What next for Calzaghe? by Terry Dooley Apr 10th 2007

After Saturday's high-class farce - let's not call it a competitive fight -of a win over Peter Manfredo Junior, Joe Calzaghe seems to have a number of options open to him. Or so we are led to believe. Post-fight interesting names were mentioned, not just small names either, some serious big hitters on the world stage are in contention to travel to the UK and fight Joe in July. Unfortunately, however, none of the names mentioned or projected will be available in July meaning that once again a post-fight ITV interview projects a number of possibilities without the merest hint of realism. Whoever neutered Michael Parkinson over at ITV is certainly keeping busy with their boxing production team. Firstly let's quickly get the Calzaghe-Manfredo fight out of the way. Manfredo is not one of the world's premier super-middleweights; he is in fact not one of the world's premier fighters at any weight. We need to bear in mind that we can criticise without being disparaging and point out that Manfredo has had three fights at the weight. His first was against a well-past-his-best Scott Pemberton. His second was against the highly flattered, read flattened as a career trajectory, Joey Spina. His third was against the decade reigning yet still disputed king of the division Calzaghe. As quantum leaps go this was as far-fetched as the ‘Quantum Leap' episode where Dr. Sam Beckett becomes a mid-western mother of three. Manfredo's criteria for getting the match at the weekend was that he is well-known in the USA (and, one must point out, being in the rankings...ahem - Ed.). Well so is Martha Stewart yet we do not see her getting title-shots (although give it time). The match itself was a dire advertisement on a black night for British boxing. Spin-doctors will point to the huge crowd; boxing fans will be pointed at and laughed at in work over the mismatches. Our sport is becoming woeful so in many ways Saturday's fight was par for the course. Calzaghe did what was asked of him. Joe came out for the fight with a little beard that made him look like Patrick Bergin in the risible ‘Robin of Sherwood' film (came out in the same year as ‘Robin Hood Prince of Thieves' and was overshadowed by its more daring twin, hmm), this was fitting because Manfredo fought like Maid Marian. We can dispute the stoppage if we want yet this is like going to an AA meeting on the day of Armageddon. Boxing is inflicted with ineptness, why should our officials get all the credit? After beating up and stopping Manfredo, Joe was told that an offer had been made to bring Kessler over to fight him, that Taylor was also in the frame and that a big fight was a given for July. These claims got this writer scratching his head. Kessler can only fight every five to six months due to injuries sustained earlier in his career - and even Warren said they couldn't make the July proposed date. Taylor is fighting in May against Cory Spinks.  If Taylor did take the $3 million that has been offered him (according to Calzaghe's promoter Frank Warren) to fight Calzaghe he would have to move into a new weight class, prepare for a huge fight on six-weeks' notice (including, one presumes, a two-week period spent in the UK to acclimatise), take on the divisions leading fighter and do so for less money than might be possible for him to earn in the US. It all sounds reasonable enough. So who is next? Well we have the usual list of suspects, a few are hall of fame bound, and all are apparently ducking Calzaghe. Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright are so terrified they scheduled their fight in the same month Joe is projected next to fight. Well we always said those two are master tacticians. Clinton Woods could have something to offer but is fighting in June and in order to make a Woods-Calzaghe fight two UK promoters would have to work together for the good of a sport that is, frankly, on its arse right now. So, based on recent history, scratch that fight from the list. So what does Joe do next? He could take on Froch (an all-British fight set-up by rival camps!?), Inkin or Bute. They are all lined-up for his title and call me a rampant traditionalist but it is high-time he took on another genuine super-middleweight. Froch is easy to find, just head for the noise. So why not a UK dust-up between Joe and Carl in July? Well, as mentioned, that would entail two UK promoters working together for the good of the sport. Scratch that. All these thoughts went through my mind as the ‘big fight' scenario was put forward on ITV after the fight against Manfredo. I ticked off most of the names as they came up and threw out another bunch of names immediately. Unfortunately the man paid to ask the questions by ITV wasn't exactly forthright with either his knowledge or his questions. Either