Joe Calzaghe vs Evans Ashira

Joe Calzaghe retained his WBO super-middleweight championship for the 17th time with a unanimous 12-round decision over Evans Ashira at the Cardiff International Arena on September 10, 2005. Calzaghe weighed 168 lb and entered the contest unbeaten in 39 professional bouts, while Ashira scaled 166 lb and brought a record of 24 wins and one defeat. The three judges gave every round to the champion. Renato Caddeo scored the contest 120-107, with Paul Thomas and Henk Adriaansen returning identical totals of 120-108. Mark Nelson was the referee.

The contest was intended to prepare Calzaghe for a proposed championship unification match with the undefeated IBF holder Jeff Lacy. Calzaghe had recently travelled to Germany and stopped Mario Veit in six rounds, one of his strongest performances for some time, and was expected to dispose of Ashira before meeting the hard-punching American. Ashira, a Kenyan based in Denmark, had challenged Maselino Masoe for the WBA middleweight championship in 2004 and lost his unbeaten record. He rebuilt with a useful victory over the previously undefeated Quentin Smith at Madison Square Garden five months before meeting Calzaghe. Nevertheless, he remained essentially a middleweight and conceded height, reach, and natural strength to the champion.

Calzaghe began at a fast pace before a sell-out crowd. The southpaw champion established his right jab, moved around Ashira’s shorter advances and released rapid combinations whenever the challenger came within range. Ashira tried to press forward behind a compact guard, but he couldn’t get close enough to work effectively to the body. His shorter reach obliged him to step through Calzaghe’s jab, and the champion repeatedly caught him during those attempts.

The second round was Calzaghe’s most forceful period of the contest. He attacked with both hands and drove Ashira backwards under a succession of fast punches. The challenger was shaken, cut near the left eye and came close to being knocked down, although he remained upright. Calzaghe’s speed and volume left Ashira little opportunity to reply, and Caddeo’s eventual score of 120-107 indicated that he awarded the champion a 10-8 round without a knockdown.

Calzaghe appeared to be moving towards an early finish, but the course of the bout changed in the third round. He caught Ashira with a left uppercut and then struck the top of the challenger’s head with the same hand. Calzaghe immediately felt pain in the hand, though he continued to box and completed the round without making the extent of the injury obvious. When he attempted another combination in the fourth, the pain became severe. From that point, he used the left only sparingly and had to complete most of the contest with his lead right hand.

The injury removed much of the champion’s attacking power but did not bring Ashira into the fight. Calzaghe adjusted by relying on his right jab, footwork, and quicker reactions. He maintained sufficient distance to prevent the challenger from setting himself and stepped away or turned him whenever Ashira moved forward. Without the left hand, Calzaghe could no longer throw his usual prolonged combinations, but he remained first to the punch and continued to dictate the pace.

Ashira showed durability and kept advancing through the middle rounds, but his attacks were predictable and seldom reached the target cleanly. He attempted to close the distance behind a high guard, only to be met by Calzaghe’s jab or made to reset as the champion moved to either side. The challenger’s natural size disadvantage became increasingly apparent. Although Calzaghe was operating with only one fully effective hand, Ashira could not force him towards the ropes for long enough to mount a sustained body attack.

The later rounds followed the same pattern. Calzaghe boxed cautiously but remained in complete control, scoring with the right jab and occasional short punches before moving clear. Ashira continued to pursue and deserved credit for his persistence, particularly after being badly shaken early, but he lacked either the speed to catch Calzaghe or the power to change the direction of the contest. There were no knockdowns, no deductions and no serious dispute over any of the rounds.

At the final bell, Calzaghe had completed a clear victory under difficult circumstances. Caddeo’s 120-107 score and the two cards of 120-108 reflected the challenger’s inability to win a round even after the champion’s principal hand had been taken from him. Ashira had survived the full distance against a naturally larger opponent, but survival was the limit of his achievement. He remained willing throughout without ever threatening to overturn Calzaghe’s control.

An examination after the contest confirmed that Calzaghe had broken a metacarpal bone in his left hand. The injury forced the postponement of the proposed meeting with Lacy and placed another interruption in a championship reign repeatedly troubled by damaged hands. Calzaghe’s disappointment was considerable because the contest had been expected to serve as his final preparation for the most important match of his career.

The performance was not the emphatic stoppage anticipated after the second round, but it provided evidence of Calzaghe’s adaptability. Deprived of his strongest hand, he altered his tactics, accepted that a knockout was no longer a sensible objective and used the tools still available to him. Ashira’s smaller stature and limited reach assisted the champion, yet Calzaghe still had to complete nine rounds while protecting a fractured hand. His judgement, movement and right jab ensured that an unfortunate injury caused delay rather than defeat.

I don’t regard the Ashira fight as one of Joe Calzaghe’s great performances, but it showed exactly why he remained unbeaten. Ashira was a capable middleweight who had beaten the previously undefeated Quentin Smith, yet he was too small and too limited to trouble a genuine super-middleweight champion. Before Joe damaged his left hand, the difference in speed and class was obvious.

Calzaghe hurt Ashira badly in the second round and looked close to stopping him. Then he cracked a metacarpal after catching the top of Ashira’s head in the third. From the fourth onwards, he was effectively boxing with one hand. That changes everything. Your balance, confidence and punch selection all suffer because the opponent soon realises what you cannot throw.

Ashira deserves respect for lasting the distance, but he was poor at exploiting the injury. He followed Joe instead of cutting off the ring and couldn’t get beyond the right jab. Calzaghe adjusted his feet, controlled the range and won every round without taking unnecessary chances. It wasn’t entertaining, but it was intelligent championship boxing. Plenty of fighters look brilliant when everything works. Calzaghe proved he could dominate when half his armoury had disappeared.