Calzaghe Blasts UK Sports Personalities.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 07 Oct 2006, 07:46

From IcWales

JOE CALZAGHE has branded Tim Henman and the England cricket and football team "losers" in venting his anger at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.

Calzaghe - the longest reigning world champion in British sport - defends his WBO super-middleweight title for the 19th time in Manchester next weekend.

But the Welsh WBO, IBF and IBO king has never made the short-list of contenders for the annual award and is not expected to figure this time when the award is handed out on December 10.

"Does it bother me that I've not been put up?" queried Calzaghe, 34, rated fifth favourite to win the 2006 award behind Ryder Cup golf hero Darren Clarke, world equestrian champion Zara Phillips, Scottish tennis star Andrew Murray and England cricketer Monty Panesar.

"Of course not. At the end of the day, maybe it's because I'm a winner.

"Look at people like Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman, have they ever won Wimbledon, what have they won?

"He (Henman) is a loser. It seems like the country gets behind losers."

Henman has never won the award but he was second in 1997.

That was the year his fellow British tennis player, the Canadian-born Rusedski, claimed the honour after finishing runner-up at the US Open.

And Calzaghe snapped, "The football team loses, the cricket team loses.

"As a nation, it looks like you haven't got to be a winner to be a personality.

"Listen, I'm a winner, I'm a champion. I don't need no award or recognition, I'm proud of my achievements.

"I'm happy in my own ability. My name will live on. Full stop. Look in the record books. And it's not finished yet."

Calzaghe's first appearance since his epic victory over renowned hard-hitting American Jeff Lacy in March is against Cameroon's Australia-based Sakio Bika at the MEN Arena on October 14.

But even success there will not be enough for him to be crowned the BBC's champion, though for the first time a public vote will decide the winner from a selected shortlist.

In another new move, nearly 3,000 members of the public will be able to attend the show, which is taking place at the Birmingham NEC - the first time in 53 years the show has been held outside London

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KO Artist · Post by **KO Artist** » 07 Oct 2006, 07:50

KOJOE90 wrote:From IcWales

JOE CALZAGHE has branded Tim Henman and the England cricket and football team "losers" in venting his anger at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.

Calzaghe - the longest reigning world champion in British sport - defends his WBO super-middleweight title for the 19th time in Manchester next weekend.

But the Welsh WBO, IBF and IBO king has never made the short-list of contenders for the annual award and is not expected to figure this time when the award is handed out on December 10.

"Does it bother me that I've not been put up?" queried Calzaghe, 34, rated fifth favourite to win the 2006 award behind Ryder Cup golf hero Darren Clarke, world equestrian champion Zara Phillips, Scottish tennis star Andrew Murray and England cricketer Monty Panesar.

"Of course not. At the end of the day, maybe it's because I'm a winner.

"Look at people like Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman, have they ever won Wimbledon, what have they won?

"He (Henman) is a loser. It seems like the country gets behind losers."

Henman has never won the award but he was second in 1997.

That was the year his fellow British tennis player, the Canadian-born Rusedski, claimed the honour after finishing runner-up at the US Open.

And Calzaghe snapped, "The football team loses, the cricket team loses.

"As a nation, it looks like you haven't got to be a winner to be a personality.

"Listen, I'm a winner, I'm a champion. I don't need no award or recognition, I'm proud of my achievements.

"I'm happy in my own ability. My name will live on. Full stop. Look in the record books. And it's not finished yet."

Calzaghe's first appearance since his epic victory over renowned hard-hitting American Jeff Lacy in March is against Cameroon's Australia-based Sakio Bika at the MEN Arena on October 14.

But even success there will not be enough for him to be crowned the BBC's champion, though for the first time a public vote will decide the winner from a selected shortlist.

In another new move, nearly 3,000 members of the public will be able to attend the show, which is taking place at the Birmingham NEC - the first time in 53 years the show has been held outside London
.

Calzaghe is bang on right.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 07 Oct 2006, 07:53

Didn't Chris Eubank say the same thing during his long WBO title reign? I'm sure he did.

