Monday Morning Notes: Joe Calzaghe thinks he can beat Wladimir Klitschko

Speaking with WalesOnline, retired former super middleweight and light heavyweight champion says he's enjoying retirement, though he misses the money, and that he believes he could beat world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. Yes, you read that right.

"I see the guys fighting now and I know I could beat them all," he declared. "That’s always the case.

"I’m Joe Calzaghe, I could beat anyone. I could step up and beat Wladimir Klitschko if I wanted."

It's a good quote, and honestly, I think I'd be fairly interested in seeing him try to do it. Calzaghe is 5'11" with a 73" reach. Wladimir Klitschko is a hair under 6'7" and generally weighs 240-245 pounds for his fights, and the man is made of muscle. There's hardly an ounce of fat on him. Calzaghe's stamina and workrate are/were great, and his chin always looked rock solid. But Wladimir can hit like a truck. Calzaghe would have to be at his absolute slippery, craftiest best to overcome that sort of physical mismatch.

But it's just jibber-jabber.

Calzaghe also chipped in some more comments on press rival Carl Froch:

"If you are asking what I think of Carl Froch and whether I’m tempted to come back and fight him, then my answer is simple. I’m watching him getting beaten up already, so I don’t need to bother.

"I watched Jermain Taylor kick his arse for 12 rounds the other week. All right, Froch did well in that last 12 seconds, but I’m not fooled.

"He is in that Super Six series now and I don’t even think he will know his name by the time that’s finished. It doesn’t need me coming back for that to happen."

Those two are never going to fight and they'll always talk about each other.

• PhilStar.com seems to believe that Juanito Rubillar's loss to Giovanni Segura on Sunday could be the last fight of his career: "Rubillar has probably reached the end of a long career that began in 1994. His record is now 46-13-7, with 22 KOs. He will go down in Philippine boxing history as one of the country’s hard-luck challengers who was thwarted in four title attempts."
• A fight in Ireland between Eddie Hyland and Oisin Fagan is being called a Fight of the Year contender by Steve Wellings, who says it joins the short list of Ireland's best fights this year. One of the fights named is Bernard Dunne-Ricardo Cordoba, which many have leading the worldwide Fight of the Year chase. So if it's really in that class, it could be this year's Tomas Villa-Rogers Mtagwa at the very least.
• In a press release, Jeff Lacy has promised to knock out Roy Jones Jr. on August 15 in Biloxi. Just thought you'd like to know.
• World junior flyweight (108 lbs.) champion Ivan Calderon will fight Rodel Mayol in a rematch on September 12 in Puerto Rico. The two went to a six-round technical draw in June when Calderon was cut, which has become a problem for him. But you've got to give this to Calderon: He tries to finish things. When he was taken to the limit by Hugo Cazares in 2007, he fought him again. Now he's fighting Mayol again. He's got guts.
• Promoter Octavius James of Gary, Ind., passed away unexpectedly at the age of 36. In recent years he'd made Northwest Indiana somewhat of a hotbed for local-sized boxing shows. His best-known client is probably Michael Walker, who fought Daniel Jacobs on the Hatton-Pacquiao undercard in May. Rest in peace, Octavius.