Excuse the interruption
Normal progress will be resumed tomorrow but for today I'm going to talk about another staple of my sporting diet, boxing. I've always loved contact sports and striking/combat sports are way up there on my list. So when you add two Welshmen to a night of boxing, it's pretty much unavoidable viewing on my part.
For those unsure, I am referring to Joe Calzaghe's super-middleweight unification title fight against Jeff 'Left-Hook' Lacy, ably supported by Enzo Maccarinelli's re-jigged WBU title defense against Mark Hobson.
Starting with Maccarinelli I think the guy has real punch power but very little technique. It almost certainly means he will be in exciting fights but not necessarily ones that will do anything helpful for him physically. Enzo doesn't seem able to box off the back foot which is a major technical flaw for a 'banger' who will invariably require rest periods at some point during a fight and will be involved in see-saw encounters throughout his career. Another serious deficiency is he hangs his chin out on the back foot. Hobson should have capitalised more during the fight on pushing Enzo back and had Hobson, not to take anything away from his performance, been a puncher of the standard of David Haye or even a Carl Thompson then Enzo would be beltless this morning. Good fight though, could have finished in the third when Enzo dropped Hobson but couldn't get the stubborn Northerner out of the there. Maccarinelli has a lot of work to do and in a somewhat forgotten division, which may be worth him stepping up to heavyweight where he certainly has the frame to add weight to, whilst maintaining a speed advantage over the ponderous giants.
So the main event, the dethroning of Calzaghe, at least according to every American pundit asked and not a small number of supposed British experts too. The bookies were taking 6/4 on for Lacy to win, and to be fair the previously labelled 'mini Mike Tyson' (I think we can drop that unwarranted moniker now Gary Shaw) seemed to believe he could do it. This isn't saying anything new, fighters have to have a natural confidence, even arrogance, about them because they are totally reliant on themselved to avoid a beating and possibly serious injury. Calzaghe though was the most relaxed I've ever seen a fighter about to go into a major fight let alone a career defining fight. His smiley, happy demeanour spoke of an inner confidence that not all of Lacy's grimacing, brooding and staring could begin to match. When I watched the fight for a second time, it was almost like Joe knew it was his time. Whatever epiphany he had, he stuck doggedly to the plan laid out for him by his father ... at least for the first round. After the first round where he bloodied and probably broke Lacy's nose, Calzaghe looked even more certain. What had appeared a tough, mean, muscular and dangerous fighter was in truth a somewhat inexperienced young man who hadn't been involved in a fight of this intensity before. From the second round onwards Joe clinically dissected his fellow world champion, giving Lacy a boxing masterclass of a hiding that I doubt he will ever recover from. Such was the disparity of the contest that the wonderful Manchester crowd were chanting 'Easy, Easy' after the second round, and Gary Shaw - Lacy's promoter and apostle -- was screaming in the final round for Lacy's corner to pull him out of the fight.
Although a somewhat ignominious end that no boxer would want to face, instead preferring to leave on their shield, the corner or the referee should have stopped the fight before the final round. With absolutely no chance of winning the fight -- Lacy was so tired and beat up there was no way he could have pulled out his trademark shot with the power necessary to stop Calzaghe -- the humane decision should have been made to pull out a young man who had rarely, if ever, been on the backfoot, let alone taking a beating from a world class opponent of this magnitude. The referee should almost certainly be questioned for his unwillingness to prevent further harm to Lacy when Calzaghe threw 15-20 unanswered shots during both the eleventh and twelfth rounds. When the final bell rang there was resignation and jubilation, humiliation and celebration. There was a glorious win for a now unquestioned world pound-for-pound class fighter and one of, if not the, greatest performance by a British boxer ever. The valleys sang in unison in the early hours of the morning to the tune 'Super, super Joe. Super, super Joe. Super Joe Calzaghe.' Let's hope he now gets the super-fights he is due, unfortunately on this showing very few names are going to want to face the Welsh Warrior. Good on you Joe.
For those unsure, I am referring to Joe Calzaghe's super-middleweight unification title fight against Jeff 'Left-Hook' Lacy, ably supported by Enzo Maccarinelli's re-jigged WBU title defense against Mark Hobson.
Starting with Maccarinelli I think the guy has real punch power but very little technique. It almost certainly means he will be in exciting fights but not necessarily ones that will do anything helpful for him physically. Enzo doesn't seem able to box off the back foot which is a major technical flaw for a 'banger' who will invariably require rest periods at some point during a fight and will be involved in see-saw encounters throughout his career. Another serious deficiency is he hangs his chin out on the back foot. Hobson should have capitalised more during the fight on pushing Enzo back and had Hobson, not to take anything away from his performance, been a puncher of the standard of David Haye or even a Carl Thompson then Enzo would be beltless this morning. Good fight though, could have finished in the third when Enzo dropped Hobson but couldn't get the stubborn Northerner out of the there. Maccarinelli has a lot of work to do and in a somewhat forgotten division, which may be worth him stepping up to heavyweight where he certainly has the frame to add weight to, whilst maintaining a speed advantage over the ponderous giants.
So the main event, the dethroning of Calzaghe, at least according to every American pundit asked and not a small number of supposed British experts too. The bookies were taking 6/4 on for Lacy to win, and to be fair the previously labelled 'mini Mike Tyson' (I think we can drop that unwarranted moniker now Gary Shaw) seemed to believe he could do it. This isn't saying anything new, fighters have to have a natural confidence, even arrogance, about them because they are totally reliant on themselved to avoid a beating and possibly serious injury. Calzaghe though was the most relaxed I've ever seen a fighter about to go into a major fight let alone a career defining fight. His smiley, happy demeanour spoke of an inner confidence that not all of Lacy's grimacing, brooding and staring could begin to match. When I watched the fight for a second time, it was almost like Joe knew it was his time. Whatever epiphany he had, he stuck doggedly to the plan laid out for him by his father ... at least for the first round. After the first round where he bloodied and probably broke Lacy's nose, Calzaghe looked even more certain. What had appeared a tough, mean, muscular and dangerous fighter was in truth a somewhat inexperienced young man who hadn't been involved in a fight of this intensity before. From the second round onwards Joe clinically dissected his fellow world champion, giving Lacy a boxing masterclass of a hiding that I doubt he will ever recover from. Such was the disparity of the contest that the wonderful Manchester crowd were chanting 'Easy, Easy' after the second round, and Gary Shaw - Lacy's promoter and apostle -- was screaming in the final round for Lacy's corner to pull him out of the fight.
Although a somewhat ignominious end that no boxer would want to face, instead preferring to leave on their shield, the corner or the referee should have stopped the fight before the final round. With absolutely no chance of winning the fight -- Lacy was so tired and beat up there was no way he could have pulled out his trademark shot with the power necessary to stop Calzaghe -- the humane decision should have been made to pull out a young man who had rarely, if ever, been on the backfoot, let alone taking a beating from a world class opponent of this magnitude. The referee should almost certainly be questioned for his unwillingness to prevent further harm to Lacy when Calzaghe threw 15-20 unanswered shots during both the eleventh and twelfth rounds. When the final bell rang there was resignation and jubilation, humiliation and celebration. There was a glorious win for a now unquestioned world pound-for-pound class fighter and one of, if not the, greatest performance by a British boxer ever. The valleys sang in unison in the early hours of the morning to the tune 'Super, super Joe. Super, super Joe. Super Joe Calzaghe.' Let's hope he now gets the super-fights he is due, unfortunately on this showing very few names are going to want to face the Welsh Warrior. Good on you Joe.
posted by Owen at
11:04 PM
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