All in all.. 49 fights over 17 years W L D
41 8 0
33 KOs 8 KOs
Averaged 4 rounds per fight.
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Won the WBO World Cruiserweight title in 2006, his 25th pro fight.
Lost a unification title fight tom David Haye in 2008. Last time he held a world title.
Lost to Afolobi and Lebedev in 2009. 29 wins, 4 losses.
Lost to Ovill McKenzie but avenged the defeat a year later.
Lost a world title challenge against Juergen Braehmer in 2014.
Knocked out an aging Roy Jones Jr. in 2015.
Knocked out in round 1 against Dmytro Kucher in 2016 - announced retirement.
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What happened? He had a good first 10 years of his career, attempted light heavyweight. He was never a bad fighter, was it just that there was a lot more boxers just better than him?
enzo has a great career, better career than 99% of british fighters who ever turned pro. got a good career a head of him in tv.
had some high profile fights. chin was his down fall but can find fault with every fighter.
I think ultimately he's suffered from the same flaws that's plagues Amir Khan.... tall guy with a long neck that has frequently been caught with his chin dangling at the more elite level. As a result both those guys have put together rather spectular highlight reels of being on the wrong end of KO's.
I love that Enzo emboddied a sense of defiance and true grit in his own self-belief (ring walk song I Won't Back Down is genius)... the KO he suffered to Frenkel would have been enough for most fighters to never get between the ropes again.
Not saying he had a bad career. He was a top fighter, proud he was British too. But as he went older, fighting new flesh, its then were he couldn't keep up, I mean all his losses were by knockout
Enzo's problem was unfortunately his chin. It was made of China. Lee beard ko'd him in an early fight. At pro level, esp if in the higher weights you need at least an OK chin.
Enzo's chin was probably as sturdy as an 80yr old Dot Cotton.
On the positive side, Enzo had good boxing skills, fantastic power, great heart and good training habits.
He did like a bit of a fight though, and with the chin made him vulnerable.
I always really liked Enzo, and he was all action. He did well, no doubt, but wished he had gone further. He was unlucky with his cut against Braehmer.....
reggaereggae wrote:Enzo's problem was unfortunately his chin. It was made of China. Lee beard ko'd him in an early fight. At pro level, esp if in the higher weights you need at least an OK chin.
Enzo's chin was probably as sturdy as an 80yr old Dot Cotton.
On the positive side, Enzo had good boxing skills, fantastic power, great heart and good training habits.
He did like a bit of a fight though, and with the chin made him vulnerable.
I always really liked Enzo, and he was all action. He did well, no doubt, but wished he had gone further. He was unlucky with his cut against Braehmer.....
When did Lee beard ko him, in the Ams? Aren't you thinking of swaby?
Last edited by Stevieb8006 on 11 Jun 2016, 11:04, edited 1 time in total.
That's hardly the greatest summary of enzos career. It misses out winning a European title in Russia, Beating domestic rivals like Scott and Hobson, picking up commonwealth and British straps. Great career.
Think people are guilty of judging everyone by world champion standards sometimes. Not everyone can be a dominant world champion, but it doesn't mean their career went wrong either. Plenty of fighters are happy to find a level they're comfortable at and stay there, fair play to Enzo for consistently taking the biggest challenges possible. Had a great run.
ElJefe wrote:Think people are guilty of judging everyone by world champion standards sometimes. Not everyone can be a dominant world champion, but it doesn't mean their career went wrong either. Plenty of fighters are happy to find a level they're comfortable at and stay there, fair play to Enzo for consistently taking the biggest challenges possible. Had a great run.
Enzo had a great career, won titles at different weights,fought the number 1 guy at cruiser,never backed down from a challenge,came back full of enthusiasm numerous times despite heavy ko losses,never slagged anyone off,always had time for his fans,never made silly excuses for his losses.....what more can i say.
Stevieb8006 wrote:That's hardly the greatest summary of enzos career. It misses out winning a European title in Russia, Beating domestic rivals like Scott and Hobson, picking up commonwealth and British straps. Great career.
I'm glad you mentioned it. So we can agree he was a top domestic and European level fighter? Not doubting his achievements, that's why I mentioned most of what happened on the latter part of his career where he attempted the world level.
reggaereggae wrote:Enzo's problem was unfortunately his chin. It was made of China. Lee beard ko'd him in an early fight. At pro level, esp if in the higher weights you need at least an OK chin.
Enzo's chin was probably as sturdy as an 80yr old Dot Cotton.
On the positive side, Enzo had good boxing skills, fantastic power, great heart and good training habits.
He did like a bit of a fight though, and with the chin made him vulnerable.
I always really liked Enzo, and he was all action. He did well, no doubt, but wished he had gone further. He was unlucky with his cut against Braehmer.....
When did Lee beard ko him, in the Ams? Aren't you thinking of swaby?
Apologies, Swaby.... At least I got the first name right!
