| Win | Carlos Christie | TKO | 2 (10) | 1997-01-21 | Image:Flag of England.svg Bristol, England | ||
| Win | Pat Lawlor | TKO | 2 (10) | 1996-05-15 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | ||
| Win | Warren Stowe | TKO | 2 (10) | 1996-05-04 | Image:Flag of England.svg Dagenham, England | ||
| Win | Mark Delaney | TKO | 5 (12) | 1996-04-20 | Image:Flag of England.svg Brentwood, England | Retained BBBofC British Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Anthony Brooks | TKO | 2 (10) | 1996-03-13 | Image:Flag of England.svg Wembley, England | ||
| Win | Guy Stanford | TKO | 1 (10) | 1996-02-13 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | ||
| Win | Stephen Wilson | TKO | 8 (12) | 1995-10-28 | Image:Flag of England.svg London, England | Won vacant BBBofC British Super Middleweight title. | |
| Win | Nick Manners | TKO | 4 (10) | 1995-09-30 | Image:Flag of England.svg Basildon, England | ||
| Win | Tyrone Jackson | TKO | 4 (8), 1:08 | 1995-07-08 | Image:Flag of England.svg York, England | ||
| Win | Robert Curry | TKO | 1 (8) | 1995-05-19 | Image:Flag of England.svg London, England | ||
| Win | Bobbie Joe Edwards | Decision (unanimous) | 8 | 1995-02-22 | Image:Flag of England.svg Telford, England | ||
| Win | Frank Minton | KO | 1 (8), 1:25 | 1995-02-14 | Image:Flag of England.svg London, England | ||
| Win | Trevor Ambrose | TKO | 2 (8) | 1994-11-30 | Image:Flag of England.svg Wolverhampton, England | ||
| Win | Mark Lee Dawson | TKO | 1 (6) | 1994-10-01 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | ||
| Win | Karl Barwise | TKO | 1 (6) | 1994-06-04 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | ||
| Win | Darren Littlewood | TKO | 1 (6) | 1994-03-01 | Image:Flag of England.svg Dudley, England | ||
| Win | Martin Rosamond | TKO | 1 (6) | 1994-01-22 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | ||
| Win | Spencer Alton | TKO | 2 (4) | 1993-12-16 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Newport, Wales | ||
| Win | Paul Mason | TKO | 1 (4) | 1993-11-10 | Image:Flag of England.svg Watford, England | ||
| Win | Paul Hanlon | TKO | 1 (4) | 1993-10-01 | Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Cardiff, Wales | ||
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Ring Ratings. The Ring. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
- ^ BBC News Sports Article retrieved 10th December 2007
- ^ Joe Calzaghe - History
- ^ Clinical Calzaghe. BBC Sport (2006-03-05). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
- ^ Calzaghe-Kessler set Cardiff date BBC Sport - 11 July 2007
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ boxrec.com
[edit] External links
- Official Joe Calzaghe website
- Joe Calzaghe Fight-by-Fight Career Record
- Showtime fighter facts
- Professional boxing record for Joe Calzaghe from Boxrec
- Statistics at BritishBoxing.net
- BBC Wales profile
- Joe Calzaghe Shirtless!
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Tanni Grey-Thompson | BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2001 | Succeeded by Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Mark Hughes |
| Preceded by Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg Gareth Thomas | BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2006,2007 | Incumbent |
| Preceded by Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Zara Phillips | BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2007 | Incumbent |
| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by Steve Collins Retired | WBO Super Middleweight Champion September 11 1997 – present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by Jeff Lacy | IBF Super Middleweight Champion March 4, 2006 – November 27, 2006 Vacated | Succeeded by Alejandro Berrio filled vacancy |
| Preceded by Mikkel Kessler | WBC Super Middleweight Champion November 4 2007 – present | Incumbent |
| WBA Super Middleweight Champion November 4 2007 – present | ||
da:Joe Calzaghe de:Joe Calzaghe ja:ジョー・カルザゲ pl:Joe Calzaghe ru:Кальзаге, Джо
Categories: 1972 births | Living people | People from Hammersmith | People from Newbridge, Caerphilly | Italian-Welsh people | Welsh Roman Catholics | Welsh boxers | Super-middleweights | IBF Champions | WBO Champions | World Super middleweight Champions | BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year | BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners | Members of the Order of the British Empire
