Calzaghe was Brilliant and Jones Tough as Nails ..... but that undercard ..........

Excitement is always high when big time Boxing returns to the Mecca of the sport, Madison Square Garden and Saturday night's main event lived up to all expectations. Joe Calzaghe arrived ready to remain undefeated and talking of retiring after defeating the best of his class. His calm and relaxed demeanor radiated the confidence of a fighter who couldn't even imagine defeat. Many thought that Roy Jones Jr. had passed his prime a half dozen fights ago and had earned this big time match on past reputation alone, but Jones was in tremendous condition and his confidence was buoyed by his outstanding wins in his two matches before this one. Two of the best fighters on the planet were facing each other and both men were ready to win.

Joe Calzaghe came out smoothly in the first round, but a short ways in he ducked right into a Jones hook, which landed mostly forearm across the Welshman's temple, depositing him on the canvas, with a groggy consciousness. Calzaghe rose on instinct and these same instincts boxed him out of trouble and at the end of the round had him firing back at Jones, as the blood ran down his nose. Calzaghe entered the second round clear eyed and immediately began to pump up the volume of his punch output. Jones stayed on the attack like a barbarian hoard on the plains before Rome, but Calzaghe smoothly slid past these attacks, countering sharply and out punching the Floridian. Jones landed his second best punch, or perhaps his first considering the contact point of his big hook in the 1st round, of the evening in the 6th round, when he made contact with a sizzling uppercut. Calzaghe weathered the storm and went back to overwhelming the former four weight class champion with an unending shower of blows. In the 7th round a crisp straight left from Calzaghe slashed through Jones' eyelid and left the icon bleeding for the remainder of the match. Despite the best efforts of the doctor in Jones' corner, one tap from Calzaghe and the claret would begin yet again to flow down the visage of Jones. Roy Jones exhibited the tenacity of a rogue tiger and never stopped trying to overcome his opponent, but the Welshman was not to be denied on that evening. Jones even seemed to take it in stride when Calzaghe began to drop his hands and to a damn good imitation of vintage Roy Jones Jr. In the end Joe Calzaghe had thrown only fifteen shy of a thousand punches at Roy Jones and had landed 344 of them, which was quite enough for an unquestionable unanimous decision. Even Roy Jones didn't question the decision and seemed quite happy with his and Calzaghe's 50/50 business venture.

At the end of the Evening Roy Jones said that he would go home and talk to his team to discuss his future in the fight game. Then a few days later the 39 year old boxing icon began talking about possible future opponents. Primary on that list is a long awaited rematch with fellow icon Benard Hopkins. In his post fight interview Calzaghe was strangely silent on the subject of his retirement considering that he had spoken of it extensively before the match. A few days after the fight, word came from the Calzaghe camp that the champ might fight in his home of Wales next year ........... but ....... that Calzaghe doesn't like fighting rematches in general ---- and that he would Never fight Bernard Hopkins again under any circumstances. Guess Hopkins had better start talking to Roy.

The under card of the Calzhage - Jones show demonstrated why some fight fans feel that the guarantied five competitive fight minimum of the average MMA card is simply a better deal for their pay per view budget. The Boxing Game is reaching a point where they really need to beef up the under cards of their major pay per view events.

The big name on the undercard last Saturday evening was former Jr. welterweight and welterweight champion Zab Judah. Judah had lost four of his previous six matches and was badly in need of a win. His opponent, Ernest Johnson was, in the words of television commentator Max Kellerman, "Here to make Zab Judah look good." The 18 - 2 fighter from San Diego only had 7 KO's on his dossier and so presented no danger to Judah. Except for a couple accidental head buts in the third which bloodied Judah, the match was a boring walk through the park for the former champ. It was good to see Jackie Kallen at ringside, but she must realize that her newest charge, Ernest Johnson is no James Toney and needs a lot more local work out on the coast. The highlight of this match was veteran referee Steve Smoger repeatedly addressing Zab Judah, who he has known since the Brooklyn fighter's amateur days, as "Zabbie". Cute ....... but not much of a high point for a boxing match.... but Judah got his win.

A number of fans were excited in anticipation of the Dimitry Salita match as the Jewish lad has quite a local following in New York City. Unfortunately Salita has been shielded from serious opposition and Saturday was no exception. At first Salita was to meet fellow Ukrainian, WBA Jr. welterweight champion, Andreas Kotelnik, but the champ injured his ribs ... just after seeing the paltry payment on his contract. Then Salita was going to face Scottish journeyman and EU champ, Willie Limond, who is a slick powder puff puncher, but apparently someone thought the Scotsman was still a wee bit too dangerous and saw that he was offered only a three fight contract for a minute amount of re numeration. The Scot would have accepted a bargain one fight deal to compete in the Garden .......... but 3 fights?? Enter Topeka, Kansas club fighter Derrick Campos! The stubby banger gave away height and reach and although he showed that he has no quit in him and has a little pop in his punch, he just couldn't catch the streaking Jewish slickster who peppered him with feather duster shots in route to a decision win. Max Kellerman was right on point again when he called Salita, "A nice little local attraction". But should a nice little local attraction be on the undercard of a major event?

Emanuel Augustus has made a career of being ready to fight on a few days notice and always willing to fight in the other guy's back yard and Saturday night at The Garden was a prime example of this. "The Drunken Master" once again took a fight on three days notice and faced #4 ranked WBC Jr. welterweight from The Bronx, Frankie Figueroa. For his part Frankie was no more ready for the unorthodox and awkward style of Augustus than Emanuel was expecting weekend work, but they both set out to make the best of it. Augustus uncharacteristically went on the attack all night long while his younger and more accomplished opponent back peddled and countered. Its a testament to Figueroa's skills that Augustus only got to do his Drunken Master Dance a couple times and never right in front of Figueroa as Emanuel would often do to lesser fighters. But --------- the older journeyman with the 50/50 record was obviously out punching his younger antagonist and scoring the points. At the end of the match HBO unofficial judge Harold Lederman had Augustus ahead by four points, but -------- low and behold ........ Emanuel Augustus somehow managed to drop yet another split decision to yet another home town hero. That's how his record got to be 50/50, but his entertaining style and willingness to step up to the plate at a minutes notice keeps The Drunken Master working. This was actually a good fight except for the atrocious decision. For his part Augustus shrugged it off as a regular occurrence and went to collect his paycheck.

Good Night - Good Fight
Frank "The Snake"