When the question “Who is the greatest boxer ever to come out of Britain?” is asked, there are many, especially in Wales, who would volunteer the name of Joe Calzaghe, who never lost in 46 professional fights and became the greatest super-middleweight of his generation. His father, Enzo Calzaghe, who has died aged 69, was the man who shaped Joe’s talent and trained him from the day he took up the sport to his retirement in 2009.
Joe was under no illusions as to the important role his father had played in his successes. “If it wasn’t for him, I’d never have laced up gloves in the first place,” he said. “I think we’re a great team. We stuck together through the ups and the downs, even when people were saying I should get rid of him because he had never boxed. But he knew exactly what to say to me at the right time in a fight, and he was the perfect trainer for me.”
Photograph: Richard Saker/The Observer
Enzo’s detractors said he was limited as a trainer, not working properly on training pads, failing to bind hands properly before fighters put on their gloves, tactically naive and only prospering because of his naturally gifted son. But Joe was always quick to smash down such criticism as “rubbish from people who don’t know what they are talking about”. When Joe was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014, he insisted the honour was not just for him, “but for my family, especially my father, who’s been with me since day one, kicking me up the arse and pushing me”.
In a famous television moment at the ceremony in New York, Joe paid fulsome tribute to his father while Enzo, when asked to speak, choked up with emotion and was in tears as Joe placed his arm around his shoulder and the two men hugged in a moment of respect and love.
Enzo was born in Bancali, a hamlet on the Italian island of Sardinia, the second of three sons and a daughter of Guiseppe and Victoria Calzaghe. He was always small of stature, and was taught to box by his father, a former police officer and builder, as a way of defending himself against school bullies. He was also a talented footballer, played guitar, and was a bass guitarist in his uncle’s band.
After completing national service in the Italian air force in the late 60s, he decided to see the world as a busker, hitchhiking his way around Europe with his guitar and often sleeping rough. In the UK he eventually wound up in Bournemouth, where he had an aunt who ran a restaurant.
Enzo’s plan had been to earn enough money to return home to Sardinia but, by his own account, on the platform at Southampton railway station, hearing that a train was about to depart for Cardiff, he decided to jump aboard, with the words: “Sod going home, let’s try Cardiff!”
In the Welsh capital in the early 1970s he got work in a Wimpy restaurant where he met a waitress, Jacqueline Phillips, who would become his wife only four weeks later. He worked at times as a bus conductor and a window salesmen. The couple had three children, Joe and his two sisters, Sonia and Melissa.
When Joe was nine, Enzo took him to the boxing club in Newbridge, 20 miles from Cardiff, which was housed in a tin shed with no more than the most rudimentary facilities. Joe would complain that he lost his childhood to boxing, but his father’s obsession with the sport pushed his son through a glittering amateur career, upwards through the professional ranks, and ultimately on to international fame during the years from 1993 to 2009, becoming WBO super-middleweight world champion in 1997 and making a record 21 successful title defences.
Enzo went on to run the Newbridge club, which apart from Joe produced outstanding fighters such as the world champions Enzo Maccarinelli, Gavin Rees and Nathan Cleverly, as well as national and commonwealth champions such as Gary Lockett and Bradley Pryce.
Some measure of the fiery relationship between Enzo and Joe could be gauged by the observations of Maccarinelli, who recalled that after a desultory sparring session one day, Enzo shouted at Joe: “Call yourself a fucking champion? More like a fucking chump.” The argument did not last long, however, and Maccarinelli reported that “later they were hugging; they were incredibly close. Enzo cared nothing for sports science – for him it was sheer hard graft, and it worked.”
Maccarinelli added: “Half the time, with his Italian-Welsh accent, you couldn’t understand what Enzo was on about. And you had to humour him to say how good his music was, or there would be hell to pay. But we all loved him. He made champions and was just amazing for Joe.” Lockett, now a leading trainer and boxing commentator, described Enzo as “an absolute nut job, always laughing and always taking the mick”. He had a personality that would light up any room, but imposed no-nonsense discipline with no small measure of bravery for a man who stood only 5ft 7in.
Joe tells the story of his father demanding a photograph of the often surly and intimidating Mike Tyson when they appeared on the same bill in Copenhagen in 2001. Reluctantly Tyson agreed – only to be taken aback when Enzo refused to take the shot until he smiled.
Enzo was made MBE in 2010 for services to boxing, and his successes were recognised at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards of 2007, where he was named coach of the year, a title he also won that year from the Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
He is survived by his wife, Jackie, his children and three siblings, Sergio, Uccio and Alba.
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