Joseph William Calzaghe is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008.
60 Facts About Joe Calzaghe
2.
Joe Calzaghe held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified and lineal titles at super-middleweight, and the Ring magazine light-heavyweight title.
3.
Joe Calzaghe is the longest-reigning super-middleweight world champion in boxing history, having held the World Boxing Organization title for over 10 years and defending it against 20 opponents before moving up to light-heavyweight.
4.
Joe Calzaghe was the first boxer to unify three of the four major world titles at super-middleweight, and was the inaugural Ring champion in that weight class.
5.
Between 2006 and 2008, Joe Calzaghe was ranked by The Ring as one of the world's top ten active boxers, pound for pound, reaching a peak ranking of third in January 2009.
6.
Joe Calzaghe retired in February 2009 with an undefeated record of 46 wins, and as a reigning world champion.
7.
In 2007, Joe Calzaghe won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, making him the first Welsh winner of this award since David Broome in 1960.
8.
Joe Calzaghe was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014.
9.
Joe Calzaghe was nicknamed the "Pride of Wales" and the "Italian Dragon".
10.
Joe Calzaghe was born in Hammersmith, London, to an Italian father, Enzo, and a Welsh mother, Jackie.
11.
Joe Calzaghe's father worked several jobs as a teenager in Italy, including as a barman, a chef, and a cleaner, before travelling Europe as a busker.
12.
Joe Calzaghe eventually arrived back in Britain to visit family in Bournemouth.
13.
The couple married, and briefly moved to Sardinia, but returned shortly after when Joe Calzaghe's mother became homesick.
14.
Joe Calzaghe was born in Hammersmith Hospital in March 1972, before his father decided to move the family back to Sardinia at the end of the year, living in his grandfather's home in Bancali.
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Joe Calzaghe attended the local school, Pentwynmawr Primary, along with his two sisters, Melissa and Sonia, and developed a keen interest in playing football.
16.
Joe Calzaghe joined Pentwynmawr FC at under-10s level, playing as a midfielder and scored consistently during his early years.
17.
Joe Calzaghe joined his first boxing club, Newbridge Amateur Boxing Club at ten years old and the sport quickly took priority for the young Calzaghe as he gave up playing football after two years.
18.
Joe Calzaghe moved on to Oakdale Comprehensive School at 11, but was targeted by bullies as a teenager, becoming the target of regular verbal abuse that left him isolated.
19.
Joe Calzaghe was the first person to be awarded the Freedom of Caerphilly County Borough, in 2009.
20.
In 120 amateur contests, Joe Calzaghe won four schoolboy ABA titles, followed by three consecutive senior British ABA titles between 1990 and 1993, which were won in three different weight categories, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight.
21.
Joe Calzaghe received his last two defeats in a boxing ring at the hands of Michael Smyth in the 1990 Welsh ABA Final, and against Romanian amateur Adrian Opreda at the 1990 European Junior Championships in Prague.
22.
In September 1993 Joe Calzaghe was signed up and made his professional debut at Cardiff Arms Park on the Lennox Lewis vs Frank Bruno bill the following month, halting 23 fight veteran Paul Hanlon in one round.
23.
In October 1995, Joe Calzaghe won the vacant British super-middleweight title, stopping the previously unbeaten Stephen Wilson in the eighth round.
24.
Joe Calzaghe said in reply that he could only beat whoever was out there and prepared to fight him.
25.
Joe Calzaghe rounded off the year with victories over two experienced opponents in Warren Stowe and Pat Lawlor.
26.
Joe Calzaghe emerged victorious over the two-time WBO champion, knocking the granite chinned Eubank down in the opening seconds and claiming a unanimous points win.
27.
Joe Calzaghe's popularity grew alongside the wider cultural movement of Cool Cymru, and Calzaghe was symbolic of the new Welsh identity which was forming.
28.
Joe Calzaghe beat the count but immediately came under renewed punishment from Calzaghe, forcing the referee to step in at 1:35 of the third round.
29.
Joe Calzaghe then went on to defeat perennial contender Juan Carlos Gimenez Ferreyra, a former opponent of both Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank.
30.
