UNDEFEATED: CALZAGHE, MAYWEATHER, MARCIANO, ET AL
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 14 Feb 2009
Calzaghe.
On February 5, 2009, Joe Calzaghe announced his retirement from professional boxing, winning all 46 professional fights with 32 KO victories. He was rated by Ring Magazine as one of the top 10 pound for pound boxers in the world.
Calzaghe said ?Deciding to call it a day has been one of the toughest decisions of my life. There?s always the temptation to fight on, especially if you are the champ and no-one has ever beaten you. But I?ve now come to a point where the satisfaction of retiring undefeated has to outweigh the thrill of another fight.?
He is referred to as the "Pride of Wales" or the "Italian Dragon." He is currently the Ring Magazine light heavyweight champion. He is also the former WBO, WBA, WBC, IBF, The Ring Magazine and the British super middleweight champion.
In 2007, Calzaghe became BBC Sports Personality of the Year, beating Ricky Hatton and Lewis Hamilton by gaining 28.19% of the public vote. Calzaghe holds big wins over Chris Eubank, Jeff Lacy, Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has a record of 39-0 (25 KOs) and has announced his retirement from professional boxing many times. For three years, he was rated by The Ring magazine as the number one pound for pound boxer in the world.
Mayweather has won six world boxing championships in five different weight classes. He was named Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year in 1998 and 2007. ESPN.com listed Mayweather at No. 48 of the ?50 Greatest Boxers of All Time."
Rocky Marciano was the world heavyweight champion from 1952 to 1956. He won all 49 professional fights with 43 wins by knockout with a KO rate 87.8%. Although as an amateur, he compiled an 8-4 record, but as a pro, Marciano is the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight.
This record was almost equalled by Larry Holmes in 1985 when Holmes went 48-0 before losing to Michael Spinks twice. Light heavyweight Dariusz Michalczewski also fought but lost to Marciano when his record was 48-0. Julio Cesar Chavez holds the record for longest winning streak with 88 straight victories until he suffered a draw with Pernell Whitaker in 1993.
Willie Pep boxed to a perfect 63-0 record before he was defeated. Packy McFarland was a lightweight, fighting between the years 1904-1915, lost his first fight and then won his next 98 bouts, although he failed to win the lightweight title.
Super middleweight Sven Ottke was 34-0 when he retired. A few boxers have retired undefeated but they encountered draws. Ji Won Kim retired as an undefeated super bantamweight champion in 1986 with a 16-0-2 record, Ricardo Lopez retired in 2001 at 51-0-1, and middleweight Laszlo Papp had a 28-0-2 pro record.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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