He was lined up for the WBO title just as belt holder Nelson was retiring. Almost identical to Calzaghe getting a vacant title shot when Steve Collins retired. Creepy, weird and very convenient way to the title for all parties.
He won a great fight with Mark Hobson on the Calzaghe v Lacy undercard. The one with Bruce Scott was also good. Two exciting domestic scraps.
And don't forget the boxing clinic he put on Wayne Braithwaite, who went on to KO future champ YP Hernandez.
But fights like Gunn, Azzaoui and Lamontagne were terrible title defenses and were becoming the norm. Wasted prime?
Enzo and FW reached out for the Haye fight thinking DH would be weight drained. Haye destroyed him to unify then it all went wrong - Lebedev, Frenkel, etc. Desperate attempt to reestablish himself on the world scene moving down in weight, didn't work. But a good KO win in Russia, some memorable fights vs McPhilbin and Ovill. Humble enough to fight for British and Commonwealth titles. Enzo always remained interesting and provided drama and surprises.
Autobarn wrote:He was lined up for the WBO title just as belt holder Nelson was retiring. Almost identical to Calzaghe getting a vacant title shot when Steve Collins retired. Creepy, weird and very convenient way to the title for all parties.
He won a great fight with Mark Hobson on the Calzaghe v Lacy undercard. The one with Bruce Scott was also good. Two exciting domestic scraps.
And don't forget the boxing clinic he put on Wayne Braithwaite, who went on to KO future champ YP Hernandez.
But fights like Gunn, Azzaoui and Lamontagne were terrible title defenses and were becoming the norm. Wasted prime?
Enzo and FW reached out for the Haye fight thinking DH would be weight drained. Haye destroyed him to unify then it all went wrong - Lebedev, Frenkel, etc. Desperate attempt to reestablish himself on the world scene moving down in weight, didn't work. But a good KO win in Russia, some memorable fights vs McPhilbin and Ovill. Humble enough to fight for British and Commonwealth titles. Enzo always remained interesting and provided drama and surprises.
The Dominguez win was a good one as well. He looked really good that night.
reggaereggae wrote:Enzo's problem was unfortunately his chin. It was made of China. Lee beard ko'd him in an early fight. At pro level, esp if in the higher weights you need at least an OK chin.
Enzo's chin was probably as sturdy as an 80yr old Dot Cotton.
On the positive side, Enzo had good boxing skills, fantastic power, great heart and good training habits.
He did like a bit of a fight though, and with the chin made him vulnerable.
I always really liked Enzo, and he was all action. He did well, no doubt, but wished he had gone further. He was unlucky with his cut against Braehmer.....
When did Lee beard ko him, in the Ams? Aren't you thinking of swaby?
Apologies, Swaby.... At least I got the first name right!
Agree with the consensus here, Enzo has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Had an excellent career and arguably over-achieved considering his obvious chin deficiencies. The uppercut he landed to stop Ovill in their rematch remains one of the most chilling punches I've seen live, absolutely nailed him. He's also clearly one of boxing's good guys, so hopefully he can now carve out of a decent career in commentary or training.
If I had to criticize Enzo I'd say he didn't fully develop himself when he was a young pro. He was happy to stay with Enzo Calzaghe and enjoy home comforts. I've read that he has a lot of kids so maybe he pumped them out early and felt obliged to stay. Either way, he really should have gone to america to a top trainer because he really had it all there to become a top cruiser and rule the roost. Big, one hit power, solid enough skills, etc. Building up to the Haye fight he was fighting sub par opposition and not really developing under Enzo Calzaghe. This is where he could have been getting very top notch sparring under Roach for example and learning lots. Turns out his porous defense and lack of ability let him down against Haye. I still think that was a fight he could have won if he had been developed more. A strong jab, good movement, smart boxing all night and he would have done Haye imo. He had the power to keep Haye worried about getting hit and it should have been a fight that he could win from the outside with his jab and movement/timing. Haye doesn't jab. As it was, he didn't have those skills or ability to compete and Haye was able to jump in with right hands at will.
Afolabi was a fight he was winning and should/could have won.In the Frankel fight, Enzo was the superior boxer I think. Lebedev he got caught out bigtime by the southpaw stance and took huge lefts from the get-go.. didn't have the knowledge or ability to deal with decent southpaws. IJL screwed him in the first Ovill fight to be fair and he corrected that in the second. Braehmer is a good solid awkward champion but that was another case of a southpaw landing his left hand at will and Enzo being clueless defensively. The Frankel and Kucher knockouts were actually very very basic mistakes of trading left hooks with his right hand low. Look at Frankel and Kuchers right hands as they are exchanging those hooks with Enzo.... well schooled right hand up protecting the chin.
I genuinely believe he would have had a completely different career if he'd shipped himself off to america around 2003ish rather than go the WBU route and slogged it out in tough gyms under top trainers like Roach, who would have taken him on with pleasure. It sounds strange when you look at his record, but I put him down as one of the biggest wastes of talent in british boxing.
