Unbeaten light heavyweight champion and ex-super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe retired today, ending his career at 46-0 and arguaby as Britain's all-time greatest boxer.
Calzaghe, who turns 37 on March 23, made his pro debut on October 1, 1993, beating Paul Hanlon in Cardiff. In 1996, he beat Mark Delaney for the BBBofC super middleweight championship, and then the next year outpointed Chris Eubank to win the vacant WBO super middleweight title, which he would hold onto until vacating it in 2008. He also picked up the IBF title from Jeff Lacy in 2006, and the WBC and WBA titles in 2007 when he beat Mikkel Kessler.
Much of Joe's career was plagued by accusations that he was protected by fighting exclusively in England and Wales, and that he often "ducked" top American fighters. The win over Lacy was so dominant that much of that talk stopped then. He finally came over to the United States in 2008, beating legends Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr., in what was arguably the greatest "mainstream" success of his career.
His record (46-0, 32 KO) is a big reason he has chosen to retire now, rather than fight on and look for new challenges:
"Deciding to call it a day has been one of the toughest decisions of my life. There's always the temptation to fight on, especially if you are the champ and no-one has ever beaten you. "But I've now come to a point where the satisfaction of retiring undefeated has to outweigh the thrill of another fight. "I've also achieved every goal I've ever set myself in the ring - there are no more mountains left to climb." To be totally honest, it neither surprises nor disappoints me that Calzaghe is deciding to hang 'em up right now. The only real challenge at light heavyweight for him is Chad Dawson, who Calzaghe isn't going to fight simply because Dawson -- while young and very gifted -- has no name, and generates no moeny. A rematch with Hopkins has little appeal because the first fight was a sloppy bore. Glen Johnson, like Dawson, has little value on the big stage. And Calzaghe is keenly aware that people won't accept anything less than him fighting the best of the best anymore. Like all boxing retirements, this one is to be taken with a big grain of salt. There's a chance someone comes along with an offer Calzaghe can't turn down. But for now, Joe is retired, and happy trails to him.