Say It Ain't So, Joe

It was disappointing to learn of Joe Calzaghe’s decision to retire from boxing. Despite his unbeaten record, it’s hard to call Calzaghe a true great – he just hasn’t fought enough quality opponents. Having dominated a largely uninspiring intermediate weight division, he’d finally moved up to a ‘true’ weight class. But he only fought twice at light heavyweight (being knocked down in both fights) – against a 43 year old who many experts thought beat him, and a 39 year old who was completely shot. Calzaghe claims that throughout his career he never ducked anyone, although Sven Ottke and Dariusz Michalczewski might disagree. Certainly, one has to question why Calzaghe wasn’t prepared to take a couple more fights at light heavy, against quality opponents such as Chad Dawson. And surely, given the closeness of their first fight, Hopkins deserved a rematch (apparently B-Hop was even prepared to come over to the UK for that). Calzaghe seems to think that by retiring undefeated he’s guaranteed his legacy, ala Rocky Marciano. Perhaps. But both Ottke and Ricardo Lopez also retired as undefeated champions – and who remembers them?