Razor · Post by **Razor** » 07 Oct 2006, 08:24

He is absoloutly correct... All the mention are losers, apart from Darren Clarke, but thats why people take pity on losers, but in the boxing game that statement is different, if you lose your a loser, see what im gettin at?

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 07 Oct 2006, 08:28

The BBC is run by a bunch of upper & middle class ex-public school boys so all the 'good chaps' who play Tennis, Golf, Rugby etc etc will always be looked after.

yiddo14 · Post by **yiddo14** » 07 Oct 2006, 08:48

Joe is'nt high profile enough unfortunately.

He also lacks personality or charisma!!!! After all,check out the title of the 'award'.......

Why Joe is getting all upset about this I don't know.I mean,GREG RUSEDSKI won it for christ sake!!! The award means diddly squat.

To win it as a boxer,you have to go some anyway,they always seem to get overlooked.
Rick Hatton did'nt get it for beating a hall of fame fighter(something which Lacy will never be,I think you will agree!)He also has the down to earth,friendly personality that they would eat up at the BBC,so if Hatton did'nt get it then,Calzaghe has virtually no chance.

Lennox won it,but hey,the man unified the flagship division in the sport.

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 07 Oct 2006, 09:15

Terence wrote:He simply does not deserve it, boxing is marginalised and finally taking on a live body and winning does not qualify you for the prize, especially when your follow-up fight is poor.

Since when did Fatty Flintoff deserve it after only doing one thing last year(Ashes) and his team should of got one each then since it was a team effort.

lvlarc · Post by **lvlarc** » 07 Oct 2006, 11:14

The award is a pile of shit and that will be proven when zara phillips makes it to the shortlist.

leforge · Post by **leforge** » 07 Oct 2006, 11:22

The awards are shit, but he an aggrogant prick fight more than twice a year.

Syntax Error · Post by **Syntax Error** » 07 Oct 2006, 11:54

yiddo14 wrote:Joe is'nt high profile enough unfortunately.

He also lacks personality or charisma!!!! After all,check out the title of the 'award'.......

Why Joe is getting all upset about this I don't know.I mean,GREG RUSEDSKI won it for christ sake!!! The award means diddly squat.

To win it as a boxer,you have to go some anyway,they always seem to get overlooked.
Rick Hatton did'nt get it for beating a hall of fame fighter(something which Lacy will never be,I think you will agree!)He also has the down to earth,friendly personality that they would eat up at the BBC,so if Hatton did'nt get it then,Calzaghe has virtually no chance.

Lennox won it,but hey,the man unified the flagship division in the sport.

Absolutely spot on.

Joe is an excellent fighter, but unfortunately he had virtually all his fights on SKY TV & spent most of his career fighting people that even boxing fans hadn't heard of!

Prior to the Lacy fight ( and probably now too), if Calzaghe came up to most Britons & slapped them in the face, they wouldn't have a clue who he was!!!

JC · Post by JC » 07 Oct 2006, 13:26

Syntax Error wrote:if Calzaghe came up to most Britons & slapped them in the face

Interesting choice of words there.

Rocky Balboa · Post by **Rocky Balboa** » 07 Oct 2006, 13:54

Calzaghe is right. Look how much sacrifice he has to make when training for a fight etc.

The same thing happened last year. Ricky Hatton should have won the top proze last year ,but it went to Freddie Flintoff. Boxers do not get nowhere enough recognition for what they have to do throughout their careers. The sweat, toil, hard-graft, training, sacrifice etc.

It's a joke.

At the end of the day, Calzaghe has achieved more than Henman & Rusedski. Hell, you could even argue Greg Rusedski is eligable for the award.

SticknMove · Post by **SticknMove** » 07 Oct 2006, 15:07

SSN isn't any better. All their substantive reports are on football with rugby, cricket, golf and a bit of tennis filling the gaps. If it is 24hr sports news service they should have regular slots dedicated to other marginalised sports that have little profile but have people achieving something. Instead they push out the same old rolling news story on a continual basis. I would love to see a regular hour long slot on this channel dedicated to boxing with clips of fights and interviews with fighters. I wouldn't object to other sports having something similar.

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 07 Oct 2006, 15:27

As I said on the other thread I don't think it's fair to label Henman a loser, certainly not coming from Calzaghe.

