It’s 15 years since Wales’ Joe Calzaghe, 51, outpointed the once great Roy Jones Jnr to retire with a record of 46-0. He reflects on his remarkable career, the challenges he has since faced, and those early days in the gym, with Declan Warrington BN: It’s 15 years since your last fight, at Madison Square Garden against Roy Jones Jnr… JC: It’s scary. Time just goes so quick when you retire. Fifteen years – where the fuck has time gone? I don’t really think about it now – it’s nice people remember certain fights. You see a post and it’s, “Really? That feels five years ago”. People still talking is a great thing. That’s the one thing that mattered to me when I was boxing – legacy. Probably more than fame and money. People still talk about the [Jeff] Lacy fight – that was 2006. I had a good catch up with Roy in Saudi [Arabia, at Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou]. We did that fight ourselves. It was easy to make, and there was something romantic about it, after where I started – where I come from on a council estate – to finish off at the Mecca of boxing… It wasn’t just about money, it was about finishing at Madison Square Garden, against one of the greatest fighters of all time. It was a great night – something I’ll always remember. The first round wasn’t the best, getting dropped. But after two rounds I was enjoying the fight. I respected Roy – the things I was doing wasn’t planned; people go on about dropping your hands – I was having fun. I knew that was going to be my last fight. I spoke to my dad, and after the [Mikkel] Kessler fight [in 2007] and being champion for 10 years and doing what I’d wanted to do, there were two things missing, and that was going to America and to win a second title [at a second weight]. After the [Bernard] Hopkins fight [in 2008] I’d done everything I wanted to achieve. I was 36; I was injured all the time, and it was important to have one more fight and except for the first round I was really happy with that performance. It was quite surreal. I remember going to The Garden in the afternoon and being quite emotional. They were putting the ring together; just taking it all in and saying to myself, “Joe, this is it now – enjoy it”. Even in the fight. “Three rounds left; two rounds left.” The 12th round – “This is it; this is your last round ever”. A lot of fighters retire but very rarely they stay retired – for me, this was it. BN: By comparison, Jones Jnr fought again at the age of 54 earlier this year… JC: There’s certain things I miss from boxing, but with Roy, he just loves to fight. As long as he’s not stepping too far ahead of himself and fighting proper fighters and getting hurt, that’s okay, but it’s not nice to see fighters keep going. Someone like Roy Jones – he’s such a legend; a great fighter – he could fucking wipe the floor with nearly every fighter there is today; everybody knows that and how great he was. But certain other fighters it’s sad to see them keep fighting, because it’s a dangerous sport. BN: It’s no secret you initially struggled with retirement. Are you at peace in 2023? JC: It’s been rocky, I’m not going to lie. When you retire, and something you’ve done all your life is stopped – in boxing, nobody really prepares you for afterwards. Even though I retired on my own terms, you do get lost. I was champion. I always had that drive of getting in that gym, and it’s for your mental health and everything – keeping in the gym, training and having that euphoria of winning, and adrenaline, and pain, since the age of nine… All of a sudden that’s gone. You’ve got money; you’re still young, and you’re retired. It’s that cliché – people say “Do something else you love”. “Okay, well what am I going to do? I’ve dedicated my whole life to boxing.” I tried to do a bit of acting – that didn’t work out too good. I didn’t realise – I’m not really good at rejection [laughs]. I was down; I had struggles and so on; it’s quite normal with high-end sportspeople. I’ve had a very, very tough time the last few years, losing my dad and my mum [Enzo and Jacqueline]. The relationship I had with my dad – he was my hero; my best friend – and my mum, it’s been a tough few years, but now things are good. I’m blessed with another son – a 10-month-old son; another Enzo in the family – and maybe I’ll make him a champion. You get waves when you feel good, and [when] you feel down. It took quite a few years. When you’re out of boxing you’re a different person altogether. You’re not the boxer anymore. With age and with time you become a more chilled character. I’m a family man. I’m lucky to have a good woman in my life; I’m a grandad as well now. Life is beautiful. You thank God that I was blessed to be able to do what I did beyond my wildest dreams and came out with nearly everything intact. My body’s busted up a bit from all the injuries to my hands and that, but I feel good. I’m pretty content. I’m enjoying being a dad to my boys and having a little baby – he’s a blessing. Life is calm – it’s good. I’m secure – I can’t afford to buy three, four, five Ferraris, but I’m happy. I’ve invested in properties, so that’s what I do as well. I don’t live a crazy life. My boxing gym is still going; the Calzaghe Academy is still running; you’ve got amateur boxers there. My sons Joe Jnr [29] and Connor [26] run that gym; they’re trainers; Joe’s got his pro [trainer’s] licence as well so, who knows, maybe in the future we’ll get another champion one day. They both love boxing – they’ve been around it all their life. BN: What’s the closest you came to returning? JC: I’ve never been close. The closest I’ve come is I go in the gym, I train for a couple of weeks, lose a bit of weight, and my hands would be fucked and my back, and I’m thinking, “Mate, come on, you’re too old for this”. This run I used to do – where I lived was my camp; there’s hills everywhere; fresh air – I’d be halfway up and I’d be like, “Fuck – I can’t do this anymore”. To come back, what would I have to prove? You’re always going to get fighters come through. It’s a big deal to make money, but legacy was always my number one. Calzaghe poses for a photograpgh during a weigh-in at City Hall on June 3, 2022 in Cardiff, Wales (Huw Fairclough/Getty Images) BN: After watching Bernard Hopkins beat Kelly Pavlik, did you think you should also have fought the undefeated Pavlik before retiring? JC: After the way I saw Hopkins deal with him, at the time, yeah. The only issue was there was no way I could make super middleweight anymore – I had to lose 36lbs for the fight with Kessler and I was so drained. I wanted to fight at light heavyweight but he was a middleweight, so the catch was what weight would I fight him? I don’t think he’d have stepped up two weight divisions. But, looking back, because he was a top guy at the time and I always thought I’d do a number on him, yeah, and Hopkins looked excellent, didn’t he? Pavlik would have been a great fight for me. There were people saying “Why didn’t he go to 49, 50-0 – he still had a lot in the tank?”. I remember speaking to Dad some years after – and he was always right – “Dad, should I have went to 50?” and he went “Yeah” [laughs]. “Bit late now, Dad – I’m forty-something.” But only people behind the scenes know what I was going through with injuries, and I’d started to lose that train-like-a-challenger mentality. My kids were growing…
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