DAILY SPORT catches up with legendary boxing father and son combo Enzo and Joe Calzaghe at Enzo’s autobiography launch.
As a boxing writer, you have to be willing to cope with adverse weather conditions, difficult personalities, long distances to travel, unsociable hours and skipping meals in order to get a story of any worth. Well, on the 18th October 2012 I encountered all of these conditions, with the exception of the ‘difficult personalities’. As I set off at an ungodly hour from London with the rain pounding down on the car, I was talking the intended interview questions with Joe and Enzo Calzaghe through my head…
Knowing that I was coming to Cardiff I took the liberty to look up ex boxing champion Nicky Piper, who I have had the pleasure to work with over a number of years on various charity initiatives. As the true gentleman Nicky is, he furnished me with a nice mug of coffee and we had a quick catchup before I headed off to Waterstones in Cardiff City Centre to meet the famous duo.
Signings were scheduled for midday, and as 12:15 approached there was still no sign of them. Around 50 people had now started to loiter around the signing table, making out they were looking at the closest books to the signing area just so they could be close to Enzo and Joe when they arrived. It was quite comical to see people picking up books which were either upside down or clearly not suited for them. The balance of the people were lined in an orderly fashion with their purchased copies of Enzo’s biography awaiting his entrance.
Finally, nearly 30 minutes late, Enzo and Joe walked in, with their family and friends in tow, and instantly it felt like the room had been boosted by a few thousand watts of lighting. The delay was instantly forgiven, and Enzo and Joe did what they were best at: not boxing on this occasion, but being incredibly sincere dedicated individuals to their fans who had taken the time to come and see them. As each and every individual came up with their book, all of whom had a bespoke message written for them and many of them requesting photos, they ensured that all questions were answered, all requests met, and every person left happy.
My job was to now interview both Enzo and Joe to find out a little bit more about the book and where the passion had come from to undertake such a big project. Of course I also took the liberty to fire a few non-book related questions when I had the chance! Below outlines the conversations between myself, Enzo and Joe Calzaghe…
As an Anglo Italian myself, Enzo and I started joking around in Italian building up to the interview questions, but as I fired off the first question, Enzo replied strictly English and the focus in his eyes became very sharp, reminiscent of how he used to look at Joe in the corner of his fights in between each round. Ding Ding, round one– the interview was on.
PZ: Writing a book is a massive undertaking. What inspired you to want to have a autobiography done?
EC: In all honesty I wanted to do it for my children. I wanted to get together all the pieces of my life and put them together in a one big story. The book shows there is a lot more to my life than just boxing. Don’t get me wrong, I love the boxing but at the end of the day that was also a business, whereas the most beautiful part of my life is actually about my family and how I managed to keep them together under stress and financial difficulties when money was really really tight. The boxing and business parts of my life have always been more manageable because it was more of a workable plan, whereas life in general threw all kind of things my way that you needed to be able to react to instantly and always make sure the family was ok at the same time.
In relation to the boxing, before it even made any money for the family I used to love doing it. Training, coaching, running a successful gym etc. As Joe started to develop as a boxer he then chose me to be his trainer. It’s important to know that he was the one that made that decision. He gave me the time to prove myself, and had had other trainers over the years to compare and measure who would develop him and push him to the limits. After a long series of fights in the ABA’s he turned around to me and said “dad, you’re the right man for me”. I asked him “why are you saying that for? Is it because you feel sympathy for me because I’m your dad and you’ve got to say that or because you owe me something?” Joe replied by saying “No dad, I want you to be my trainer because I think you are the best trainer I’ve ever had”. As soon as he said that we high fived and then I said “I’m on board”. From that day on Joe never lost a fight at professional or amateur, and that spanned for the last 18 years of his career. If he had selected me because I was his father it would have never worked for either of us and at the back of both of our minds something would have always told us that the relationship between boxer and trainer was not solid enough.
PZ: Tell us about the highlights of your life.
EC: Keeping the family together over all these years. As you can see today my daughters and son are here, my grandchildren are here and my wife is here. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, because if you haven’t got your family together, you’ve got no life.
In boxing terms of course I’ve had some incredible highs. Joe retired undefeated after 46 professional fights and I have trained four fighters to be world champions.
PZ: Lowest point in your life?
EC: When my mother passed away that was very sad, in terms of the way she died suffering, but apart from that I’m the type of guy who bounces back immediately when I hit a low. I don’t get depressed or like to believe in the word ‘depressed’. Tomorrow is another day – as Scarlett O Hara would say! I don’t dwell too much into the future and start to stress about what’s going to happen in two years time or even two months time. I live for how’s everything been today and how’s my family going to be tomorrow.
PZ: Do you still have the desire to train fighters into champions?
EC: Absolutely! Training a fighter through that journey which sees them becoming a world champion has always given me that big passion within boxing. I also like to hear the sound of it – “world champion”. Sounds good doesn’t it?!!
PZ: You still look in great shape Enzo. What’s the secret to your fitness regime?
EC: Botox. Plenty of that and you can also look great. (PZ laughs!). Only kidding Paul! It’s all about healthy living. If you live and eat well you look good on the outside and feel great on the inside. You should never ignore your own regime. You often hear people saying I will start tomorrow to get fit. I don’t start tomorrow I do it ‘now’. That’s why I look healthy, because I don’t ignore myself or the demands of myself.
PZ: From one Italian to another, is your Italian heritage still important to you?
