Joe Calzaghe fought a who’s who of world boxing stars during his decorated career and has now named the best boxing talent he ever came up against.
Calzaghe holds the record for the number of defences he made of his super middleweight world title and famously went unbeaten during his 46-fight career.
He fought greats like Mikkel Kessler, Jeff Lacy and Chris Eubank, along with Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr in his final two fights, having moved up a division.
One man he was always linked with was fellow British supermiddleweight Carl Froch, though the pair never met in the ring, and debate as to what might have happened continues to this day.
However, speaking to The Ring Magazine for their Best I Ever Faced feature, Calzaghe named Brit Richie Woodhall as his number one opponent.
“He was very motivated for that fight. I remember I was edging the fight. He started to tire. He was a very good boxer. He fought the right tactics, great amateur. He used his reach and boxed in and out on his toes, [using] his right hand against the southpaw. He caught me with a few of them bad boys before I sussed him out.”
The pair fought in December 2000, with Calzaghe’s WBO super-middleweight title on the line. Woodhall was a former champion hoping to win back the strap but was instead stopped inside the distance after 10 competitive rounds and never boxed again.
Calzaghe made many more defences and eventually moved up to become a two-weight world champion before himself retiring in 2008.
