Calzaghe retains title

MANCHESTER – Joe Calzaghe remains boxing’s longest reigning world champion but had to survive some nervous moments to hold on to his WBO super-middleweight title for the 19th time with a unanimous points win over Sakio Bika at the MEN Arena here on Saturday.

Undefeated Welshman Calzaghe, 34, was cut beside his left eye in the fourth round but shrugged off the wound to win 117-110, 117-110 and 116-111 on the judges’ score cards. It was Bika’s second defeat in 24 fights as unbeaten Calzaghe also made the first defence of his IBF belt.Calzaghe hopes victory will lead to bigger fights next year, possibly in America, but it was not the dominating display he managed to defeat American Jeff Lacy on points in March.”I went into the fight with no real sparring so it was a bit of a gamble,” said the Welshman.Despite the struggle, Calzaghe stayed on track to match the 25 world title defences managed by former world heavyweight champion Joe Louis in the 1930s and 1940s.But he was caught by some heavy blows in the middle rounds as the cut seemed to upset his rhythm.Calzaghe’s promoter Frank Warren was far from happy with his fighter.Nampa-AFPIt was Bika’s second defeat in 24 fights as unbeaten Calzaghe also made the first defence of his IBF belt.Calzaghe hopes victory will lead to bigger fights next year, possibly in America, but it was not the dominating display he managed to defeat American Jeff Lacy on points in March.”I went into the fight with no real sparring so it was a bit of a gamble,” said the Welshman.Despite the struggle, Calzaghe stayed on track to match the 25 world title defences managed by former world heavyweight champion Joe Louis in the 1930s and 1940s.But he was caught by some heavy blows in the middle rounds as the cut seemed to upset his rhythm.Calzaghe’s promoter Frank Warren was far from happy with his fighter.Nampa-AFP