Joe Calzaghe, Roy Jones Jr. and legacy
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In the minutes after Joe Calzaghe defeated Bernard Hopkins by split decision in April, any hope of a date with then-fellow-unbeaten fighter Kelly Pavlik vanished in an eye-rolling instant.
Calzaghe (45-0) that night started calling himself a ‘legend killer’ and clearly had cast his attention not on the stiffer challenge of rising star Pavlik but the surprising pay-per-view numbers 39-year-old Roy Jones Jr. had gained in his January victory over Felix Trinidad.
Saturday night, predictably, we get Calzaghe-Jones on pay-per-view. Today, both fighters weighed in at 174 1/2 pounds.*
In listening to a voice-mail message this morning from a reader who was similarly unimpressed with Calzaghe’s decision, it became clear the obvious point of this bout is that a victory by Jones would be far more impressive than a Calzaghe triumph.
Certainly, Calzaghe’s 11-year-plus reign as a super-middleweight world champion is impressive for his ability to avoid a bad night, but his defenses are highlighted by decisions over American Jeff Lacy and former co-champ Mikkel Kessler of Germany.
He now takes on a near-40-year-old who lost three straight fights (two by KO) to Antonio Tarver, Glen Jonson and Tarver again between May 2004 and October 2005.
Although he bored boxing fans to tears with a lengthy stretch of light-heavyweight title defenses, Jones, by ending Calzaghe’s unbeaten run, can add the acclaim to victories over Bernard Hopkins and James Toney in their primes, along with his unprecedented collection of world middleweight, super- middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight belts.
‘Who else can say that?’ Jones asked in a New York news conference this week. ‘There is more pressure on [Calzaghe] to win. I’ve already done everything. I don’t have to prove anything. ... If he loses this fight, it will tarnish his legacy.’
Jones blames his weight reduction after beating John Ruiz for a heavyweight title for the three straight losses. ‘You try losing 25 pounds of muscle and see if you can whip some top people,’ he said.
Yet even though he finds himself an underdog, with well-regarded fight observers such as Oscar De La Hoya predicting a Calzaghe victory, Jones says, ‘My job is to just win.’
-- Lance Pugmire
*Updated with the weigh-in at 1:58 p.m.
