Review of Calzaghe vs. Lacy

Introduction

A stand-out amateur boxer, Joe Calzaghe won three ABA titles at three different weights (Welterweight, Light Middleweight and Middleweight) before turning professional, after inexplicably not being selected for the Olympic team to go to Barcelona in 1992.

In his fourteenth bout, he stopped the then undefeated Stephen Wilson to win the vacant British Super Middleweight title, which he would defend by stopping Mark Delaney (also undefeated at the time). His big break came on October 11th 1997 in the Sheffield Arena on the undercard of Naseem Hamed`s world title defence against Jose Badillo. Following Steve Collins` retirement, the WBO Super Middleweight World title had become vacant and Calzaghe was to fight Chris Eubank for the belt. To almost universal surprise, he put Eubank down in the first round, but the fight went the full twelve rounds - the first time Calzaghe had gone the championship distance, in a fight he still recognises as the hardest of his career.

Calzaghe defended the title seventeen times before a unification fight with IBF champion Jeff `Left Hook` Lacy was arranged. The fight was to take place at the huge MEN Arena in Manchester on the 5th of March, 2006 at 2 am to suit US television scheduling. For the first time in his career, Calzaghe entered the ring as the underdog, with most pundits picking the hard-hitting American to end the Welshman`s reign. What followed stunned everyone, as Calzaghe put on a masterclass, leaving Lacy battered, bruised and demoralised. Previously overlooked in the States, the boxing world suddenly sat up and took notice, recognising Calzaghe as one of the finest practitioners of the `sweet science` around today.

Video

Presented in the broadcast ratio of anamorphic 1.78:1, this looks as good as it should for a fight that only took place a month before the DVD was released.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, from the original broadcast, with commentary by John Rawling and Duke McKenzie. Both men get very excited, especially McKenzie, who has a tendency to lose himself in the moment.

Features

None.

Conclusion

I was really looking forward to the fight at the time, but didn`t quite buy in to the hype surrounding Lacy. I knew he was strong, powerful and an extremely hard hitter, as his 21-0-0 record and world champion status showed. I also noticed that he was slightly slow on his feet against Robin Reid and Omar Sheika, so would need far better footwork than he showed in those fights to cope with the sheer speed and work rate of Calzaghe.

Strangely, I don`t like watching mismatches over again, as if one man`s not in the fight, it verges on the sadistic, but this is worth re-watching just to enjoy the quality of Calzaghe`s boxing: the footwork, the hand-speed, the power, the ring generalmanship, the work rate... Everything about Calzaghe that night justifies Frank Warren`s opinion that it was "the best performance I`ve seen of any British fighter" - a sentiment that I share.

This DVD starts in the Lacy camp, moves to the Calzaghe camp, where he talks with Barry McGuigan, then on to the full fight and then the post-fight interview with the unified champion. The full fight is also available as a special feature on the `Super Champion Calzaghe: Highlights From 11 Stunning Fights` DVD.