34-year-old Joe Calzaghe held onto his WBO and IBF super middleweight titles last night with a unanimous point’s victory over Sakio Bika. But the great Welshman was given a thorough workout by the immensely strong Cameroonian fighter in a brutal ‘street-style’ encounter.
Calzaghe has now made 19 defences of his WBO belt which is only six short of heavyweight legend Joe Louis’ all-time record of 26. But Calzaghe, who is undefeated in 42 bouts, will not forget Bika in a hurry after a hard night’s work in Manchester yesterday. The Welsh superstar surprised the judges enough to claim a unanimous decision but he had to fight the majority of the bout with a badly-cut left eye from an intentional head-butt. Bika’s raw power paid off as he continually knocked Calzaghe out of his regularly stylish style. But later into the fight he was docked a point for using his head illegally. Even though he was so dominant against the unbeaten Jeff Lacy that he trashed seven months ago, Calzaghe was made to look a little shabby at times by the aggressive Bika. Calzaghe was regularly pushed back by his opponent’s powerful right and had blood pouring down his face from the cut above his eye and was winded by a low blow in a wild final round.
That performance on its own suggests that Bika - who came to the bout with a record of 20 wins and one defeat out of 23 professional fights - would give Calzaghe a lot to think about. The Welshman’s outstanding victory over Lacy has fascinated American boxing fans and the bout was shown all over the place back in the States. On the fight Calzaghe said: “I went into the fight with no real sparring so it was a bit of a gamble. I’m disappointed with the performance but a win is a win. I wanted to put on a spectacle. I was too keen to impress and was looking for an early knockout.” Joe may be disappointed with his performance but Bika was a tough opponent and I think it brought out Calzaghe’s heart and determination that he needed to win.
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