Calzaghe keen to retire when the time is right

Published on Friday 19 September 2008 09:51

JOE CALZAGHE is anxious not to tarnish his glorious boxing career by having one fight too many.

A world champion for 11 years with a perfect 45-fight winning record – 32 of them inside the distance – the Welsh hero has little more to prove.

But he is well aware there is a fine line between maximising his earnings and getting out at the right time with his good looks and legacy intact.

Boxing is littered with old champions who went on too long or paid the price after coming back from retirement and Calzaghe is determined not to join them as he prepares for his showdown with American legend Roy Jones Jnr at New York's Madison Square Garden on Saturday, November 8.

He has stated he will retire after the fight but already the temptation to have another fight is being dangled in front of him by none other than 38-year-old Jones.

Perhaps Jones should know better after seeing some of the glitter from a great career, which saw him win world titles in four divisions from middleweight to heavyweight, fade when he was stopped in two rounds by Antonio Tarver, knocked out in nine by Glencoffe Johnson and outpointed in the return with Tarver in successive fights.

He has bounced back with three victories, culminating in a points win over 35-year-old Felix Trinidad, making his own comeback after nearly three years out of the ring, to secure the showdown with Calzaghe.

Nearly two months before the fight takes place, Jones is eyeing up a rematch.

"It's going to be such a great fight we will probably have to bring the second fight over here," Jones told a London press conference.

Calzaghe said: "I don't like the word retirement now I'm actually in the zone and I'm training. God forbid anything happens, like I break a fingernail in the fight and can't punch .."

The voice tailed off but the inference was that if it goes wrong on November 8, there could be one more outing to provide a fitting glorious ending to an outstanding career. If he can, in his own words, "go out in a blaze of glory" against Jones then he admits he would have fulfilled his ambitions.

"My idea is to have a great fight and I know in my mind this is my last year in boxing. Too many fighters go on too long and I don't want to push it."

"I want to go out on my own terms as an unbeaten world champion. Rocky Marciano did it and Marvin Hagler and Lennox Lewis called it a day when they wanted but not many others have," said Calzaghe.