02.11.08 – by James Slater – Unbeaten great Joe Calzaghe cannot wait to get Roy Jones Junior into the ring. Set to meet next weekend in a highly anticipated New York showdown, the Welshman told The Sunday Mirror today that he is ready right now and would fight Jones tonight if he could! Claming he has trained better than ever and is in the shape of his life so as not to let any slip-ups ruin what he says will be his last fight, Calzaghe is absolutely itching for combat..
“I’ll fight Jones tonight, I don’t want to wait until next weekend,” Calzaghe roared. “Bring him on one week early. I’m in the best shape of my life. I didn’t cut corners in 14 weeks of training. I’m not scared of Jones but I bet he’s scared of me. He knows he’s going to get beaten.”
Never, it seems, has Joe Calzaghe been so utterly confident ahead of a fight. His confidence bordering on supreme, yet justified, arrogance, the light-heavyweight is sick of his critics, critics who still refuse to give him his just due. Enzo Calzaghe, Joe’s father and trainer, is even more incensed when it comes to those people who will not accept his son as a boxing legend. The outspoken Enzo is particularly annoyed that November 8th’s fight is being called a career-defining bout for his son.
“This is NOT a career-defining fight for Joe,” Enzo blasted. “He has already achieved his legacy in the ring. When people tell me this is a defining fight that will make him a legend I say, ‘What the F**k is all that about?’ Joe was a legend a long time ago. My son is undefeated in 23 world title fights – what more do they want?
“American boxing writers and fans have never given Joe the credit he deserves – even after beating their best. He has defeated Lacy and Hopkins but I could name another top eight U.S contenders, including Charles Brewer and Byron Mitchell, he has also beaten. I was sick and tired of the Yanks who’d send me every bit of garbage they had. I always said, ‘Send them to us and we’ll whip their ass.’ But even when he did it was never enough for them to admit this guy can fight. They never ever accepted Joe.”
Enzo does have a point, even if he’s going about things the wrong way if he wants to get the respect he feels he and his son deserve from American fans. But the trainer didn’t stop there. Enzo is still hugely angry at the things Bernard Hopkins had to say both before and after his losing fight with Calzaghe. And Enzo laughed off the chances of Joe taking one more fight, a return with Hopkins, before hanging up the gloves.
“If this is Joe’s last fight then Hopkins’ dream has gone,” Enzo stated. “He’s gonna die haunted by the fact he was beaten by a white boy.”