COMPUBOX POST-FIGHT ANALYSIS

by Bob Canobbio

For Joe Calzaghe, the championship rounds began with round six of his super middleweight unification fight with Mikkel Kessler.

After fighting on relatively even terms through five rounds (Calzaghe had a 110-73 edge in total connects, but just a 46–43 edge in power connects), Super Joe turned up the heat and outlanded Kessler 179-96 in total punches in rounds six through twelve.

Calzaghe was steady as the rain with his connects, landing 25 in the 6th, 27 in the 7th; 24 in the 8th, 26 in the 9th, 27 in the 10th, 25 in the 11th and 25 in the 12th.

Overall, Calzaghe landed 285 of 1010 total punches (28%- 84 thrown per round, 30 more than the super middleweight avg.). He also landed 25% of his 550 jabs thrown, an average of 46 thrown per round, double the super middleweight avg. Not bad for a 35- yr.old who hasn't lost a fight in over 15 years. That jab prevented Kessler from getting into any sustained rhythm. Kessler landed 173 of 585 total punches (30%- but just 49 thrown per round). Kessler averaged 74 punches thrown per round in his wins over Librado Andrade, Marcus Beyer and Eric Lucas, who averaged just 23 jabs thrown per round vs. Calzaghe.

Kessler did land 47% of his power shots, rocking Calzaghe on several occasions, but it was basically one punch at a time. A combination of Calzaghe's evasive southpaw style and maybe Kessler's showing too much respect for Joe. Perhaps the announced crowd of 50,150, who cheered Calzaghe's every move, had something to do with Kessler's tentativeness as well.

Is Calzaghe a warrior and a fan-friendly fighter? In a move reminiscent of Erik Morales in the twelvth round of his clear-cut decision win over Paulie Ayala, Calzaghe went out and threw 81 punches in round twelve, landing 25- with the fight safely in the bag.

Calzaghe's successful defense was his 21st at super middleweight, tying Sven Ottke's mark. Only Joe Louis, with 25 and Ricardo Lopez ,22, at strawweight, have made more successful title defenses in the same weight class.

Calzaghe is also only the fifth fighter to assemble a championship reign of 10 years or longer. The other four are Joe Louis, Johnny Klibane, Abe Attell and Bernard Hopkins.

Speaking of Hopkins, his name has surfaced as a potential opponent for Calzaghe, who wants to fight at 175-lbs, after making the 168-lb limit his entire 44-fight, 14-year career.

Calzaghe will easily outpoint Hopkins due to his busyness, but it won't be pretty to watch.