When commentators Max Kellerman and Jim Lampley started making references to Marciano vs Moore and the great Sugar Ray Robinson vs "the raging bull" (Jake LaMotta) I knew my 50 bucks had been well spent.
I must admit though,that I had reservations about buying a PPV that on paper looked like a one-sided affair.
And according to the judges decision it was a very one-sided fight, they had Roy Jones Jr winning round one, and Joe Calzaghe winning the other eleven.
Although the fight from an entertainment point of view was anything but one-sided.
In my opinion the Jones v Calzaghe fight had all the characteristics of one of the greatest fights of all time. Ranked right up there with Robinson versus LaMotta and Archie Moore versus Rocky Marciano.
The huge cut over Jones eye and Jones telling the doctors and officials that he was good to go, even though he had blood streaming down his face and his eye was swelled shut, now that's what true champions with heart are made of.
This fight started out looking like the Roy Jones Jr of old had been reincarnated, his speed, head movement, and footwork resembled the incredible dominating Roy Jones of the 90s.
Roy winged off a double left hook to the body and head of Calzaghe and dropped him in the first round. Jones was throwing lightning-fast three punch combos that would have made Sugar Ray Robinson proud.
In between rounds Calzaghe told his dad that he just didn't see the punch. From my experience as a trained boxer I can tell you that he's right, it's always what follows the first jab or the first hook that puts you away—sometimes for the night.
Sometimes a fighter's jab is not meant to do anything other than temporarily stop the opponent from seeing what's coming next. Lennox Lewis used this tool to knock out Hasim Rahman in their famous rematch, in which he avenged his first loss to Rahman.
The rest of this fight belonged to Joe Calzaghe, he threw over 900 punches during the course of the fight, and simply overwhelmed Jones with his steady barrage of punches. Punches which Jones had no answer for.
Jones spent most of the first half laying on the ropes, absorbing punches and I was hoping for some sort of rope-a-dope deal, where Calzaghe would tire like George Foreman did against Ali.
Joe Calzaghe is not a Heavyweight however, and he is capable of going at that tremendous pace for twelve rounds easily.
Roy Jones Jr slowed down and threw valiant courageous punches and counter punches which only seemed to bounce off the armour of Calzaghe.
Joe Calzaghe proved to the world, including Bernard Hopkins who was sitting at ringside,that in the sport of boxing he is top of the food chain.
This fight will become a classic. Even the showboating from both men was entertaining. If you haven't seen it yet and you are a fight fan, I recommend you do.
This could be the final fight for both men, unless Hopkins and Jones decide to fight which would seem to be pointless now. They have both been out pointed and out boxed by a superior boxing athlete—Joe Calzaghe.
For Roy Jones Jr. this could have been the road to glory, but reality set in and the only glory will be the the courageous fighting heart of a former dominating champion, who went out in a blaze of glory at the hands of a younger and more superior gunslinger.
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