Joe Calzaghe was once clear on who he considers to be the greatest boxer to ever lace up the gloves.
When it comes to British boxers, Calzaghe himself often tops the list of the best ever, certainly from these shores. He fought 46 times in his professional career and won every single bout.
In that time, he reigned as super-middleweight champion for a decade and made more than 20 defences, which is a record that still stands. The final two fights of his career saw him move up to light heavyweight and continue to win with a pair of victories over Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr, making him a two-weight world champion.
Even the very best the sport have to offer have inspirations of their own and, speaking to the BBC around the time of Muhammad Ali’s death, the Welshman revealed it was ‘The Greatest’ who got him into boxing.
“In a 1,000 years time people will look back and say he was the greatest. He is the greatest boxing and greatest sporting icon of all time. He was my inspiration, I tried to copy some of his moves as soon a I started boxing at the age of 10 or 11.
“Boxing is the hardest sport in the world and in a time when he was champion, it wasn’t a great sport – it was on a bit of a downward spiral but he transcended the sport with his personality and style. People loved him, he was someone completely different, he backed it up in the ring and everybody wanted to tune in and watch him fight.”
He then spoke of his favourite Ali fight – the culmination of his rivalry with Joe Frazier.
“My favourite was the third fight with Joe Frazier. They were unbelievable. That rivalry with Frazier was epic, I remember watching tapes of those fights and I wanted to be like Ali.”
Like Calzaghe, a huge numbers of fans, fighters and analysts feel the same about the heavyweight from Louisville, Kentucky. Known for his unmatched skill, speed, and resilience in the ring, he became a global icon not only for his boxing achievements but also for his influence beyond sports.
