04.05.05 – May 7 is without a question one of the most important days in the life of Mario Veit. It’s also a day that was unclear if it would ever happen: The day of the rematch against WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe, 38-0 (30), who beat him four years ago with a humiliating first round knockout..
Few fighters who lost that convincing to a champion would ever get a second shot at him. Mario Veit, 45-1 (23), however, didn’t win the chance to avenge that loss in the lottery.
The 6-foot-4 German worked extremely hard for it. Only three months after losing to Calzaghe in April 2001 Veit stepped into the ring again, and did so fifteen times since then, winning all those fifteen fights straight.
In May 2004 Mario Veit beat awkward Egyptian Kabary Salem and won the WBO 168 lb. interim championship. Six months later he defended this title with a spectacular 9th round knockout over American Charles Brewer.
Those two victories solidified Mario Veit’s credibility as a world class fighter and they also led to interesting cross comparisons between him and WBO champion Joe Calzaghe. The Welshman was facing Salem a few months after Veit did and he fought Brewer in 2002. In both cases Mario Veit performed clearly better against those common opponents than Calzaghe did. Calzaghe, in contrast to Veit, was knocked down by Salem and he beat Brewer only by unanimous decision wheras Veit dominated and stopped him.
This is the reason why many experts have the suspect that Joe Calzaghe, after reigning as a champion for more than seven years, may be on the slide wheras Mario Veit appears to be on a steady rise and may soon reach the top of his performance ability.
“I feel in great shape and I’m really looking forward to this fight”, Veit said on Tuesday’s press conference in Braunschweig, Germany, where he met Calzaghe face to face for the first time since his conqueror left the ring in Cardiff, Wales, after defeating him.
“I’m a completely different person today than I was four years ago”, Veit said. “I hope that our fight will run many rounds because I’m eager to display my class and my boxing skills.”
Beside the seemingly different stages their careers there may be another difference between 32-year-old Joe Calzaghe and the one year younger Mario Veit. The question about each fighter’s motivation.
Wheras it’s obvious that Veit is dying to get revenge, Calzaghe, who is fighting outside Great Britain only the second time in his 12 year career, has nothing to win against the man he already beat once. He can’t even improve the outcome because a first round knockout is non-improvable. That’s why, no matter how Calzaghe performs against Veit, he will lose ground in comparison to their first fight.
That’s why it’s easy to understand why Calzaghe had to be lured into this rematch with a career high purse plus the danger of getting stripped of his title if wouldn’t defend it against his rightful mandatory challenger.
“Obviously my going to Germany takes away the comfort factor for me,” Calzaghe said. “I have to make sure that I win decisively. I don’t think I’ll be as lucky again to knock Veit out as early as I did the first time we fought but I do think that I’ll have the chance to knock him out all the same.”
“I think going to Germany will give me a bit more incentive, a bit more fire in me to put on the kind of performance that I have to. Because obviously my last was one of my worst performances and at the end of the day, I can’t afford to fight like that again. If I do, then I expect to get beaten.”
Changes on the undercard: Universum’s unbeaten heavyweight prospect Alexander Dimitrenko, 18-0 (11), who was scheduled to fight Alfred Cole at Volkswagenhalle of Braunschweig had to pull out with a gastroenteric influenza. Instead German heavyweight contender Egon Roth, 10-0 (9), has been put on the fightcard. He will face Brazilian Gilberto Melo, 5-4 (3).
Public Workout:
Thursday, May 5, 15:00
Hotel Play Off
Salzdahlumer Straße 137
38126 Braunschweig
Official Weigh-in:
Friday, May 6, 15:00
Autohaus FP Gemballa
In den Lohbalken 2
38165 Lehre (Autobahn 2, BS-Ost)
Tickets:
Tel.: 01805 95 30 00
Tel.: 040 696 55-959
You can order tickets online on www.boxing.de