Joe Calzaghe is one of the few men in the sport of boxing to have retired without a loss.
Alongside the likes of Rocky Marciano and Floyd Mayweather, Calzaghe was never bested inside the ropes, winning 46 fights in all.
He set a record for making 20 defences of the super-middleweight world championship over more than a decade, and in his final two fights moved up to light-heavyweight to defeat fellow legends Roy Jones Jr and Bernard Hopkins before retiring in 2008. With the gloves hung up, Calzaghe immediately entered the conversation as one of the UK’s best.
Speaking to First Round TV, he was asked if he was the greatest boxer from these shores and said that there are others he is just honoured to be in the conversation with but that he is definitely ‘up there.’
“Listen, I’ll be honest with you it’s not for me to say. I try to be humble, not be big-headed. But nah, I have to be up there. What I achieved in boxing is wonderful.
“Depending on different eras, people have their own opinions. Being undefeated, world champion for 11 years. Well, 10 years, but The Ring magazine title is a world title. I was undefeated for 20 years.
“There’s an argument I was up there but I wouldn’t say I was the best, there have been some great fighters and just to be talked about with some of them from the past is very humbling. I’m very proud especially you know being trained by my late dad, bless him, who never boxed, went on an underdog journey and managed to conquer the world, man. It’s amazing, it’s a blessing.”
While Calzaghe himself practices modesty, others, like Ricky Hatton, are much quicker to give the number one spot to him. American heavyweight legend George Foreman also once praised the Pride of Wales, saying boxing had not seen a fighter like him since Henry Armstrong, the only man in history to hold titles in three divisions simultaneously.
