Joe Calzaghe vs Omar Sheika

Joe Calzaghe retained the WBO super-middleweight championship by stopping Omar Sheika in the fifth round at the Conference Centre, Wembley, on August 12, 2000. Referee Genaro Rodriguez intervened after 2 minutes 8 seconds, with the challenger cut around both eyes and taking an increasing number of unanswered punches. Calzaghe weighed the championship limit of 168 pounds and Sheika 167. At the time of the stoppage, judge Mickey Vann had the champion ahead 40-36, while John Stewart and Victor Salomon each scored him in front by 39-37. It was Calzaghe’s sixth successful defence of the title he had won from Chris Eubank nearly three years earlier.

The champion entered in need of a convincing performance. After defeating Eubank in 1997, Calzaghe had retained his title against Branko Sobot, Juan Carlos Gimenez, Robin Reid, Rick Thornberry and David Starie, but injuries and uneven displays had interrupted his progress. The points victories over Thornberry and Starie had been particularly unsatisfactory, with both opponents concentrating upon defence and denying Calzaghe the sort of open exchanges in which his speed and volume were most effective. Sheika, a 23-year-old from Paterson, New Jersey, brought a record of 20 victories and one defeat and had waited through several postponements for his opportunity. He was confident, physically strong, and willing to advance, though his attack was direct and depended more on determination and punching strength than on variety.

Sheika moved forward from the opening bell, but his approach gave Calzaghe the target he had lacked in his previous defences. The southpaw champion met him with the right jab and fast left hands, catching much of the challenger’s return fire upon his gloves and forearms. Sheika pressed without hesitation and was prepared to exchange, yet he had difficulty setting his feet before Calzaghe had completed a combination and moved to a new angle. Late in the first round, the champion landed a firm left hook, establishing the pattern of quicker, more accurate punching that would decide the contest. Vann, Stewart and Salomon all awarded Calzaghe the opening round.

The second and third rounds were more competitive than the eventual result suggests. Sheika continued to force his way forward and occasionally reached Calzaghe with the right hand, including a solid blow to the jaw in the third. He was not intimidated by the champion’s speed and willingly accepted punches to deliver his own. Calzaghe, however, was striking more often and with better placement. His left uppercut found Sheika as the challenger bent forward, while the left hook caught him as he tried to close the distance. Stewart and Salomon each gave Sheika one of these two rounds, but Vann scored both for Calzaghe. The challenger’s aggression kept him involved, though he was already beginning to show marking around the eyes.

Calzaghe established clearer command in the fourth. Sheika still advanced, but the champion was now reading the movement and meeting him before he could begin his own work. A right hand to the head disturbed the challenger, and Calzaghe followed with rapid punches from both sides. Sheika’s right eye was damaged during the round, and the left eye was also beginning to show the effects of the champion’s accuracy. Calzaghe did not retreat unnecessarily. He stood within punching distance, blocked much of Sheika’s heavier work and answered with shorter, straighter combinations. The challenger remained strong and willing, but his defence was becoming increasingly open as he tried to force the pace.

Sheika attacked urgently at the start of the fifth, attempting to drive Calzaghe into a corner and turn the contest into a physical struggle. For a brief period he succeeded in holding the champion near the ropes, but he could not prevent the counter-punches. Calzaghe absorbed the blows on his guard and replied with compact left hands through the centre and around the side of Sheika’s defence. The cuts around the challenger’s eyes worsened, the injury over the left becoming particularly severe. With approximately a minute remaining, a fast series of punches left Sheika unsteady. He continued to throw and protested when Rodriguez stepped between them, but he was being struck cleanly and was no longer providing an effective defence. Although the result was announced as a stoppage due to cuts, it was later confirmed that the referee had acted because Sheika was taking excessive punishment.

The decision to stop the contest was justified. Sheika had remained on his feet and had not ceased trying, but his resistance was allowing him to receive rather than avoid Calzaghe’s combinations. The official cards also showed that his forward movement had not translated into control. He had been competitive in parts of the second and third rounds, yet by the fourth the difference in speed, punch selection and defensive awareness was plain. Calzaghe had found an opponent who came directly to him and had responded with his sharpest showing since the Eubank contest. Sheika’s courage and aggression made the fight more active than several of the champion’s preceding defences, but they also exposed him to the precise left hands that brought the fight to an end in the fifth.

I thought this was the sort of opponent Calzaghe needed at that stage of his reign. After flat nights against Rick Thornberry and David Starie, people were beginning to ask whether Joe was developing into one of those champions who looked brilliant only when everything suited him. Sheika answered that question by marching straight at him and giving him a proper target.

Sheika was no mug. He had beaten Glen Johnson in his previous fight, carried confidence into Wembley and had only one disputed defeat on his record. But technically he was made for Calzaghe. He came forward in straight lines, squared himself when attacking and relied on toughness to carry him through the counters. Against a fast southpaw with Joe’s volume and angles, that is asking for trouble.

Calzaghe’s right jab controlled the distance, but the real damage came from the left hand. He caught Sheika with hooks and uppercuts as the American rushed in, then blocked most of the return fire on his gloves and arms. By the fifth, Sheika was marked around both eyes and being picked off cleanly. When referee Genaro Rodriguez stopped it at 2:08, Sheika complained, but I had no issue with it. He was brave, not competitive.

For me, this was Calzaghe at his best against an aggressive opponent. He did not have to chase, overreach or manufacture openings. Sheika brought the pressure, and Joe dismantled him with speed, timing and punch volume. It was his sharpest performance since beating Chris Eubank and an early example of why come-forward fighters usually brought out the best in him.