Mr Calzaghe Page #2

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and it would get the anger out.

Everything is meant for a reason.

I look back at everything, and

/ don't regret nothing, you know.

Maybe toughened me up, maybe

it made fighters that tried

to, to bully me verbally.

Maybe that education in

school made me strong.

Joe Calzaghe,

18 years old,

from Newbridge way.

Joe Ca/zaghe, he really has got

something going for him out there.

And then my trainen Pau/ Williams,

wanted me to turn pro with him.

He came up, he tried to make

me sign something to manage me.

I was still a kid, and I

thought, "/ can't do this"

The experience now, of

Michael Smyth, catching up with Calzaghe.

He's good, but he's got to be careful.

And I just to/d him. And

Paul gave the keys to my dad.

And I never saw him again.

My dad took over.

I'll manage it, myself.

But what happened, any boxer

disappears, and it's just one man alone.

It's just me.

I spent everything I had

to carry on with his gym.

At the time, we were

playing in a band, me and Enzo.

Picked up the phone.

He said, "I'm gonna quit. "

I said, "What do you mean, you're

gonna quit? You can't quit. "

I mean, you know, we're near to

a record deal and stuff like that.

He said, "No, no. I'm,

I'm gonna train my son. "

Like, I was a bit shocked, you know.

'Cause he didn't have

that experience, you know?

I said "Joe, what shall we do?

"Paul's gone"

He said "Crack on, Dad!

Just get on with it. "

F*** 'em, you know? Get on with it.

So, he gave me the power of

thinking we could still do it.

Round two of

the ABA Welterweight Final.

Wearing the red singlet, the Welsh

champion Joe Calzaghe, who's only 19,

trained by his father;

Enzo, Italian ancestry.

Let's see if/

can be a part of him.

Let's see if I can be a trainer.

Let's see if I can be a pusher.

Calzaghe. In the blue corner.

Joe needed a push.

And I can push.

Ca/zaghe, probably

the only boxer in the world

with a singer-songwriter as a trainer.

Stop! Stop!

And it's been stopped.

And Joe Calzaghe has won

another ABA Championship.

Everybody knew he was talented.

He's a one and only.

I, I don't believe

it's been done before.

No one's ever done it at

three different weights.

I'll be the first.

He is one of those boxers

who, uh, has no doubt at all in his mind

when he goes into the ring, that he's

going to be the dominant character.

Soaking up punch after punch.

So it's all over, and it looks pretty

clear that Joe Calzaghe has done it again.

To win three titles in a

row at different weights.

Joe had his own style.

He was a southpaw, obviously.

So... And very adept and very athletic.

But he had a father who was not

classically trained as an amateur boxer,

but he'd been in the musical

world playing in a band.

He's got that energy about him.

But what it did was, he transferred

a lot of musical movement

into Joe throwing five, six

and seven-punch combinations.

Doesn't every song

start off with a verse?

# Change your heart... #

\/Vhich is...

Jab, jab...

After the verse, it got a bit late.

Bring it forward, bring it forvvard

Then you've got the chorus.

One, two, three, four, five, Wham,

wham, wham, bam, bam, knockout punch.

Round one.

/remember I turned

professional in 1993.

I think I was 21.

First pro fight was, um, in

the stadium, Cardiff Arms Park.

I remember boxing a

guy called Pau/ Han/on.

Joe Calzaghe.

How good is he going to be here in

this Super Middleweight Division?

Yeah, /boxed on

the, on the undercard

of Frank Bruno and uh, Lennox Lewis.

And I won in the first round.

Obviously, I stayed on after to watch the

fight with Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno,

and, you know, to be there

when the crowd was full

and the sense of atmosphere was amazing.

And it was giving me tingles,

and I used to think to myself,

"This is what I want. One

day, this is going to be me. "

Get up in the morning, rain, sleet,

or snow, and just go for a run.

Go to the gym.

Go home, come back and train again.

That's it. Every day.

Every single day.

Iran, I ran, I ran.

I jab, I work. I worked

with him before he did it.

And that's what Joe loved.

I used to train 12

weeks before the fight.

The first few weeks would be hard,

and then you get into the groove.

Start sparring.

Go!

We had different

combinations like A's, B's and C's.

And we'd like throw 300

punches a round, possibly.

One, two, three, four, five.

What if I've got a

machine gun in my hands?

Seven shots, you're gonna hit him with

four, five you'll hit him with. Common sense.

Why not make boxing the same way?

Rock 'n' roll. Bam,

bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

Numbers, numbers. You gonna hit.

A lot of boxing writers

wouldn't have picked him

as their tip for the top.

And look at the clusters here.

Rosamond is taking a thorough pounding

and the referee has got to step in.

And he has.

Four Sffa/Qhf W/DS for. /O9 C8/Zaghe.

His wife Mandy is there.

He's something of a

family man, Joe Calzaghe,

who never leaves home

during his training.

That's the way he likes it,

and you have to respect that.

I was knocking everybody out.

The first 21 fights, I knocked 20 out.

Sixteen in the first two, three rounds.

I was named as Young

Fighter of the Year.

Tremendous left hook.

What a shot,

what a beautiful uppercut

I was mad boover.

I was pretty good, don't

worry about that. Pretty good.

So therefore, if I caught him once,

I used to go "Ah, ah, ah,

here we go, he's coming. "

Bang, and I would be

like, "Look at my nose.

"Who busted that? I didn't

bust it. Joe busted it"

Most of the time, / would

have an argument with my dad.

Because he was pretty fiery and he'd get

on my nerves and /'d get on his nerves.

That's Italians anyway.

We argue all the time.

But because Joe was his

son, Dad didn't give a sh*t.

So it didn't matter what he said,

Joe, so, Dad could just let it go.

So he just, "Phew!"

It was just...

An explosion.

I never saw a contract.

Still on my

300-a-week.

That was it. I mean, it

was difHcu/t from the start.

A /ot of people

have criticised Calzaghe

for not having really

fought anyone of note.

Well, we can't be far

from the finish now.

Surely, the referee,

Coy/e, looking very close.

Well, it's all over now.

Joe Ca/zaghe's father;

Enzo, lifts him high.

The new British Super Middleweight

Champion, Joe Calzaghe.

There he is, and who knows where

that championship could take him?

More of him to come. Stay with us.

ANNOUNCER2 Joe Calzaghel

Referee Denzil

Lewis is looking on here.

- There's nothing coming back...

One, two...

- ... and Torres takes refuge from the canvas.

- ... three, four.

It's horribly one-sided.

Calzaghe has won.

Are you getting

a bit fed up because they,

they keep putting you in

these high-profile fights.

And then everybody moans about the

quality of the opponents and says,

"Oh, what's Joe Calzaghe proved now?"

I mean, what's your

reaction to all that?

It's nothing to do with a classy

opponent, people are saying that.

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