EC: You know Paul, we can never ignore the ‘Azzuri’! Especially after they won 3-1 the other day at the football! On a serious note though, my roots are probably here now due to the fact I was very young when I first came over here, but inside there’s always going to be a big part of me which is still very Italian. Joe was born in London, my daughters were born in Newport, so I’m proud to be able to say that I am Welsh, English and Italian. Where you come from doesn’t matter, it’s what’s inside of you that counts.
PZ: Which Italian Football team do you support?
EC: I don’t support any! Cagliari is probably as close as I would get to wanting to support an Italian team, but that because that’s where I’m from in Italy. There’s too much to keep up with between the Champions League, and all the other cups and in all honesty it’s starting to bore me to tears. However – when the national team plays, I go mad for it. Wild horses wouldn’t stop me watching all the matches.
PZ: In your opinion – best super middle in the world at the moment?
EC: I don’t think there are any real stars around at the moment so it’s hard for me to choose one in particular.
PZ: Andre Ward?
EC: If I have to be honest he hasn’t impressed me.
PZ: Could Joe have beaten him?
EC: Without a doubt. Joe had 3,4,5,6 different strategies in the ring and could constantly adapt. Ward has three strategies – Forward, reverse and angled. Joe would have read him far too easily and would have destroyed him.
I’m saying that as a ‘Ring Magazine’ trainer, not as a father. That is a fact.
Joe is very very hard to beat. How can he be beaten?
PZ: I don’t know Enzo. In fact, neither did the 46 opponents he beat!
EC: (Enzo laughs!)
PZ: Any regrets in life?
EC: None whatsoever. If I had to live my life again I would do it all the same again. I would sleep in the streets, on the roads of Amsterdam, hitchhiking etc.. Everything I did, I did it on purpose because I enjoyed doing it.
PZ: A big thank you for taking the time to speak with us Enzo.
EC: My pleasure Paul
As I finished interviewing Enzo, the BBC were just about done filming Joe, so I manage to jump straight in with a few questions of my own…
PZ: How important is it today to be here supporting your dad?
JC: I’m very proud. He’s had a very colourful life being a musician, a world boxing trainer and a great father. Over the years he used to tell me stories of his life and I always used to say to him that you need to write a book. He’s left some of the episodes out, because some are X-rated. I’m only kidding!! (PZ laughs!).
PZ: When I spoke to your dad he mentioned about how he was able to detach himself as a father when training you. How difficult was it for you as his son when you were the boxer being trained?
JC: We wouldn’t have been successful if we couldn’t detach ourselves from that emotion. The main reason the father/son relationship doesn’t work in boxing is for that reason. I went through a phase when I was about 10 or 11 years old where I might have been a bit rebellious with him as a trainer, but when I turned pro I loved him in my corner. Don’t get me wrong, there were ups and downs and I had a few trainers whilst trying to discover myself, but I always came back to my dad in the end because he was the best guy for me. His personality, passion and his knowledge of my ability, combined with our chemistry worked very well. We used to argue like hell in the gym due to the stress of an up and coming fight and then ten minutes later we would give each other a hug and it was all forgotten. Then I would train twice as hard and he would train me twice as hard because we would have been annoyed each other! We used to feed off each other’s energy.
It was great that he was able to share in some amazing nights, and be there through the ups and downs. The big bonus at that stage was that he also happened to be family.
It’s tough to spend every day with anybody. Never mind if it’s your trainer, your parents, your girlfriend – anybody! So it was inevitable we would short fuse sometimes. The minute we got out of the gym we would always talk about something different like my kids, football or anything really.
He’s my best friend and I love him to bits.
PZ: One question in my mind since you retired was how you would have done in the Super Six tournament which Andre Ward recently won.
JC: I would have won it. The thing is, I beat six former world champions and that seemed to go unnoticed because the media was not as intense as it was for this tournament. They made stars of fighters who were not necessarily excellent fighters in the first place. The Super Six helped to get these fighters world title fights one after the other. If there was a Super Six Tournament when I was around it wouldn’t have taken me nine years to get the Jeff Lacey unification fight. I had already beaten five former world champions at that point and it was very frustrating to see this tournament pop up after I retired.
People talk about Andre Ward and the reality is that he’s a very good fighter. However, at my peak I would have beaten him. I think we are convinced we would have beaten each other but that’s fair enough!
PZ: Any chance you might come out of retirement?
JC: No chance. It’s over four years since my last fight against Roy Jones Jr and although I like to do a bit of training and punch the bag a little bit those days are gone. Don’t get me wrong, I do miss boxing but if I was to come back it would go against everything which made me reach that decision in the first place, and I’ll never be the fighter I was. The thing I’m proud of is retiring and staying retired. I quit when I was at the top of the game. I didn’t want to be busted up or to lose, and my children wanted me to retire so it was an easy decision. Family comes first. Do I miss boxing? Yeah – of course! Nothing really comes close, but that’s life. I need to embrace what I have achieved in my life and the fact that I was undefeated is a great thing. Maybe I’ll get back into boxing by managing and training some day, that’s certainly a possibility.
PZ: A big thank you Joe for the interview.
JC: Any time.
Publishing Details
Enzo Calzaghe: A Fighting Life by Enzo Calzaghe with Michael Pearlman published by Great Northern Books, 18th October 2012, £18. Hardback, 288 pages, ISBN: 9781905080533. To order a copy phone 01274 735056 or visit the website at www.greatnorthernbooks.co.uk.
