The inspirational feats of Newbridge’s own Joe Calzaghe – immortalised in a documentary by Vaghaun Sivell – will be shown on BBC Two Wales tonight in a TV premiere.
A true rags-to-riches story, Mr Calzaghe chronicles the boxer’s journey, from humble beginnings in Newbridge to the bright lights of his final fight at Madison Square Garden, New York.
The feature-length film, which was released in November 2015, will be shown on BBC Two Wales at 9pm.
Described in the words of the man himself, his father and trainer Enzo, family members, and former opponents, Joe Calzaghe’s unbeaten career had many defining moments.
Whether it was Enzo taking control of the gym and coaching duties after his trainer Paul Williams retired when Joe was just 18; winning three consecutive amateur British Championship titles in three separate weight divisions; taking America by storm in his fight against Bernard Hopkins; or telling his father of his lack of hunger to get back in the ring, the documentary’s guests give fascinating insights into an career full of grit and determination.
As is so often the case, it’s the supporting cast who give the film its vibrancy. While Calzaghe softly calculates his words, Enzo displays the fiery Italian passion he’s best known for, launching into profane outbursts like a runaway steed.
Which is not to say that the subject of the film is bland.
The Pride of Wales still remembers the hoards of Welsh flags hanging at his Las Vegas weigh-in with awe, jokes with Mikkel Kessler as they rewatch their 2007 bout together, and becomes tearful talking about absorbing the atmosphere at his unforgettable final fight against Roy Jones Junior on November 8, 2008.
Seven years after his retirement, Mr Calzaghe is a stirring, iconic, and warming homage to one of Britain’s finest ever boxers.
Yippy do!
The best Welsh boxer of my lifetime. Truly world class but always trained like a mountain fighter. He could have forsaken Wales and earned much more money – to his credit he never did.
Knocking seven bells out of another human being in the name of sport is perverse, in my view, Welsh or not.
But it is important to note that Caerphilly council but pressure on his father and trainer to demolish his training Gym.even this unpleasentness did not prevent him achieving sucess in his chosen field.
Boxing does a lot more good than it does harm, you may not see many white middle class kids take up boxing but it’s something for those youngsters who may otherwise fall into a life a crime, boxing teaches discipline and work ethics, it gives some a lucrative well paid career if they’re good enough. Modern day rugby is a far more violent and brutal sport than boxing, they don’t have a referee step in and stop the match to save a player from serious injury. The thing I object to is the use of the word iconic to describe a tv documentary, iconic must be the most overused and wrongly used word in the English language, Muhammed Ali is iconic, the Effiel Tower is iconic, Ghandi is iconic, a TV documentary about a boxer is most certainly not iconic.
I agree with all of that.