British boxing legend Joe Calzaghe has singled out one man in particular when naming the hardest punching opponent he ever faced.
Calzaghe remains one of the few great champions in boxing history to retire from the sport without suffering a single defeat along the way.
‘The Pride Of Wales’ defeated each of the 46 opponents that he shared a ring with during his professional career, including wins over the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Mikkel Kessler and Roy Jones Jr.
Calzaghe also holds the record for being the longest reigning world super-middleweight champion of all time, making no less than 20 successful defences of his WBO title over the course of 10 years.
Speaking to The Ring Magazine, Calzaghe claimed that whilst Danish great Mikkel Kessler hit him hard, he names Charles Brewer as the hardest puncher that he ever crossed paths with.
“Kessler hit hard, but I’d probably go with Charles Brewer. My game plan was to outbox him, but Charles Brewer I had seen knock out lots of guys. So, I figure I’ll outbox him. I remember in the first round he came out and whacked me right in the solar plexus. If you watch the tape, you see me take a deep breath and then go toe to toe for the rest of the fight. He buzzed me up a few times in that fight. Heavy-handed and dangerous from the first round till the 12th.”
Calzaghe faced Brewer in what was the tenth defence of his WBO super-middleweight title at the Cardiff International Arena back in April of 2002, defeating the American via unanimous decision at the conclusion of their competitive showdown.
Brewer scored 28 knockouts from 40 wins when all was said and done. He won the IBF super-middleweight belt with a win over Gary Ballard, defending against British legend Herrol Graham, Joey DeGrandis and Antoine Byrd before losing to Sven Ottke.
