Boxing: Is Joe Calzaghe going to make a comeback?
BBC declares him the Sports Personality of the Year 2007, the Ring magazine holds him as one of the top 10 boxers in the world, and Ricky “the Hitman“ Hatton calls him the best fighter Britain has ever produced. It is none other than the undefeated boxing champion Joseph William Calzaghe, who is commonly known to the world as Joe Calzaghe. Calzaghe is the fourth European boxer ever to retire as an undefeated world champion after Sven Ottke, Michael Loewe and Terry Marsh.
Do we hear some news about Calzaghe returning back to the ring? Is it true? No it isn’t! At least that’s what Calzaghe claims. Calzaghe calls it a rumor and says that he has no plans to return to the ring. As per the unbeaten champ, he does not have any desire left to fight in the ring and his decision about retirement will not change.
Talking about his recent gym sessions and his talks with the promotion CEO of Golden Boy Richard Schaefer, the 38-yeal old Welsh boxer said he is not like other boxers who retire and then make a comeback. He admitted talking to Schaefer about a desire to return to the ring, but said that after being a world champion for eleven long years, it is time he let other boxers fight.
Calzaghe had put his fans in shock when he recently admitted on his website about taking cocaine after his retirement from the boxing world. He also admitted to be financially weak, but denied the fact that he would start boxing again just for the love of money.
Talking to the press, the boxing champion revealed that he talked to Schaefer a couple of times about a comeback when he was in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, but later when he went to the gym and tested himself, he felt he is not as fit as a boxer should be. Calzaghe added that he has been getting a lot of monetarily solid offers by different sponsors, but money is not the only thing important in his life. He says he is quite content with his life at the moment as he has to take care of his health, his family and his kids. The Welshman believes that he left the boxing world with pride and cannot afford going back into the ring and repenting later.
The left-handed veteran joined the boxing world when he was only 9 years old. He participated in fourteen amateur boxing contests where he won four schoolboy ABA titles and three British Championships. Calzaghe was the second boxer in the history of boxing world to have won in welter, light middleweight and middleweight divisions at such a young age. The year 1992 proved to be a landmark year for Calzaghe as he defeated the future IBF and WBO world heavyweight champion Chris Byrd as a middleweight. Calzaghe had his last defeats in 1990 and started proving himself in a long queue of events including WBO super middleweight championship, IBF super middleweight championship and his famous fights with Peter Manfredo junior, Kessler, Hopkins and Jones junior.
On 5th February 2009, Joe Calzaghe announced his retirement that came as a shock to his fans. He, however, finished off undefeated with a brilliant 46-0.
After retirement Joe Calzaghe started promoting The Beat Bullying campaign. As per the boxing champ, he got the inspiration to join this campaign from his own childhood as he was often bullied for he had a petite body structure.
In August 2009 Calzaghe appeared in the seventh season of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing with his Russian partner Kristina Rihanoff, who Calzaghe is currently dating.
Although Joe Calzaghe seems to have his own share of busy schedules after retirement, yet hearing about his comeback may not seem to be a surprise for many. In the past we have witnessed numerous world champions who retire and then come back into the game due to their love for the game as well as for monetary reasons. Calzaghe is strongly denying all the comeback rumours at this point, but is also admitting joining the gym and talking to certain people about his comeback. Whether Calzaghe will make a comeback or not, that, only time can tell!
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