Last updated: 08/02/08
The dragon roars on

Sports Personality of the Year, Joe Calzaghe is one of the worlds best and most respected boxers. James Davies caught up with him ahead of his eagerly anticipated fight with U.S. legend Bernard Hopkins

Joe Calzaghe, ‘The Pride of Wales’ and winner of this years BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, has proven himself to be one of the best fighters Britain has ever produced. His unanimous points win over Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler in November maintained his 17 year unbeaten record and reinforced his reputation.

He has beaten six former champions and recently secured a fight with Bernard Hopkins, to take place in Las Vegas this April.

The fight will be Calzaghe’s first in America and comes despite claims from the Hopkins camp that the 43-year-old former Middleweight king should duck the unbeaten Welshman and, instead, face Roy Jones Jnr, following his win over Felix Trinidad.

“I feel quite angry that they’ve said fighting the winner of Roy Jones versus Felix Trinidad is bigger than fighting me. Jones has been knocked out three times and Trinidad keeps retiring, so how they think that’s a bigger fight I don’t know. I think Hopkins’ trainer is just scared his man will lose.”
This seems to be the story of Calzaghe’s career, something he painfully recognises; “I’ve always cried out for the biggest fights, but a boxer can’t always fight who he wants, there’s a lot of politics involved.”

Compared to the likes of Ricky Hatton and Amir Khan, Calzaghe, of Italian ancestry, has, until now, been a relative unknown to those who didn’t follow the sport religiously, despite his achievements and incredible record in the ring.
When I asked the ‘Italian Dragon’, why he wasn’t a household name like Hatton and Kahn, he seemed as mystified as me,
“I don’t exactly know, I really don’t. You’d think that after becoming world champion you’re going to be a big superstar”.
Calzaghe explains, “It’s more difficult for me as none of my fights are seen on terrestrial television.”

Nevertheless, Calzaghe’s fights are sell outs, particularly when he fights in the Welsh capital. Despite the presence of such large crowds, the 35-year-old champion maintains his cool and calm persona, refusing to allow the pressure to get the better of him, “I never get nervous for a crowd. You don’t see them, and you don’t really hear them either. The crowd doesn’t bother me. You could put a million people there and I wouldn’t be nervous. I just get nervous about the fight.”

Like many professional sportsmen, the Hammersmith born boxer put the gloves on at a tender age.
“Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns and, obviously, Ali were fighters I liked and guys who influenced me, but it was my dad who got me into boxing. We had a local gym so I started when I was 10.”

Calzaghe recalls telling his careers teacher at the age of 14, that he was going to be a world champion boxer.
“Of course she laughed.”

After asking the provocative question, ‘did you realise you were good with your fists after getting into fights at school?’ the Super Middleweight laughs, revealing; “No, not at all. I wasn’t bad academically, but after winning my first British school boy title at 13, I knew what I wanted. Being the best at 13 encouraged me and I had the dream that if I trained and worked hard I’d be a world champion. Instead of revising I was already fighting for ABA titles. I was heading for the world championship.”

Those days, however, are long behind Calzaghe. He has since had some thrilling bouts, facing numerous tough opponents along the way. “Eubank was my toughest fight, he’s a tough customer. I put him on the floor after, like, 15 seconds, but he kept on getting up and smiling at me. It was a draining night and I was pretty relieved to hear the final bell and win the world title.”

But there was a lot more riding on that fight than just a win for Calzaghe.

“Everything I’d dreamed of came down to me beating Eubank. I had no money and I had a kid. I put incredible pressure on myself for that fight because there was a lot at stake.”
Although this certainly was a great moment in Calzaghe’s career, it happened ten years ago. So what’s been his proudest moment to date?

After a brief pause, he says, “There are two moments that stick out to me. Firstly winning the world title in a tough fight against Chris Eubank and then there’s the Jeff Lacy fight. I was the underdog going into the bout but it was probably the best performance I have ever made.”

Boxing requires a huge amount of commitment, especially if you want to make it to the very top, as Calzaghe has done. So what does it take to be a champion?

“I don’t know. It’s difficult to say. I train tremendously hard and I believe I’ve got the ability and the skill to beat any opponent. The hardest thing is the fact it’s one on one combat. But the dedication, commitment and losing the weight for a fight is hard too. People don’t realise what you go through before you enter the ring.”

“I have to make 12 stone for a fight when I’m usually 14 stone. So I have to train twice or sometimes three times a day, and starve myself before a fight. That’s probably harder than the fight itself. Fighting’s easy!”

After what has been an enjoyable interview, speaking to a true champion, I ask the Calzaghe how he wants to be remembered?

“I want to be remembered as a great fighter who fought the best boxers while I was around. I don’t want to end my career thinking that my toughest and sweetest fight was the night I beat Chris Eubank. That was ten years ago. I want a real fight. Hopefully I can go out, win my next two or three fights and call it a day. Then I’ll leave it for the public to decide.”