Joe Calzaghe is the UNDISPUTED Super Middleweight Champion, a hero, a legend and who will now leave boxing as an immortal boxing great and Welsh great.
This was a typical Kairdiff Night Out - loads of beer, an early hours fight and then curry and chips before trying to get home!!
In front of the biggest ever European boxing audience with more than 50,000 in Millennium Stadium (a far cry from the couple of hundred in Splott's STAR Leisure Centre who saw his first pro outing) and fighting at 1:25am, wih the fight going live coast to coast on America's HBO, Joe brilliantly overcame unbeaten Dane Mikkel Kessler to unify the belts, signal 10 years unbeaten as a Champion with an incredible 21 successful defences and remain unbeaten all his professional career totalling 44 fights.
This was a typical Kairdiff Night Out - loads of beer, an early hours fight and then curry and chips before trying to get home!!
In front of the biggest ever European boxing audience with more than 50,000 in Millennium Stadium (a far cry from the couple of hundred in Splott's STAR Leisure Centre who saw his first pro outing) and fighting at 1:25am, wih the fight going live coast to coast on America's HBO, Joe brilliantly overcame unbeaten Dane Mikkel Kessler to unify the belts, signal 10 years unbeaten as a Champion with an incredible 21 successful defences and remain unbeaten all his professional career totalling 44 fights.
CELEBRATE GOOD TIME - C'MON!!!Took the missus to her first boxing bill and her friend - lucky boy with a woman on each arm! - all got into town early but many of the boys had started several hours earlier, especially those who had travelled from far and wide to be there. A perfect sunny day gave way to a mild evening, Millennium Stadium was surprisingly warm.
Last admittance was 10:30 and I popped in not long before that. Got to admit not enjoying huge arena bills - our seats were £75 apiece for middle tier but a good 70 yards away from the ring. There were big screens to watch the close up action. However the occasion and atmosphere being in that crowd was bloody fantastic.
Chief warm up came from Enzo Maccinarrelli who having sent out several hurtful and punishing jabs to his opponent's body but rarely convince. He started awkwardly slipping to the floor in the opening minute and it set the tone. However unbeaten NZ opponent Mohammed Azzoui offered little more than resistance and he gave up on that in Round 4 when he went out and got counted out far too easily.
After Barrie Jones maintained his unbeaten record, despite getting knocked down, it was time for Joe and, boy, was it needed. Most of us had been inside the stadium getting more bladdered on £3 a pint Brains or Carling - the queues at the bar so large, all the drinks were being doubled or trebled. Love it.
A huge entrance and ovation for Joe came after opponent Kessler came to the ring first bringing a couple of hundred Danes to their feet for their man. The "let's get ready to rumble" intro tingled the spine as did the singing of the Welsh national anthem.
The fight was a classic in its way, a battle between two warriors who never wanted to give way, intense and thrilling with the result in the balance for those of us there. It was, without doubt, one of the most competitive fights I've seen between two perfectly matched fighters giving their absolute best.
Joe lost the opening round but showed his class in Rounds Two and Three which had the stadium rocking to "you're not singing anymore" directed at the Danish fans who had earlier been chipper. Joe was unlucky that he appeared to knock Kessler down in Round Three but it was ruled a slip. Up until Round 7, there was nothing to choose between them as far as I was concerned. The heavily tattooed Kessler show what an outstanding Champion he was by hitting back with some thunderous upper cuts only for Joe to soak it up and come back with some epic body shots.
The longer the fight progressed, the more obvious it was that this would go the distance, something most analysts predicted pre-fight. However the expectation was that Joe would be comfortably ahead by halfway.
At 35, Joe now knew he had a hard night's work, had to show he still had the hunger, heart, bottle and balls and didn't he just do that? Switching to pure boxing, where he knew he was the better, his style and class showed as he took the fight away from Kessler. My respect for Kessler was already huge and he gave it everything in the final round, winning it, but knew he needed the knockout and was well behind and beaten but he went out in style.
I doubt anyone ringside gave it to Joe by more than 2 rounds so the judge's decision of 117-11, 116-112 and 116-112 seemed kind but being so far away, you do miss the in-fighting. You also miss Kessler having a badly beaten and swollen face while Joe appeared totally unmarked, another telling factor.
The cheers as final bell and result announcement was epic. What an amazing night.
Frank Warren's review
http://www.frankwarren.tv/drill/News/Articles/2007/11/03/superb-calzaghe-the-no-1.html
Wales on Sunday review
http://tinyurl.com/28kkqt
Last admittance was 10:30 and I popped in not long before that. Got to admit not enjoying huge arena bills - our seats were £75 apiece for middle tier but a good 70 yards away from the ring. There were big screens to watch the close up action. However the occasion and atmosphere being in that crowd was bloody fantastic.
Chief warm up came from Enzo Maccinarrelli who having sent out several hurtful and punishing jabs to his opponent's body but rarely convince. He started awkwardly slipping to the floor in the opening minute and it set the tone. However unbeaten NZ opponent Mohammed Azzoui offered little more than resistance and he gave up on that in Round 4 when he went out and got counted out far too easily.
After Barrie Jones maintained his unbeaten record, despite getting knocked down, it was time for Joe and, boy, was it needed. Most of us had been inside the stadium getting more bladdered on £3 a pint Brains or Carling - the queues at the bar so large, all the drinks were being doubled or trebled. Love it.
A huge entrance and ovation for Joe came after opponent Kessler came to the ring first bringing a couple of hundred Danes to their feet for their man. The "let's get ready to rumble" intro tingled the spine as did the singing of the Welsh national anthem.
The fight was a classic in its way, a battle between two warriors who never wanted to give way, intense and thrilling with the result in the balance for those of us there. It was, without doubt, one of the most competitive fights I've seen between two perfectly matched fighters giving their absolute best.
Joe lost the opening round but showed his class in Rounds Two and Three which had the stadium rocking to "you're not singing anymore" directed at the Danish fans who had earlier been chipper. Joe was unlucky that he appeared to knock Kessler down in Round Three but it was ruled a slip. Up until Round 7, there was nothing to choose between them as far as I was concerned. The heavily tattooed Kessler show what an outstanding Champion he was by hitting back with some thunderous upper cuts only for Joe to soak it up and come back with some epic body shots.
The longer the fight progressed, the more obvious it was that this would go the distance, something most analysts predicted pre-fight. However the expectation was that Joe would be comfortably ahead by halfway.
At 35, Joe now knew he had a hard night's work, had to show he still had the hunger, heart, bottle and balls and didn't he just do that? Switching to pure boxing, where he knew he was the better, his style and class showed as he took the fight away from Kessler. My respect for Kessler was already huge and he gave it everything in the final round, winning it, but knew he needed the knockout and was well behind and beaten but he went out in style.
I doubt anyone ringside gave it to Joe by more than 2 rounds so the judge's decision of 117-11, 116-112 and 116-112 seemed kind but being so far away, you do miss the in-fighting. You also miss Kessler having a badly beaten and swollen face while Joe appeared totally unmarked, another telling factor.
The cheers as final bell and result announcement was epic. What an amazing night.
Frank Warren's review
http://www.frankwarren.tv/drill/News/Articles/2007/11/03/superb-calzaghe-the-no-1.html
Wales on Sunday review
http://tinyurl.com/28kkqt
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