21.02.04 – By Spud Woollatt: In the atmospheric Cardiff Ice Arena, Joe Calzaghe retained his WBO Super Middleweight Title with a seventh round stoppage against the tough and durable Armenian Mger Mrktchian. After having beaten Chris Eubank in 1997, Calzaghe was making his 14th defence of his title, and after this fight, Calzaghe, his promoter Frank Warren and many boxing pundits felt it best him stepping up to Light Heavyweight to seek the big fights in the USA, against the likes of Roy Jones Jnr, Antonio Tarver, and many people predicting his next fight being possibly against the newly crown IBF World Light Heavyweight Champion, Glencoffe Johnsen.
Mger Mrktchian had previously fought the former WBO No1 Contender Freeman Barr, knocking him out in 3 rounds. The only other names on his record that Eastside readers would recognise are Vage Kocharayan and Dimitry Adamovich who had both fought Robin Reid and world prospect Carl Froch in Britain.
So the fight, certainly in the first 2 rounds Joe Calzaghe seemed to totally mesmorize his Armenian challenger with his sharp punches, the welshman’s right hand jab being the most effective punch. It was in the second round after having been caught himself with a left hook from Mrktchian, Calzaghe seemed to stun his opponent with a chopping left hand punch. With the advantage of the TV Replays it was clear Mger Mrktchian touched his left hand down on the canvas however the Referee, Paul Thomas failed to notice and allowed the fight to continue.
In rounds 4 to 6, Calzaghe seemed to settle into a routine of totally taking apart his out of depth opponent, constantly landing with a variety of punches. It was perhaps in the 4th round that British Eastside felt Calzaghe relized how tough his opponent was and perhaps he was a little frustrated the Armenian was taking all of his best punches. Calzaghe was completley out speeding his opponent to the punch who seemed to be dumfounded as to what to do, Calzaghe’s skills and range of punches made the eastern european look slow and ponderous, but it had to be said tough and durable.
After just under a minute gone of the seventh round, the action exploded, Calzaghe hurt Mger Mrktchian with a right hand punch which had him staggering back, then, after a barrage of punches Mrktchian fell to the canvas. The Calzaghe punches seemed to have totally demoralized the Armenian and his pained expression convinced the Referee Paul Thomas to call off the fight after 1 minute 5 seconds of the round.
In the after fight interview, Calzaghe stated he was enjoying the fight, but was conscious he wanted to box more rather than be involved in a brawl. In addition he stated he felt that his jab was working extremely well. The more interesting part of the interview was Calzaghe confirmed it was a definite possibilty of stepping up to Light Heavyweight to seek the bigger and more glamorous fights. At this stage Frank Warren interjected by stating he would sit down with Calzaghe and Calzaghe’s father Enzo to discuss the way forward. However, it was confirmed a fight with the newly crowned IBF World Light Heavyweight Champion Glencoffe Johnson was a definite possiblity, in fact a very makeable fight. Indeed discussions had already taken place between Warren and Johnson’s promoter Dan Goosen.
British Eastside’s verdict of Calzaghe’s performance: it was a very business like performance against an opponent who was clearly out of his depth against an experienced World Champion who has proved he is the best in the Super Middleweight Division.