Calzaghe ringside to watch Leeds youngsters by Paul Concannon Nov 16th 2007

Leeds boxers went 2-2 against visiting opposition in Bateson & Spratt's final show of 2007 at Elland Road last night. In attendance was none other than Joe Calzaghe, fresh off his triumphant unification bout with Mikkel Kessler, alongside close friend and former opponent Richie Woodhall; more on that later. The night's first bout featured debuting Leeds featherweight Craig O'Neill (9-2 ¾ lb) in action against Sutton-in-Ashfield based Estonian Sergey Rozhakmens (9-9 lb). O'Neil started quickly, barrelling out with thumping combinations, only to be caught with a left-hook, right-cross. The early exchange set the tone for the four minutes the contest lasted, with the local man aggressively pressing the action, while the brave Estonian hitting back at every opportunity. The end came via retirement after the second round; a nasty cut over Rozhakmens left eye doing the damage. O'Neill was delighted with his first pro win in front of his hometown fans, and provided good value for money for the short duration of the contest. Phil Edwards, as he would throughout, refereed. Next was a cruiserweight encounter featuring Leeds' Clint Johnson (12-12 ¾ lb) in action against Sheffield's Carl Wild (13-4 ¼lb). Johnson began purposefully, but quickly decided he wasn't up for sampling too many of Wild's sharp punches in open warfare. His tactics quickly descended to brawling, holding and hitting up close. Johnson's bulldozing enabled him to spoil the majority of Wild's efforts to work over the first two rounds, but the longer the contest went on, the more room Wild found to work. He landed the vast majority of the clean clips in a messy, infraction riddled 6x2's. Phil Edwards scored the bout 60-55, presumably giving Johnson a share of the first. In the night's third bout, Leeds' promising Adil Anwar (10-2 ¾ lb) met with a banana skin in just his second pro outing when Blackburn's hard-working Graeme (Dezzi) Higginson took a decision over 6x2's. Each man displaying nice balance, movement and defence throughout the keenly contested bout. Anwar boxed and moved, while Higginson pressed the action; my feeling was that Anwar, despite a rocky moment late in the sixth, was a step or two ahead in punches landed in most of the rounds. Referee Phil Edwards disagreed, awarding a 58-56 decision to the visitor. It would make a nice rematch on the next Elland Road card in February. In the final bout of the evening, Leeds' light-middleweight prospect Danny Reynolds (11-7 lb) boxed nicely in scoring a routine 6x2's points win over hard-headed trial horse Rocky Muscus (11-8 ½). It was pretty much straight forward sharp-shooting from Reynolds ahead of a central area title bout with Jason Rushton in the New Year. “I could have stopped him but got the rounds under belt, and stayed nice and sharp; at the end of the day, a win's a win,” said the southpaw banger afterwards.  Ringside notes:  It's not too often one gets to be sat just a few feet away from a great fighter at the very peak of his game, but that was the experience for those in attendance last night when Joe Calzaghe, alongside Richie Woodhall regaled the room with an entertaining and good natured Q&A from ring centre – followed by questions from the crowd. Joe was in good form; here are a few highlights: On Eubank: “I dropped him in the first, and was like ‘I told you'd I'd get you' – suddenly, it's the end of the sixth, I'm knackered, there's six rounds to go, and he's telling me, ‘I'm still here!'” On almost pulling out of the Lacy fight: “I told my dad, my hand was fucked, and he told me, ‘Joe, if you pull out of this fight you'll be seen as the biggest fucking chicken, you can't not fight the guy', anyway, you saw what happened. I drugged him! Just kidding, I beat the shit out of him for 12 rounds!” On his mindset ahead of the Kessler bout: “I went in with the attitude, that there was no way Kessler was going to beat me.” On Kessler's power: “I was stunned a few times, I was in the twilight zone in that fourth round, but I just kept going.” On his next fight: “Whether it's Jones or Hopkins, I don't give a shit, it's all business at this point!” On Ricky Hatton's chances: “Mayweather's excellent, one of the top fighters in the world, but Ricky has a great chance; he can punch, and he's hungry – and sometimes hunger beats talent.” On British boxing: “We now have seven world champions; it's been a fantastic year for British boxing.” Woodhall on Calzaghe: “We fought in 2000, that was my last fight, and I have no excuses; this guy was better than me, and we've been great friends ever since.” To which Calzaghe commented, “Richie gave me one of my most difficult fights.”  It was great to see Woodhall getting some recognition for his fantastic effort against Calzaghe all those years back. When Calzaghe's career is discussed, the Woodhall defence is far too often overlooked. For my money, it's up there with the best all British world title bouts in the last 20 years or so. The modest, articulate West Brom supporter, whose own career included British, Commonwealth, European and World titles, is nothing less than an absolute credit to the sport.  Another ex-Calzaghe opponent in attendance was Leeds' former pro Nick Manners. ”I never thought I would be stood here today able to say I was beat up by a legend, I didn't like losing to anyone, but you beat me up, Queensbury rules, and you know what, getting beat by you, that was alright,” he told Calzaghe.

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