Mr Calzaghe Page #4

---

Sounds brilliant, you know,

after all the hard work I've done.

I just thank God.

Obviously, I thank my dad.

I thank all the fans who've

come to support me tonight.

They gave me a lot of incentive

and there's only better to come.

I was not that familiar with Joe Calzaghe

prior to him winning his first world title.

But when he beat Chris Eubank,

uh, that was very exciting.

And I realised this might,

this guy might be something.

Unfortunately then, he made a string

of defences that were mediocre at best.

Uh, it was difficult to get excited by him

in terms of rating him among the very best.

Ca/zaghe wants that

finish here, and he might get it, too.

And it's stopped.

It is oven and Ca/zaghe has

retained his title in emphatic style.

I hear in the

build-up to this fight, too,

you had a bit of a handicap

with the sore hands,

you weren't able to

do very much sparring?

Well, in fact, Ididn't do no

sparring at all for this fight.

I haven't sparred for maybe two months.

Coming from beating

Eubank and being there,

to suddenly underperforming

and struggling.

Oh, terrific

shot, huge shot of the fight.

Right hand, and Calzaghe

getting hit too often.

He must have /ost that round.

Um, very disappointing, it seems very

much like he's, he's losing his power.

He used to have destructive punching

power; maybe that's beginning to evaporate.

VVe'I/ try

and find reasons in a moment.

These little bones in your hands,

they're called the metacarpals.

And these were broken very early because

when you keep on stressing

that bone, it breaks,

and unfortunately, even though it

mends, it's actually a weakness.

I couldn't span I was

seeing all these specialists.

I was having all this

treatment, I just couldn't punch.

Simple as that.

And to be honest, it

was like a minor miracle,

I managed to be able to win

fights not training properly.

Sometimes,

Joe wouldn't lift a glove

to punch another human being,

between ending one professional fight

and starting another world title defence,

because his hands were so bad.

You don't want

to mention the hand trouble,

but we were wondering in the fight,

because you seemed to revert to

your boxing skills quite early on.

Has the hand gone again?

Round one.

I think last

year; he was thinking,

he was gonna become a millionaire overnight

and his path would be paved with gold.

- It doesn't work like that.

It doesn't.

It's, it's a very tough sport and it's

a very tough business and, you know,

Calzaghe's beginning to

/earn how tough it is.

Frank Warren there,

not happy with Joe Calzaghe's

performance there, really.

Good shots

going in from Brewer now.

This is a bad patch for Calzaghe.

I remember boos in the crowd.

I had a meeting with Frank Warren, he said,

"Listen, Joe, are you going to retire or what?

It was never an option to stop.

I had a family, kids.

I had to fight for money.

Ca/Zaghe'S down.

That's the first time he's

been down in his career.

First time back

in the ring in eight months.

He's had a back injury and there's been

some domestic problems in the background.

There was a battle

there that Joe had to do.

He had to have a battle,

because believe me, he was hurt.

Thinking of doing it,

you can cope with it,

but when it had and has been

done, the divorce, then you think.

Truthfully, / didn't

think he'd box any more.

I had to find a format

to make him interested,

that he had to train for this fight.

Now, how do you block that out?

I couldn't block it out.

It happened, it's reality.

He had some Hght He

had that in his mind.

So, imagine a guy who gotta fight.

Can he concentrate on it?

Twelve rounds for a world title. His

career could be gone straightaway.

COMMENTATOR; What a

right hand from Salem!

Calzaghe is down for only

the second time in his career.

Seven, eight...

God says to everybody...

"It's what's inside of you

that counts most of all. "

it's what's inside of you.

It was a hard, hard road.

He was tested, and he got through it.

And still, the

undefeated Joe Calzaghe!

Think I was 34.

I was eight years World Champion.

Not really given the respect in

the States for doing what I did.

There's no doubt that there is an

American bias when it comes to boxing.

We have dominated this sport for

the better part of a hundred years.

So as a result, he never got the credit

he deserved from American fight fans

for the simple reason

that he was British.

Even though he was undefeated,

and even though he had a

very lengthy, uh, title reign.

Jeff Lacy came with a big noise.

A really, really dangerous hooker, a

very powerful guy, incredible self-belief.

Undefeated in

the professional ranks,

with a record of 21 wins,

no losses, one no decision,

with 17 wins coming by way of knockout.

He was hyped as a smaller

version of Mike Tyson.

He had the body and the story

of his pro-debut not happening

because his opponent saw him take his

shirt off at the weigh-in and left town.

Got into a bus and left,

"I'm not fighting that guy!"

Here is the

undefeated /BF and IBO

Super Middleweight

Champion of the World.

Introducing, Jeff "Left Hook Lacy.

Jeff Lacy had been a US Olympian.

Um, and was knocking everybody

out with his big left hook,

so, hence the nickname Left Hook Lacy.

His physical makeup was

different from Joe, you know?

He looked like a condom

stuffed with walnuts, you know?

He was properly built, Jeff Lacy.

From what we had seen, at

least in this country, with Joe,

we saw a fighter who was

often technically inferior,

slapped with his punches, was

not the hardest guy to hit.

So, as a result, it was an

easy pick, and virtually,

I would say, 95% of the US media

picked Jeff Lacy to win and expected him,

fully expected him to knock out Joe Calzaghe

Ten days to two weeks before

the fight, I remember injuring myself

Under no circumstances did Joe want

to fight Jeff Lacy with a damaged hand.

Joe started to believe this

guy really is that good.

Enzo had studied him

extensively and didn't agree.

And it was his job to try

and cajole Joe into realising

yes, this is a fight

you can win injured.

Have you seen him?

Lacy does five moves to throw one punch.

Do five punches in one move, you do.

I wanted to pull out the fight

because I actually doubted myself

scared of failure against

this bad guy from America.

Do you know what happens if

you don't f***ing fight the Hght?

They call you a bastard, coward, they'll

cal/ you every name under the sun.

You can forget your

boxing careen you're oven

And my dad said You

have to fight this fight.

Joe, if you got to fight

with one arm, it doesn't matter;

I'm proud of you no matter what. "

The day before the weigh-ins,

I wake up and there's like,

a couple of feet of snow.

And I can't explain, it's magical.

From that moment of walking in

to the garden, I had no nerves.

I was completely calm.

Everything was lifted off me.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes