Unified super
middleweight champion
His scheduled unification bout with IBF super
middleweight champion Jeff Lacy for 4 November 2005 was initially
canceled due to the break sustained to the metacarpal in his left
hand. Warren successfully rescheduled it for 5 March 2006, and the
match was won by an easy unanimous points decision over Lacy, who
was the a pre-fight favorite with the bookmakers and American pundits
alike. Joe Calzaghe dominated throughout the fight, with British fight
fans chanting "easy" at the American during the last three rounds.
Calzaghe gained the IBF title and won every round despite a point
being deducted in the 11th for an illegal behind the body punch. He
also won the vacant The Ring and lineal titles, becoming the first
super middleweight to be recognized as world champion by The Ring
magazine.
On 14 October 2006, Joe Calzaghe faced the rugged contender
and future WBC super middleweight champion Sakio Bike. Two points
were deducted from Bika for head butts, one of which led to a severe
cut over Calzaghe's left eye which would cause him problems for the
duration of the bout. However, Calzaghe won the fight by clear decision
to continue his undefeated run.
On 27 November 2006, it was announced
that Calzaghe had signed a contract to defend his WBO super middleweight
title against former star of The Contender Peter Manfredo Jr. of the
United States on 7 April 2007, at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales,
to be shown on HBO. Because HBO did not want to cover a fight with
the non-American mandatory IBF challenger Robert Stieglitz of Germany,
and with the opportunity to fight World middleweight champion Jermain
Taylor in the summer if he won against Manfredo, Calzaghe chose to
fight Manfredo and as a result had to relinquish the IBF super middleweight
championship. Both Calzaghe and Warren claimed that, "Stieglitz doesn't
mean anything outside Germany." Stieglitz went on to fight Alejandro
Berrio for the vacant IBF title, losing in 3 rounds. Berrio in turn
lost the title to Lucian Bute in his first defense.
On 7 April 2007, Joe Calzaghe met Peter Manfredo Jr. in front of 35,000 fans in Cardiff, Wales. Calzaghe was victorious on a third round stoppage, unleashing a flurry of punches on the outclasssed Manfredo, who threw nothing in return, thus drawing a stoppage from the referee. Manfredo and some American commentators called the stoppage premature because Manfredo did not appear hurt. HBO's ringside announcers declared that the stoppage was "way too quick." Trainer Emanuel Steward did contend that Calzaghe was clearly on his way to victory, but the stoppage was no fault of his own.