Yesterday, undefeated light heavyweight champion Joe Calzaghe of Wales announced his retirement from the sport of boxing.Currently ranked #2 pound for pound at Boxing Chronicles, Calzaghe finishes his career with a record of 46-0 that includes recent wins over Mikkell Kessler, Bernard Hopkins, and Roy Jones Jr. Perhaps the most impressive and career defining win was against Kessler to become the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world.
In October of 1997, Calzaghe won his first title, WBO super middleweight championship, outpointing Chris Eubank by unanimous decision. In March of 2006, Calzaghe unified two of super middleweight titles by beating undefeated IBF champion Jeff Lacy in what was a brutal and one sided twelve round affair.
Throughout his ten year reign as super middleweight champion, Calzaghe has also defeated the likes of Robin Reid, Charles Brewer, Byron Mitchell, Sakio Bika, and Peter Manfredo, Jr. I personally would have liked to see Calzaghe fight Chad Dawson prior to his retirement, in what would've either been the culmination of the new young kingpin of the light heavyweight division, or the final affirmation of a great champion who has been on top for over ten years.
In any case, I wish Mr. Calzaghe a happy retirement and give him props for a very good career that saw him retire unbeaten.
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