way the farce rumbles onwards and downwards taking boxing's credibility with it, some of the writing rats are leaving this sinking ship to write about UFC. Boxing is being tanked overall by UFC so this latest trend is not surprising; UFC, though, is mindless frivolity, pure and simple. Boxing has the potential to encompass high-drama, pathos, tragedy and triumph; instead it is now a farce, it is not even a classic Italian farce. With its bawdy ring card girls and nonsensical language boxing is now straight to DVD nonsense of the highest order. When Oscar and Floyd depart the sport we may as well stick a fork into boxing as it will be done. (Come on Terry - there's always another superstar round the corner...isn't there? Ed.) Final Thoughts – Kessler or Taylor? Debate rages back and forth about who might be the man to beat Calzaghe. Kessler is not available in July anyway so much of this seems a waste of space (literally) until the two can agree on a fight...which, if boxing generally and Calzaghe's career specifically is anything to go by, is not to be readily expected. Is Kessler the man to beat Joe? Well he is the super-middleweight in ascendancy at the moment. Kessler's recent record is better than Joe's plus he seems willing to fight yet there is one crucial problem his cheerleaders overlook, Joe is by far the better fighter and would beat him hands-down. Kessler fought well against Andrade in his last fight but there were gaping technical holes for Joe to exploit. Joe could probably give Kessler a pre-fight five point lead in a fight between them and Joe would still win 115-113. It would be Lacy Redux with a left hook replaced by a jab and right hand. Kessler's jab can be a thing of beauty but he has the footwork of a Sumo with broken ankles. At times versus Andrade Mikkel had his angles all wrong but shot out those straight shots to overcome this. Kessler has a great one-two yet there is no left hook off the right hand. Kessler tends to throw a one-two, followed by a one-two, followed by a one-two. Then he steps back and throws a jab. At times he can throw a left hook yet the general rule is that he throws his best left hook off the lead right hand, again a solid one-two that needs to be a ménage a trois (Kessler should be up for this, he is Scandinavian). Against Andrade he either went jab-right hand or right hand-left hook; a mix of all four would be far more impressive. Andrade also cried out for a right uppercut to come crashing through his guard yet Kessler threw remarkably few of these shots. As the fight wore-on he became a little more imaginative but I am convinced that Kessler gets overwhelmed by Joe. Calzaghe would get hit with the odd right hand but Kessler would get hit by everything. Sorry but Mikkel is not the man to beat Joe. Jermain Taylor is. Taylor has more imagination than Kessler. When he could not prise open Winky Wright with the straight right he went downstairs with two and three shots at a time and in round ten hit Winky more often than Wright has been hit for a long time. People say Taylor is ducking Wright yet Wright's post-fight actions spoke loudly, he wanted no part of a big, young middleweight ever again. Taylor gets a lot of stick for his rough edges and after fighting thirty-six rounds with Hopkins and Wright he is being dismissed. The Ouma fight seemed to be one of those nights when a guy is not going to be stopped. Kasim was hit with showy shots yet it was not to be and Taylor got what he, ultimately, needs – twelve more rounds to try and knit his style together. Taylor can move adequately, he can fight off the ropes, he can throw a fast jab-right hand and crucially he can whip in a left hook to the body or head behind it. As a fighter he has better balance than Kessler and it is either going to go one way or the other with Jermain; either he steps-up in weight, it all comes together and he excels or he is going to earn a bit more money, lose and then retire without really giving boxing a second thought (how we must envy him). In short for all his drift and stagnation Calzaghe is a top class boxer and would take some beating. A one-two and clumsy footwork is not going to do it, if your footwork looks off against Andrade then believe me you are well out of luck against Joe. Taylor is the man to challenge Joe yet should he do it on six-weeks notice, without any conceivable advantage and straight off the bat in a new weight division? Jermain surely can not be expected to do this. However, it would be refreshing if the July date and other factors became more flexible and serious behind-closed-doors negotiating began so that the putting together of yet another fight does not descend into more over-the-fence back and forth empty rhetoric. Then again this is boxing, is it not?

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