Joe Calzaghe forced to fight someone his own weight, decides to retire.

on 02 5, 2009

The day has come that the undefeated 46-0 (KO 32) Joe Calzaghe has decided to hang up the gloves. Calzaghe ran into a road block, not being able to find a fighter lighter than him willing to jump a weight class only to get their ass kicked. The ‘Pride of Wales’ will inevitably be back in the ring just as every other retired boxer has done before him. Retirement in boxing could be translated into “taking some time to try to become a movie star, fail miserably and need some extra cash in a few years”. I can’t blame retired boxers who come back though, I’d miss swimming with my Siberian tigers in pools of liquid gold too… errr maybe that’s more Mike Tyson.

Joe Calzaghe has had an interesting career, ripping up his first 8 professional opponents for TKOs. He also ended his career with a 69.57% KO, which is only roughly 6% behind Mike Tyson’s 75.86% KO. Calzaghe sure had a hell of a punch for a white guy.

Of Calzaghe’s last 9 fights he was only able to secure a KO in 2 of the 9 fights. This was a sign of the decline of a champion as he became more and more insecure of his ability to polish off superb boxers. Thus, the scheduling of boxers much past their prime such as Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr.

Calzaghe in his last two fights was knocked in the first round. These two knockdowns would make up 2 of his 3 career knockdowns. Again, another sign of a slipping champion. The ‘Pride of Wales’ has always been accused of not fighting the most talented fighter at the time, while taking anyone of talent usually in his den of Wales.

We’ll see Joe Calzaghe soon enough fighting another past-their-prime-former-superstar, probably one who has to jump a weight class in order to meet Calzaghe’s demands.

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