Poche Pictures
e-mail: rich@pochepictures.com
Available on DVD
BIRTH OF A BOXING FAN
-My own story of how this obsession came about.

ERIC 'THE PRINCE' MARTIN
1958-2007
-My tribute to my friend and former Bay Area
boxing great
Available on DVD

Joe Calzaghe was the first fighter to make Roy Jones bleed.

Taking complete control by the sixth round, Calzaghe easily out punched Jones over the last half of
the bout.

The knockdown Calzaghe suffered in the first round was more of a glancing blow. It appeared that
Jones hit him with his wrist, kind of a clubbing shot.

Hey, whatever works.

But after a shaky two rounds,  Calzaghe just kept punching and never stopped. His rhythm is
something no fighter has figured out yet. If Bernard Hopkins couldn’t figure it out than I don’t think
anyone else can.

There is talk among the boxing media debating if Calzaghe could have beaten Jones if Jones was in
his prime.

What about Calzaghe’s prime? Calzaghe will be 37 in March. Jones is 39. Most of the boxing
pundits are talking about their age difference as if it was something dramatic. They should have
stated how age is relative. Jones started his career four years earlier than Calzaghe. Would the Jones
of four years ago* been more competitive with Calzaghe? Maybe, maybe not…But I believe
Calzaghe should be given full credit for his superiority over Jones without the asterisk.

There is something to be said about peaking late instead of peaking early. Marvelous Marvin Hagler
did not engage in his first “super fight” until late 1983 with Roberto Duran. That was ten years into
his career. Lennox Lewis was actually one year older than Mike Tyson when they met in their 2002
super fight. The perception was that Tyson was the much older man. He had started his
professional career four years before Lewis and had a lot more mileage on him come 2002.
Calzaghe? He broke through to American fans in 2006 by beating Olympian Jeff Lacy…This win
came thirteen years after his pro debut. Now he defeats Hopkins and Jones back to back and isn’t
really given full credit because the American boxers are “old men”.

Calzaghe is an 'old man' himself. He just had to wait a bit longer to get noticed.

The tortoise beating the hare seems to be an axiom for boxing as well.

Footnote
*In 2004, Jones suffered back to back knockout losses to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson. I
believe Jones peaked around 1997 and was widely considered the best in the sport until 2004.
Problem was he never fought European fighters like Joe Calzaghe, Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn,  Steve
Collins, and Dariusz Michalczewski. I’m not suggesting he could not have beaten this fighters. He
just didn’t seem too interested in proving how great he was until the end of his career when it was
too late.