By James Slater: Enzo Calzaghe, the father and trainer of Joe Calzaghe, is never a man to mince his words. A proven talent in the field of training, Enzo has earned the right to speak his mind and to be listened to. However, his latest interview, as given to Setanta Sports today, is an interview that will without a doubt upset all fans of Kelly Pavlik.
Launching into an extremely animated and colourful sounding tirade about the man he says his son will never fight, Enzo stated that the fighter known as “The Ghost” is not on the same level as the man Joe Calzaghe has opted to fight instead – Roy Jones Jr. Speaking with Setanta, Enzo had the following things to say.
“At the end of the day, it’s never going to happen,” Enzo said with regards to a Calzaghe-Pavlik fight.. “Simply because I don’t feel he [Pavlik] deserves a shot yet at the big-time. On the back of one performance against a subdued, light fighter. There’s a vast, vast difference between Gary [Lockett] and Joe Calzaghe. Gary would be the first to say that. I’m not interested in boosting the profile of a fight that ain’t going to happen. At the end of the day, you’ve got Carl Froch, you’ve got everybody coming up with some [fight or another]. We want the best available. Someone who I have always admired [Roy Jones]. Do you think Pavlik deserves to be mentioned on that level? Pound-for-pound as the best fighter in the world?”
Wow! That’s a lot of talking from dear old Enzo. Where do we start? First of all, with regards to Pavlik deserving to be considered “on that level, pound-for-pound.” Well, if the middleweight champion isn’t, Roy Jones certainly isn’t either. It seems Joe and Enzo alike see Jones Jr as the fighter he USED to be. And to clear up any confusion about just who Enzo is referring to when he says Pavlik had just “one performance against a subdued, light fighter,” the trainer is talking about Jermain Taylor – a fighter he says his son would have had no problem with.
Enzo went on talking:
“Motivation is about will. Will is about passion,” Enzo continued. “Does he care about the public, Joe? No. So why scream about it? I want rewarded. Joe wants to be rewarded. Let this guy [Pavlik] win five to eight different belts. He beat Jermain Taylor. So what? Joe would have wiped the floor with Taylor. A light-weight small puncher. Let him earn the right to go into the position. In Britain half the public don’t know who Pavlik is – only the connoisseurs of boxing. It’s [Pavlik-Calzaghe] not bigger than Calzaghe-Jones, it’s impossible.”
Surely by now a number of Kelly Pavlik fans will be all but fuming, and rightly so. But Enzo went further, attempting to justify his son’s choice to face Jones – even suggesting Jones might actually beat Calzaghe.
“That’s why we took him [Jones],” Joe’s dad added. “We wanted people to believe that Joe is not after dead squid. Without question it is the harder fight. But Joe said he wants to go out in flying colours. The best beats the best. He’s got a right to that claim. He deserves it. Hypothetically, if the s**t hits the fan it happened with an all-time great.”
Let the comments begin!