Calzaghe Brings The House Down

JOE CALZAGHE brought the house down by battering Roy Jones Jr at Madison Square Garden.He retained his Ring Magazine light-heavyweight title in what could well be the final bout of his fabulous career by taking a unanimous points decision over Jones.

  Unbeaten Calzaghe won his 46th bout in front of around 5,000 Brits who sang their hearts out among the 14,512 fans at the Garden.

And all three judges, Terry O'Connor, Jerry Roth and Julie Lederman, gave the fight 118-109 in Calzaghe's favour.

In a sensational opening round, Calzaghe was decked when Jones caught him cold with a forearm to the side of the head.

It was the only round Jones won all night and it lit the blue touch paper for a fight that started at breakneck speed and never flagged.

Calzaghe said: "When I get hurt or caught like I did in the first round, I always come back stronger.

"I have always loved the way Jones has fought throughout his career but I was throwing combinations that he couldn't cope with.

"As for retiring, I haven't made a decision yet, I will sit down and evaluate what to do next."

Calzaghe appeared bewildered by the speed of Jones' counter punching in the opening stages of the bout.

But all fears for the Welshman's unbeaten record vanished in the third round when he opened up with lightning quick attacks and stunned Jones with heavy hits to the head.

Calzaghe went on to establish himself as boss of the ring with Jones trying to taunt him by shouting 'come on, come on'.

The fourth round saw Jones attempt to come forward and he landed two shots to Calzaghe's head with the champ pretending to wobble before laughing at his rival.

By the fifth, Jones was running out of steam with Calzaghe's blurring speed and countless punches taking their toll.

Jones could only hit back with single replies, landing decent hits to Calzaghe's head but there was simply not enough of them.

In the sixth, Jones' only worthwhile punch was a wicked uppercut just before the bell that sent the American fans crazy.

Calzaghe unleashed two cracking lefts in the seventh that opened a nasty looking cut in the fold on Jones' left eye.

From round eight through to the 10th, Jones was a sitting duck as the blood from his cut made his face a grotesque looking red mask.

When the ringside doctor refused to call off the fight at the start of the 11th round, Calzaghe eased off the punishment as if he no longer wanted to hurt Jones.

For the final round, Calzaghe took his foot off the gas and went through the motions, raising his fist in triumph at the final bell with his fans chanting 'easy, easy'.