Joe Calzaghe

Many look up to Joe Calzaghe for the very fact that he is currently the longest reigning title holder, WBO super middleweight champion, passing the ten year mark recently. Joe Calzaghe is a British boxer, born in Wales. His heritage has prompted the making of two well-known nicknames, the Pride of Wales and the Italian Dragon. It isn't only his long reign as a title holder, but his record of 45 wins and 0 losses that impress fans and boxing enthusiasts even more.

His impressive performance in boxing has garnered him the pound-for-pound one of the top 10 boxers in the whole world. Other championship titles under his belt include the Ring light heavyweight title, IBF world super middleweight and British super middleweight championships.

In his early years in boxing as an amateur athlete, Joe Calzaghe was already winning championships left and right. In fact, he won three ABA titles in different weight divisions (welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight). When he started playing professionally, Joe Calzaghe impressed local boxing fans by grabbing the British super middleweight championship for 1995-1996.

In order to gain the vacant WBO super middleweight title in 1997, Calzaghe had to fight against Chris Eubank who was proclaimed the British boxing legend. It was a fight well worth it for Calzaghe. At the end of the fight, Calzaghe admitted that Eubank was the hardest and most challenging opponent he had to face in his career. In 1998, Calzaghe defended his title for the first time.

The succeeding years after 1998, Joe found himself defending his title many times over. His most memorable defense would have to be on May 2007 against Mikkel Kessler. Not only would the fight be a defense for his title, but it would also serve as unification for the WBO/WBA/WBC/Ring Magazine super middleweight titles.

To date, Joe Calzaghe is one of the few boxers who were able to defend their titles for more than 20 times. With 45 wins and 32 knockouts and no losses in his career record, many are excited to see how much longer Joe Calzaghe can hold on to his title.