Classy Calzaghe Demilishes Jones!

For the second fight in succession Joe Calzaghe recovered from a first round knockdown to beat a legend, on this occasion comfortably outpointing Roy Jones Jr at Madison Square Garden in what he suggests will be his last fight.

The Pride of Wales won the fight on all three scorecards 118-109 and there can be few complaints with the scoring. Though an argument could be made for the second round, from the third onwards Calzaghe bossed the fight, comfortably holding on to his Ring Magazine light heavyweight title.

The Newbridge fighter came out for the first round throwing with great volume but landing only sporadically. Jones comfortably kept him out of range before catching him with a flush left hook then a follow-up straight right hand.

Calzaghe seemed more hurt than when put to the canvas by Hopkins in his last fight but his powers of recovery and chin stood the test of time again.

Jones had some success once again in the second round with Calzaghe, for the second fight in succession, being a sucker for a straight right hand early in the fight. That said, Calzaghe was finding more success against Jones albeit with many shots blocked by the 39-year-old's arms.
The third round saw Calzaghe showboating like a mid-90s Roy Jones, at times leaving his chin exposed inches from his opponent who threw next to nothing back.

The Welshman would return to this throughout the fight knowing he could take such a liberty with the fighter at this stage of his career. When not preening, Calzaghe threw his trademark flash punches with little coming back the other way.

At the end of the sixth, a round where Jones began to look visibly tired, Calzaghe supporters had their last real moment of worry as the American landed with a beautiful right uppercut which to his credit the Welshman took very well.

This was to be the last we would see Jones as an attacking force in the fight. In the seventh round Calzaghe opened a nasty cut over the former heavyweight champion with a straight left hand, after which the challenger showed little attacking intent.

The cut got uglier as the fight went on. If it had been a lesser renowned fighter in an undercard fight, it is unlikely that he would have been allowed to continue.

From this point on it was largely a procession for Calzaghe. Jones showed heart to stay in the fight to the end, despite the wishes of members of his family at ringside that he be pulled out, along with defensive skills to avoid being hit flush often.

That said, Calzaghe did not go looking for the stoppage in the same way he did against Jeff Lacy for example, and in the last round, especially, it seemed out of respect for his opponent he did not go looking for powerful punches, contenting himself to go through a range of showboating moves including a shoulder shake and strange Celtic jig.

During the bout, Compubox recorded that Calzaghe landed 344 punches, the most ever received by Jones, who himself was successful with 159 of his blows.

There was no denying Calzaghe won the fight convincingly and few could argue if he does choose to end his career unbeaten after 46 fights, following this victory over a legendary opponent at boxing's most famous venue.

Elsewhere in boxing last night Danny Williams was stopped by Abert Sosnowski of Poland but there was a win for Junior Witter in his comeback fight against Victor Hugo Castro whom he knocked out in the third round.