Saturday, May 1, 2004

   Caught in between spells of usefulness...
Currently sitting around, waiting for my friend Tom to get back from work so I can call him and go out. Will most probably end up just being us two, enjoying a few drinks and some friendlly gaming competition in his house. Everyone else is going out "on the town", but I'm broke, so meh...

This is the place I seem to like going to write down my complaints, so there's no point doing anything different this time. Today's complaint; boxing's ignorance of the legendary Joe Calzaghe... or rather, America's ignorance of him.

Joe Calzaghe has been the WBO Super Middleweight champion since 1997, when he opened 12 cans of whup ass on Chris Eubank (1 per round obviously). This is the man that scared the great Steve Collins into retirement. His record is 37-0-0. He has not lost, he has not drawn... and what's more, he is not one of those fighters that picks weak opponents to beat up on *cough*Tyson*cough*. Anyone who has ever seen Calzaghe fight knows how good he is... his Ali-esque quick hands and elusiveness make him a real pleasure to watch as he kills opponent after opponent. This is the man that Bernard Hopkins won't fight... and why? Simple, Hopkins is afraid of what Calzaghe's fists would do to his face.

Yet... with such prowess, why is Calzaghe not as revered as someone like Roy Jones Jr? They are very similar in principle, they destroy opponents time after time and can't get so much as touched by anyone else... but while RJ now finds himself on the cover of a new EA sports title, Joe will play the game to find he's not even in the damn game... why?

The answer is quite simple. No American fighter would give him a big fight, on a big stage. Hopkins would have been the one... everyone in the world would have watched as Joe murdered Hopkins in Ceaser's Palace, and Joe took his rightful place in the spotlight. But no, Hopkins made excuse after excuse... the biggest Middle Weight fight there would have been in years doesn't go down because "The Executioner" shit himself.

But now... now it's happening. Joe has moved up a weight into Light Heavy Weight, and has a shot at the IBF title against Glencoffe Johnson. Joe will go through Johnson like a freight train hitting a cardboard box. Then comes Antonio Tarver... then perhaps, just perhaps, Roy Jones Jr.

What a fight that would be... it would be the new Ali v Frazier. Jones is the only boxer in the world where I couldn't guarantee Joe would kill him...

Well, the road to Jones Jr leads through Glencoffe Johnson, and I am looking forward to June 5th, the day when Joe gets a new belt for the collection.

As usual, I feel a little better, and a little less bored now that I've had my rant. Any Bernard Hopkins enthusiasts can send their complaints in a stamped adressed envelope to someone who cares. No, infact, send them to Hopkins... maybe it'll give him the courage to actually fight Calzaghe, and in that case, make sure you make the letters spongy so he has something soft to land on when Calzaghe puts him on his ass.
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