Fear of losing drives Calzaghe
After 41 straight wins, including his dazzling destruction of Jeff Lacy seven months ago, Calzaghe could be excused for taking an easy defence of his WBO and IBF super-middleweight titles against Cameroon’s Sakio Bika for granted.
But the 34-year-old Welshman, ravaged by hand injuries and still hurting from a handful of amateur losses over 15 years ago, has always been inspired to excellence by the simple fear of another defeat.
Calzaghe said: “I am a proud fighter and winner. I remember crying my eyes out after every single one of those amateur defeats and I still hate the idea of losing. I have so many goals left to achieve in this sport but I know in boxing you are only as good as your last fight, so everything can change if I do not take this fight as seriously as all the rest.”
Calzaghe’s victory over Lacy at the same MEN Arena venue in March was the 18th successful defence of the world title he claimed by beating Chris Eubank in Sheffield in 1997.
It was the night of crowning glory Calzaghe had long promised, winning every minute of every round against the unbeaten American with a performance of breathtaking artistry.
It belatedly convinced his Stateside critics of his reputation as one of the finest fighters in the sport, and burdened him with a great weight of expectation for his fight with Bika.
The confident 27-year-old Bika, now based in Australia, has promised to come to fight.
He has a record of 20 wins and two draws against one early loss, and stretched WBC champion Markus Beyer during four torrid rounds in Zwickau, Germany, in May.
Strong and undoubtedly willing, Bika had campaigned as a middleweight prior to his step up to face Beyer, so is likely to be ill-prepared for the onslaught from a champion straining at the 12-stone limit.
At the weigh-in, Calzaghe hit the 12-stone limit bang on. However, Bika came in six ounces over and needed 15 minutes to shed the excess.
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