Joe Calzaghe: Hear The Dragon Roar

By Daniel Baguley

08.07 - I thought I'd take time to focus on a man who I feel is not getting the recognition he deserves. A man who, although undoubtedly the best in his division, is not well known outside of Europe by the less hardened boxing fan. Joe Calzaghe recently made the thirteenth defence of his WBO super middleweight title with an explosive second round TKO win over a hard hitting, highly rated American in Byron Mitchell. Now Mitchell may not exactly be a household name, but for the super-middle weight division he was good. So good in fact that Joe's main rival, Sven Ottke, scraped a split decision over Mitchell. Now to those of you who don't know Joe you'll be thinking all this sounds pretty good and when I tell you he's undefeated with thirty six wins and twenty nine knockouts you'll be even more impressed. Sounds like a pound for pound contender? No chance. Here's why.

First of all lets look at the politics, a factor that engulfs boxing on a regular basis. Joe holds the WBO title. Now as far as I'm concerned the alphabets mean nothing (something I'll discuss further in another article) and the real world champion's are normally easy to pin point. However, the mainstream are easily sucked in by fancy labels and what the administration dictate. Lets face it, the big money in boxing lies in America and to become a "superstar" you need to make your name there. Okay, I know this may cause some outrage but bear with me. The American's only recognise the "big three" titles (WBC, WBA, IBF) and although the occasional WBO boy has made it through (Hamed, Barrera) it's success and recognition has been sporadic. This unfortunate situation has left Calzaghe with little to bargain with when it comes to the "super fights" he craves. So although I have no doubt he's the best in the world at super-middle his "title" may suggest otherwise.

Next lets look at who he's fought. In his reign as world champion he has beaten only a few names that the mainstream would recognise and even less who would be looked upon as decent opposition. He won the title from a faded Chris Eubank, which until the Mitchell win remained arguably his best scalp. Other names of note included Robin Reid, Omar Sheika, Richie Woodhall and Charles Brewer. All these guys were above average tests that he dealt with without problems but still nothing to shout about.

Believe me, I'm not criticising Joe. I think he's an excellent fighter who deserves his respect and the big fights but his legacy remains a little sketchy at this point. Numerous attempts were made to stage a Roy Jones fight whilst he was at light heavy but as we all know Jones is particularly hard to deal with. Just ask Dariusz Michalczewski! For the last year or so Joe has also made attempts to fight the only man harder to deal with in negotiating fights than Roy Jones, Bernard Hopkins. Joe thought he'd finally pinned down a deal with Hopkins last summer but unfortunately for him Hopkins suddenly decided he wanted more money.

All blame can't be pointed at everyone else. I expect Joe could have made a fight with long serving IBF super-middle champion, Sven Ottke, if Joe had been willing to travel to Germany. I expect the same could be said the other way around but Sven's been more successful in staying at home. He managed to get the unification match he had craved with, then, WBA titlist Byron Mitchell. Sven Ottke is one of those guys who, although you may not like his style, you have to respect because he always gets the job done. Contrary to popular belief, I think Sven would give Joe a pretty good fight before getting KO'd late. Sven's got the style to frustrate Joe but I think he would eventually have too much for Ottke. This is still a fight I would like to see but hardly a "super fight".

Since Joe's second round TKO win over Byron Mitchell talk has turned once again to Hopkins. Joe's promoter, Frank Warren, seems confident of securing a date with former colleague Don King. Joe deserves this fight and although it will be hard to win it would surely lift his status to that of superstar if he did.

The future for Joe looks unclear at this point. A lot rests on Warren's ability to negotiate the right deals for the Welshman. I don't think anyone wants to see anymore Tocker Pudwill style blow out's but if Hopkins doesn't want to play ball who else is there? I expect talk would once again turn to Ottke but I hear under good authority he is looking to call it a day soon and why not? He's gained star status in Germany and has made a lot of cash. Dariusz Michalczewski would be a good opponent and so would Antonio Tarver so Calzaghe has options.

My view is if Joe really wants to be remembered he must start to take risks. He must shed his reluctance to travel abroad and maybe learn to take a bit less money when negotiating in the knowledge he will be calling the shots if he wins. Speculate to accumulate. All this said, Joe Calzaghe is one of the most exciting fighters around at the moment and the whole world should be given the chance to share in his talents.