Boxing trainer who guided the career of his son Joe. An appreciation
Born: January 1, 1949;
Died: September 17, 2018
I FIRST met the late Enzo Calzaghe, who has died aged 69, in October 1995 in London at the Albert Hall. He was there to help his son Joe win his first ever professional boxing title by beating Wallyford and Scotland's Steve Wilson comprehensively. It was no mean feat given that Wilson was one of Scotland's finest ever amateur boxers.
Prefight at ringside, Enzo Clazaghe - on learning that I was reporting on the British 12 stone title clash between Wiison and his son for a Scottish newspaper - predicted that his son Joe would be too good for Wilson.
As I had, at that point, never actually seen Calzaghe box beyond abridged tv film clips and also reading write ups in boxing's trade paper Boxing News, I retained some degree of scepticism. It was a sentiment reinforced by having followed Wilson's highly successful career as an amateur.
However, Enzo's role as a an accurate predictor of championship boxing match outcomes soared in my estimation after his son Joe outfought the talented Wilson to win his first major professional boxing title.
Post-fight in his dressing room, Steve Wilson himself admitted that Joe Calzaghe had proved to be far too good for him.
That first encounter with Enzo Calzaghe was the first of many. I saw first hand Enzo's fiercely proud commitment to both his son Joe and his other Welsh-Italian world champion Enzo Maccarenilli.
The history of British boxing has produced more than a few examples of destructively proprietorial dads messing up their sons' careers by meddling in the management of their careers. But fathers and sons have also created highly successful partnerships like the one between Scottish world flyweight champion Walter McGowan and his ex-boxer dad Joe Gans. Enzo Calazaghe's professional links with his son Joe during the latter's record successful 25-title defences was of the same profitable kind.
Calzaghe senior had the ebullience and capacity for inspiring a sense of joie de vivre that has become almost a cliched perception of Italian national characteristics but he was also fierce in defending his son in any contentious situations of which professional boxing by its very nature produces many.
Enzo Calzaghe fighting his boxer's corners before, during and after bouts provided those privy to witnessing those occasions with many memorable moments of caustic wit, sarcasm and humour delivered in impassioned terms.
Boxing as a sport has always been richly endowed with memorable characters.Enzo Calzaghe was a classic and unforgettable example of the genre.
BRIAN DONALD
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