“Graham wondered how the horse had ever managed to win a National, as he was just stepping at the hurdles. But at his age he generally makes his own arrangements in races.”It was 43 years ago that the founder of Timeform, the late Phil Bull, contrived to have introduced to the domestic programme a mile juvenile contest at Doncaster designed to identify the middle-distance and staying stars of the future. The 12-year-old shuffled home in ninth in the three-mile hurdle selected for his first steps on the road back to Liverpool, but his trainer, Ginger McCain, was not despondent.
“Perhaps I’d have liked to have seen him finish closer,” he said, “but then he has never really been a hurdler. The reappearance of an Aintree hero is always eagerly anticipated but it has to be said that Amberleigh House, though he just about got over the obstacles placed in front of him at Haydock, failed to rise to the occasion. It is time for the crossover of the seasons: the latest Grand National winner ran yesterday, the next Derby winner might be in action tomorrow.
He is tough and rugged, but is, in reality, several leagues below Calzaghe, who next year will hope to fight someone a bit more special.It has been a dreadful year for Calzaghe, with just one fight against a hapless Armenian forced on him as a mandatory challenger. Outside the ring, he has split from his childhood sweetheart and is going through a messy divorce.However, the real loss this year occurred in the early summer when his planned challenge against Jamaica’s Glencoffe Johnson for the International Boxing Federation title fell through because of his injured back. The contracts were signed and it finally looked like Calzaghe had the right fight against the right man at the right time. The winner would inevitably meet Jones, who was still a major attraction in America.Calzaghe had to withdraw, Johnson met Jones and knocked out the once brilliant American.
Calzaghe missed his opportunity and will go back to work tonight in search of something that is hard to define in the cruellest of sports.. Salem, who fights under the wonderful sobriquet of “The Egyptian Magician”, is 36, and long ago left the streets of Cairo for the neighbourhoods of New York. Calzaghe has been champion for seven years.”I know that there were far fewer titles back then but I honestly believe that I’m good enough to have won one of the two or three that were available and I know that I would have kept it for a long time,” claimed Calzaghe. Hopkins, who has been a champion for 10 years, has fought an awful lot of doughnuts in his time.Had Calzaghe been born 30 years earlier then no doubt he would have come and gone in a rather spectacular flash like Minter, the middleweight champion who managed just one defence and held the undisputed title for a measly six months. There have also been quite a few unimpressive opponents but that is not the fault of Calzaghe and not necessarily the fault of Warren because it is unrealistic to expect any champion to fight competitive fight after competitive fight.
I agree that I could have made both fights happen in an instant but the figures simply did not stack up and Joe would not fight for free and I was not prepared to drop $2-3m on a promotion,” added Warren.The frustration outside the ropes often interfered with Calzaghe’s performance inside the ring and there have been some unimpressive outings. “After several flights to and from America and hours of endless and pointless talks, Jones and Calzaghe never turned into a fight. Warren has been criticised repeatedly over the years for failing to secure Calzaghe the type of fight that would in theory elevate him from the dubious list of British champions.”I first started hearing people giving me advice about four years ago and at the time I was negotiating with Roy Jones, who was the light-heavyweight champion of the world, and he was asking for nearly $4m to fight Joe,” said Warren. It is not, on paper, a great fight but many of Calzaghe’s defences have been potentially brilliant encounters and one or two have even turned out that way.
However, a little spice has been added to the mix – yesterday’s weigh-in turned ugly and the camps exchanged pushes and insults.It was in late 1997 that Calzaghe first won the title when he ended the competitive years of Chris Eubank’s career with an emphatic points decision in Sheffield. Eubank was dropped heavily in the first round and maintains to this day that of all the good men he met Calzaghe is the best.”The simple truth is that I was born too late to get the recognition that I know I deserve,” said Calzaghe. He is quite correct because had he been two or three years older he could have met Michael Watson, Nigel Benn and Steve Collins in addition to Eubank.Calzaghe’s problem in Britain’s present confused climateis quite simple: he is one of 20 or so so-called world champions and, sadly for him, the list is judged from the bottom up and therefore Calzaghe is too often compared to boxers with baubles who are not even household names in their own homes.It is a problem that Calzaghe and his long-suffering promoter, Frank Warren, have grown tired of changing and equally tired of defending. It is a flawed philosophy, one that Joe Calzaghe ruthlessly exposes.In the Seventies and Eighties British boxing had a fantastic series of champions like Charlie Magri, Jim Watt, John Conteh, John H Stracey, Barry McGuigan, Maurice Hope and Alan Minter.