I don't really mean that as a slight on Joe, just that it's very difficult to compare their sports and if you did and Henman could win a WBO tennis title and defend it in one match held on Wimbledon centre court twice a year against lower rated players I would fancy he could call himself a 'winner' in Joes eyes.

Taki... · Post by **Taki...** » 07 Oct 2006, 15:33

Poor old Joe... being stuck on Sky Sports for most of the last 10 years has aided his rise to obscurity. If he wanted awards and national recognition then he should've taken a paycut and signed up to fight on the BBC or ITV a little sooner than he did... worked for Benn and Eubank.

pundit · Post by **pundit** » 07 Oct 2006, 22:29

Well, if Henman would have steered clear of:

Federer
Sampras
Agassi
Becker
Stich
Ivanisevic
Hewitt
Rafter
Edberg
Pioline

and every other remotely dangerous opponent -- he would probably have Wimbledon several times as well as the US Open....

Thanks god the concept of a "WBO-champion" doesn't exist in tennis.

Andy Mac · Post by **Andy Mac** » 08 Oct 2006, 18:20

KOJOE90 wrote:The BBC is run by a bunch of upper & middle class ex-public school boys so all the 'good chaps' who play Tennis, Golf, Rugby etc etc will always be looked after.

Erm Greg Dyke when he was there.

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 08 Oct 2006, 18:26

pundit wrote:Well, if Henman would have steered clear of:

Federer
Sampras
Agassi
Becker
Stich
Ivanisevic
Hewitt
Rafter
Edberg
Pioline

and every other remotely dangerous opponent -- he would probably have Wimbledon several times as well as the US Open....

Thanks god the concept of a "WBO-champion" doesn't exist in tennis.

As long as Calzaghe holds the WBO belt, the WBO are given god status.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 08 Oct 2006, 19:51

J-C wrote:
Syntax Error wrote:if Calzaghe came up to most Britons & slapped them in the face

Ironic, given that the Welsh are actually the remnants of the Ancient Britons who originally populated the English mainland.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 09 Oct 2006, 12:32

jamesmcdonnell wrote:
J-C wrote:
Syntax Error wrote:if Calzaghe came up to most Britons & slapped them in the face

Ironic, given that the Welsh are actually the remnants of the Ancient Britons who originally populated the English mainland.

And the Cornish?

JC · Post by JC » 09 Oct 2006, 13:53

KOJOE90 wrote:
J-C wrote:
Syntax Error wrote:if Calzaghe came up to most Britons & slapped them in the face

Ironic, given that the Welsh are actually the remnants of the Ancient Britons who originally populated the English mainland.
And the Cornish?

Something has gone wrong with your quote there KOJOE, I didnt write that I think James did although it is quoted to me

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 09 Oct 2006, 13:59

Once again Joe's shown himself to be a complete tool... he seems extremely immature in many ways, the way he reacted to the recent Johnson vs Woods fight was like a baby whose had one of his toys taken away... I actually thought he was going to burst into tears at one point!...
anyway Joe the reason you havent been nominated isnt because youre a winner, its beacuse noone has heard of most of the people youve beat and most of the time you behave like a total tool!...

Grilling Machine · Post by **Grilling Machine** » 09 Oct 2006, 14:57

Motorbike racing, that's another one.

This is a mass-market event.
The public may be misguided, but it's their award sadly.
Khan is probably the only boxer to stand a chance in future.

I'd like to see a spin-off awards show dedicated to minority sports.

harrygreb · Post by **harrygreb** » 09 Oct 2006, 18:12

if they are looking for the top personality in british sport they should look at fishing - there was a 30 pound mirror carp landed at frensham pond last week that has got more personality than tim henman, andrew flintoff and joe calzaghe put together

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 09 Oct 2006, 18:50

Who needs a good personality anyway? Naz got ok through his career fine with a cocky arragont one.

I don't see whats wrong with Joe's atitude though? Can see Froch's a mouthy bastard, but you don't hear Calzaghe talking like Froch.

Calzaghe Blasts UK Sports Personalities.

Calzaghe Blasts UK Sports Personalities.

Re: Calzaghe Blasts UK Sports Personalities.