Boxing Betting: Calzaghe bids to go out at the top

Boxing Betting / Ralph Ellis / 04 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

The Welshman from West London's decision to bow out after Saturday's bout is a shrewd one according to Rlaph Ellis. But Roy Jones Junior will be no pushover. So is Calzaghe hanging up his gloves one fight too late?

Every sportsman knows the day will come when his career is over. Time to hang up the boots, the gloves, the bat, the racket. But choosing when that day will be is probably the toughest decision of a whole career.

Everybody wants to go out at the top. To walk away as a champion. To be revered as one of the greats. But when you're in that heady mix of feeling invincible, of winning game after game or fight after fight, how do you know you've just hit the peak and from now on it's all downhill? Most don't and discover only when it's all too late. Paul Gascoigne, for instance, thought his brilliant goal against Scotland in Euro 96 had announced his return to his greatest form. It turned out instead to be his last hurrah.

So you have to applaud Joe Calzaghe for making the decision in advance that Saturday night's battle with Roy Jones Junior will be his last. "My mum's been nagging me to finish boxing and I've told her this will be the end," he tells the Mail this morning. "Winning this fight will allow me to feel I've achieved everything I can. I've been boxing 25 years. I'm 37 in March and I don't want to start looking like a fighter. The greatest fighters fight at Madison Square Garden. Fighting the biggest names at the biggest venue - that's what it's all about."

The only question will be whether he should have made that decision now - or before his last big fight when he struggled to beat Bernard Hopkins. Is he stepping away one fight too late? Hopkins stuck him on the canvas in the first round, and it took massive bravery and stamina for the Welshman to battle his way back and win a points decision. He claims he might have underestimated Hopkins. But was that the reason he came closer than ever before to defeat? Or was it because his own powers are beginning to wane?

Calzaghe is as short as [1.43] to go out with one more win on Saturday, but he should be longer than that. Jones might also be past his best and have lost a couple of fights to Antonio Tarver and Glencoffe Johnson, but a more recent win over five times world champion Felix Trinidad restored his credibility. And he too wants to wind up with a win from a career that saw him named 'fighter of the decade' in the 1990s.

There's also the issue that Calzaghe had to postpone the original date for this contest in September because of a hand injury. How well has that healed? And will it stand up to another 12 punishing rounds against a veteran fighter who won't be easy to put down. Calzaghe to win by a decision is favourite in the Method of Victory menu at [1.91] but that looks another one to lay because there must be doubts over how well he'd go the distance.

Five things you might not know about Joe Calzaghe

1. He's a proud Welshman and was brought up in Newbridge - but was born in Hammersmith, West London. Mum Jackie provided the Welsh roots, while dad Enzo comes from Sardinia

2. He started boxing aged nine and won more than 120 amateur bouts, including four schoolboy ABA titles

3. He went to the same school as the Manic Street Preachers - but the first record he bought wasBurning Heart by Survivor from the Rocky IV soundtrack

4. His unbeaten record as a pro - which now stands at 45 fights - is well known. The last person to beat him was Adrian Opreda at the 1990 European Junior Championships in Prague

5. In the ring he's cool and calm - between fights he admits he's moody and argumentative