Joe Calzaghe: Proper Respect - Not Until He’s Gone
By Cliff Rold
Some fighters, like some wines, get better with age or, more succinctly, the passage of time. Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight titlist Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KO) is likely to be one of them and it’s not an issue of what’s he’ll do in the ring this Saturday. It’s the issue of how he’ll be viewed a decade from now.
In November 2008, there remains a fair share of skeptics.
No one denies Calzaghe is and has been very good or that he’s had an exceptional career. However, the universal label of great eludes him particularly on the American side of the Atlantic. If he loses this Saturday to Roy Jones Jr. (52-4, 48 KO), the skeptics will reign mightily, at least for a while.
I suspect though as the months turn into years, Calzaghe will loom larger in history, that full appreciation will come after he’s not there to be kicked around anymore. The thought comes to mind in light of the almost certain election of Lennox Lewis to the International Boxing Hall of Fame this year and it’s no coincidence that neither w as an American.
Like Calzaghe, Lewis was always viewed as suspect in his prime. A loss to Oliver McCall and reluctance by major stars to run the risk/reward ration in his favor kept him just off the cusp of the embraced elite for years. He also tossed in the occasional turkey in the ring, like the fights with Zeljko Mavrovic and Henry Akinwande, which fueled red meat fight fans who could never get past Lewis’ accent in contrast with the bravado of a Mike Tyson.
Calzaghe has an appeal to the carnivores Lewis didn’t, with some thrilling encounters over the years but he didn’t make strong early impressions. Calzaghe started in the States as a rumor, the guy who knocked off Chris Eubank in 1997, but got his first big exposure against David Starie, an almost unwatchable win. It took several quality impressions in brawls with Richie Woodhall, Charles Brewer and Byron Mitchell to move him back to the brink of cross-cultural stardom…and that still didn’t come until a 2006 win against Jeff Lacy.
A win this weekend won’t bring him full recognition as a great fighter no matter how it goes down. An early knockout or lopsided decision will be chalked up by skeptics to Roy being faded; a struggle or loss and it will be used as evidence that in their prime Roy couldn’t be faded. In fact, a win could make it tougher for Joe. Antonio Tarver was reviled by some fans for little more than beating Roy Jones and talking smack about it, an affront to fans whose perception of Roy became almost intertwined with personal ego.
But, still, the recognition, will come.
As the Heavyweight division has sunk to almost guttural levels of tedium, Lewis’ shadow has grown. Fans who detested him now remember him as the last great Heavyweight. It doesn’t mean they love him…it just means they’ve learned to respect him. Lewis is not the first.
In 1975, Ezzard Charles wasn’t listed by Ring Magazine as one of the top ten Light Heavyweights of all time. He’s now regarded by most as the best of them all. Closer inspection changed perception.
In 1985, many were glad to see Larry Holmes leave the Heavyweight stage. He was never forgiven in his time for not being Ali…and yet in 1992, the crowd chanted his name against both Ray Mercer in victory and Evander Holyfield in surprisingly competitive defeat. He now remains permanently enshrined among the top ten all time.
If not Lewis, Calzaghe may most resemble Holmes one day. The fights he didn’t get or fight in pockets of his prime will be overwhelmed by over a decade atop Super Middleweight….
By over 21 WBO title defenses…
By his collecting every other belt in the division…
By his utter rejection of the next generation in the class with masterful performances against both Lacy and Mikkel Kessler…
By his ability to get off the floor to win strong whether it was against Byron Mitchell or Bernard Hopkins…
By his being the only fighter, including the young Roy Jones, to ever dominate the second half of a fight on the official judges cards against Hopkins…
And with a win this Saturday, he’ll ice the cake, bookending his title days by ending a pair of legends, one local (Eubank) and one global (Jones).
If it takes longer for all to get their piece of that cake, so be it. It will taste as good later as it will now for those who recognize Calzaghe for what he is already. Even in America