Q&A with Enzo Calzaghe: “Joe Ain’t Gonna Lose No Fights!”

November 6th, 2008

By Scoop Malinowski

The confidence emanating from Team Calzaghe all week has been more than impressive. We saw Joe’s workout Monday where his hand-speed and power looked spectacular, even with huge yellow gloves on. Joe’s intense viciousness on the mitts mixed with some clowning and showboating must have some effect on Jones who surely has heard about or seen the video of it. Then there is the absolute certainty of Joe’s dad and trainer Enzo who seems 1,000% certain Joe will be 46-0 come Saturday night. Enzo Calzaghe answered our questions about Joe vs. Roy and it seems everything is under control, nothing worries Team Calzaghe, not even Roy’s big right hand which is a more complex weapon that Bernard’s:

Boxinginsider: I was at the workout on Monday, it just seems the way you guys are, the confidence seems unbelievable, Joe looked in unbelievable sharp form Monday – is it the stakes? Fighting at The Garden for the first time against the great Roy Jones? Is it possible that we could see maybe the greatest performance of Joe’s career vs. Roy?

Enzo Calzaghe: No, I don’t think. Joe’s performance, the way he performs, I’m happy. Joe always performs well. It depends on the opponent. And with Hopkins he wasn’t allowed. (Hopkins) didn’t allow it. He had no intention to make a fight of it. So I’m happy as Joe performs the way he performs. So far, from Kessler, from Lacy, I’m happy with that. There’s no way I could be dissatisfied with that. What I want is Joe to come in without no alteration of methods, just be Joe Calzaghe, with another 10% on top.

Boxinginsider: The right hand of Jones – it’s a little quicker than Hopkins’, a little sneakier and heavier.

Enzo Calzaghe: Listen. Listen. At the end of the day, your right hand could be heavier, could be weaker, it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t matter. Because he hasn’t tasted Joe’s left hands yet. They said he slaps. We’ll be fuckin’ fightin’ one slap from a beating that night. Don’t worry about that. Who’s chin said he slaps? That’s what we gotta do – check his chin out. Roy Jones chin. And he say Oh he only slapped me. He’ll be counted out on the floor. So don’t bother about the slapping part. Joe’s deceiving. He’s a very, very big puncher. If you look 36 knockouts (actually 32) ain’t bad for 44 fights (actually 45). So he started off he had 18 first round knockouts (actually 12, and 19 in the first two rounds). So not bad for a slapper. Ay man? Not bad for a slapper.

Boxinginsider: I never called him a slapper.

Enzo Calzaghe: No, no the papers called him a slapper. Don’t worry about that.

Boxinginsider: You are not gonna lose this fight are you?

Enzo Calzaghe: He ain’t gonna lose no fights. He didn’t come here to lose. We came here to win. We coulda gone to Wales, 70,000 people in the Millenium Stadium. Picking our own referees, our own judges. With everyone in Madison Square Garden, with all the Americans supporting Jones, they were giving us four referees from America, imagine getting one from Britain. Do we care? Do we seem worried? We picked this place. Joe wanted it. So we came here to whip the guy’s ass. End of story.