Joe Calzaghe became the first boxer to stop Gimenez Ferreyra, something which Benn, Eubank and Roberto Duran had failed to do in the past.
31.
In 1999, Joe Calzaghe started out by fighting his domestic rival, Robin Reid.
32.
Joe Calzaghe was bitter that Reid had refused to face him whilst holding the WBC Championship in a unification bout and vowed to beat him, while Reid vowed to upset the odds by defeating Joe Calzaghe and becoming a world champion again.
33.
Joe Calzaghe finished the year with another points win against Australian Rick Thornberry, where he broke his hand in the third round after looking like overwhelming his opponent early.
34.
Joe Calzaghe dropped him in the third round with a ferocious left uppercut, although McIntyre managed to survive the count.
35.
Joe Calzaghe dropped McIntyre again at the start of the fourth, and this time the referee stopped the proceedings.
36.
Joe Calzaghe's only fight of 2003 was in June against another former world champion, in the shape of American Byron Mitchell at the Cardiff International Arena.
37.
Joe Calzaghe suffered his first career knockdown in the second round, before rising to halt Mitchell in the very same round, thus becoming the first boxer to stop Mitchell.
38.
Joe Calzaghe beat Veit by technical knockout in the sixth round.
39.
On 10 September 2005, Joe Calzaghe fought the Kenya boxer Evans Ashira and won by a comfortable unanimous decision over the former Middleweight title challenger, despite breaking his left hand in the third round.
40.
Joe Calzaghe's scheduled unification bout with IBF super-middleweight champion Jeff Lacy for 4 November 2005 was initially canceled due to the break sustained to the metacarpal in his left hand.
41.
Joe Calzaghe dominated throughout the fight, with British fight fans chanting "easy" at the American during the last three rounds.
42.
Joe Calzaghe gained the IBF title and won every round despite a point being deducted in the 11th for an illegal behind the body punch.
43.
Joe Calzaghe won the vacant The Ring and lineal titles, becoming the first super-middleweight to be recognized as world champion by The Ring magazine.
44.
On 14 October 2006, Joe Calzaghe faced the rugged contender and future WBC super-middleweight champion Sakio Bika.
45.
Two points were deducted from Bika for head butts, one of which led to a severe cut over Joe Calzaghe's left eye which would cause him problems for the duration of the bout.
46.
However, Joe Calzaghe won the fight by clear decision to continue his undefeated run.
47.
On 27 November 2006, it was announced that Joe Calzaghe had signed a contract to defend his WBO super-middleweight title against former star of The Contender Peter Manfredo Jr.
48.
Joe Calzaghe was victorious on a third-round stoppage, unleashing a flurry of punches on the outclassed Manfredo, who threw nothing in return, thus drawing a stoppage from the referee.
49.
Joe Calzaghe won by unanimous decision, surpassing the 20 defences made by Bernard Hopkins and Larry Holmes at middleweight and heavyweight respectively.
50.
Joe Calzaghe was frequently described as undisputed champion, but since he had relinquished the IBF title, others argued that this was not strictly accurate.
51.
Joe Calzaghe outlanded Hopkins in both total punches and power punches in each round of the fight.
52.
The split caused Warren to launch a court case against Joe Calzaghe, claiming that a verbal promise to promote the Roy Jones Jr.
53.
Two close rounds followed before Joe Calzaghe took control of the fight.
54.
On 5 February 2009, Joe Calzaghe announced his retirement from professional boxing.
55.
Joe Calzaghe finished his career with a record of 46 wins and no losses, and becoming one of only fifteen world champions to retire as an undefeated world champion.
56.
Joe Calzaghe is said to have found the inspiration from being a victim of bullying himself when he was young, saying he got bullied because of his small stature.
57.
Calzaghe won the 2010 Soccer Aid, a British charity football match with the Rest of the World team beating England, and Joe scored the Rest of the World team's first goal.
58.
In 2012, Joe Calzaghe made a cameo appearance as himself in an episode of the UK TV comedy drama Stella.
59.
Joe Calzaghe has three sons, two from an 11-year marriage to Mandy Davies from 1994 to 2005, and one from a 3-year relationship with Katie Matthews.
60.
Outside boxing, Joe Calzaghe is a lifelong fan of Juventus FC.