Let’s turn the clocks back to 1997, a cold October evening in Sheffield. British boxing legend Chris Eubank, a former champion at both Middleweight and Super-Middleweight, comes to the ring in a typically charismatic fashion. Eubank was one of the most controversial icons in British sport, and his popularity was only rivalled by that of his fierce rival Nigel Benn. His opponent this time round, a soft-spoken young Welshman by the name of Joe Calzaghe. The little known prospect, undefeated in 22 professional fights, was stepping into the unknown, at a level he had never seen before. The first bell rang, and within seconds Eubank found himself on the floor; and well, the rest is history.

Calzaghe has never looked back since. Across the last eleven years, Calzaghe has defended his WBO belt 21 times, also holding all three other major world title’s at some point across the same period. However, it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Calzaghe has baron patches in his career, stages where he just couldn’t get up for the fights, where his heart just wasn’t in boxing. But that all changed one night, March 2006. A young American upstart, by the name of Jeff Lacy, came to Manchester to dethrone Calzaghe. This was Calzaghe’s fight, the career defining fight he had craved. In the build-up to the fight Calzaghe had hand problems which had plagued him throughout his career, Joe wanted to call the fight off. Influenced and encouraged by his father & trainer, Enzo Calzaghe, Joe stepped into the ring and boxed the best 12 rounds of his career that night. He thoroughly dominated Lacy, showing the world the talents that he knew he had all along.

After two less than impressive displays against Sakio Bika & Peter Manfredo, Calzaghe’s position was once again put in doubt. Was the Lacy fight the peak? Did Calzaghe have anything left? Was Calzaghe overrated all along? We found the answer to that in November 2007, when WBA & WBC champion and undefeated Dane Mikkel Kessler came to Cardiff to challenge Calzaghe. Calzaghe once again stepped up his game, boxing sensationally in the middle rounds to outpoint Kessler over the 12 rounds. Calzaghe has done all he can at 168lbs, beating the best in the division, unifying belts & being at the top for 11 years. It was time for a new challenge, it was time to step into the realms of boxing greatness by facing a true, modern day legend: Enter Bernard Hopkins.

Hopkins reigned supreme at Middleweight for over a decade, and now is recognised as the best Light-Heavyweight in the world. Hopkins is an inspiration to all aspiring boxer’s, still at the top at the age of 43 years of age, he reformed his life from being a street thug, who spent time in jail, to being one of the finest boxer’s of all-time. With wins over great names such as Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Antonio Tarver & Winky Wright, Hopkins has proved himself worthy of the tag “great”. Lacy & Kessler were great wins, but Calzaghe’s entire career will be judged on how he fairs against Bernard Hopkins on April 19th.

As Hopkins himself says: “If you want to be great, do great things”. Come April 19th, Joe will indeed attempt to do great things; and if he succeeds, we cannot deny Calzaghe truly is a “great” fighter.