An Evening with Joe Calzaghe by Ian McNeilly Nov 25th 2007

You can't open a boxing magazine these days without noticing reams of adverts for ‘An Evening with…' It might be old timers such as Ali opponents or Sugar Ray Leonard. Just as likely is that it will be someone from the cream of the current crop – Ricky Hatton has got some lined up for after his Mayweather fight. Until last night, I'd never been to one. I've been to plenty of dinner shows and some have had speakers but I've always gone for the boxing – not the chat. In truth, I'd heard some horror stories – from the lad who paid £100 to sit at the back of a crowded hall and ‘see' a partially obscured Mike Tyson mumble barely audible answers to vetted questions; to Roberto Duran having to be coaxed into signing memorabilia and posing for photos when that is exactly what he was being paid for. We all have our off nights but when you've stumped up a big wedge of cash (and I've yet to see one that isn't pricey) you expect access to the stars. So, just in case a similar experience was round the corner, I wasn't exactly allowing the adrenaline to course through my veins as I schlepped over to Blackburn Rovers Football Club at the invitation of promoter Kevin Maree for ‘An Evening with Joe Calzaghe'. The venue was immaculate and there was a definite sense of ‘occasion' about it. I'm glad to say the days are gone of all male sportsmen's dinners and the women, most of whom were mad about Joe, had pulled out the fashion stops which an £80 ticket price demands. Without wanting to sound silly, I've never really been the starry-eyed type and unless Uma Thurman knocks on my door asking to borrow some sugar, I'm not the kind of person who is affected by those holding stardom. Combine this with the fact that for several years I've regularly spoken to boxing people from the young amateur to the superstar, and it would be fair comment to say I'm rather desensitised to ‘being in the presence of boxing greatness'. That's a shame I suppose. The genuine buzz of excitement from the 200 in attendance reminded me what it was like to be a genuine fan. Wind the clock back 20 years and this is how I'd have felt like if Lloyd Honeyghan was about to walk into the room. Great stuff. Before the dinner commenced, everyone was given the opportunity to go into the next suite and have a professional photo taken with Joe and his sidekick for this mini-tour, former opponent Richie Woodhall. I thought the £20 charge for this was a bit steep but it didn't seem to deter many and during dinner they were printed off and people could have their own photos signed. To have your own signed photo with Joe (and Richie too, if you wished) will be a priceless possession for many fans. One woman said if she'd had known there was a photo opportunity, she would have bought a wedding dress so she could pretend she was married to him. She was joking. I think. I felt a little sorry for Richie. People were given the option of having the photo with the pair or just Joe and many was the time the latter option was taken. Richie would just stand back and wait for the time someone actually wanted to be seen with a former WBC champion. I asked a waitress if the two staple options of a sportsman's dinner – a comedian and a singer – were planned. The negative answer reflected that this was, thankfully, a classier affair than most. Cockney MC Mark Peters specifically asked people not to pester the stars during their meal as there would be plenty of time afterwards to get autographs and pictures of their own but such was the adoration in the room that after about 15 minutes in, there was a queue at the top table. There really was a lot of genuine affection and admiration on show and I felt somewhat guilty about how hard nosed I've become. I couldn't believe the prices that some of the memorabilia went for. I don't know if there was any Del Boy market-type shenanigans going on but every bit of history was snapped up. The winning bid for some Cooper-Ali stuff was an astonishing £2,200. The best item was a large, sepia canvas of Jake La Motta, signed by the man himself. That went for £500 - and that was one of the cheapest things on the night. There were a few professional memorabilia salesmen there who had brought along copious amounts of stuff for Joe to sign. He would only sign a couple but the lads seemed to expect just that. I sought out Kevin Maree for a quick chat. There was a young lad motoring around, working hard, so I asked him to direct me to the promoter – without realising the relative whippersnapper was the promoter. I'm getting old. Burnley-based Maree is a boxing nut and is working on getting two lads sponsorship – young pros Jack Arnfield and Brian Rose. They were in attendance along with their trainer Bobby Rimmer. Michael Gomez was scheduled to attend but I didn't notice him…which probably means he wasn't there as Michael is usually noticeable. Arnie Farnell was warmly welcomed. Pro footballer and fight fan David Dunn was another attendee, as were two actors from Emmerdale. MC Peters welcomed them by humming the theme tune and then making sheep sounds. He cut an unintentionally comic figure did Peters. He explained he had ruptured his right bicep and should have been in a sling but didn't fancy it. Instead, he kept his hand across his chest, tucked into his dinner jacket all night like a cut-price Napoleon. Woodhall gave an engaging and typically honest speech about his own career. He explained how, after he won the WBC title, he turned to his wife and said, “What do I win now?” For him, all the fire had gone once he'd achieved his goal. Woodhall then acted as interviewer for the main man. Calzaghe is wittier than many people realise and the crowd were hooked on his every word. It was obvious that Joe still feels his decade old fight with Chris Eubank was by far his toughest test. After knocking him down early on, Joe thought it was going to be easy but said that he was exhausted by the half way mark of the fight as he just wasn't used to it. Asked to explain the outcome of the first Mario Veit fight, Joe said: “He wasn't used to that type of stage, the crowd, the arena. I looked down at his legs and they were shaking. Basically, he shit himself and I knocked him out in a round.” Woodhall moved on to the Peter Manfredo fight. Was Joe really motivated to fight him? “No, how could I be? He was shit!” Cue raucous laughter before Calzaghe gave a slightly more expansive answer which came to the same conclusion. Asked about his future, when he said that there was no one left to fight at super-middleweight, a member of the crowd shouted “Carl Froch!” “What was that? Carl the Cock?” Again, cue guffaws from the congregation. Calzaghe was complimentary about Clinton Woods but said that he was chasing a fight with Bernard Hopkins. Money has always been a major motivating factor for Calzaghe and several times he rammed home the point that boxing is a business and he'll continue to chase the fights which are the most lucrative for him. It was just gone eleven when the speeches were finished. For all the stories of bad experiences around this type of event, I have to say that my own foray into this ever-expanding world was very positive indeed. They aren't cheap but they do afford opportunities to real fans which they otherwise wouldn't get – last night's Calzaghe devotees certainly seemed to enjoy it. Some left beaming, clutching their memories of an evening with one of Britain's sporting greats.

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