Joe Calzaghe's Biography

Nicknamed "The Terminator", Joe Calzaghe was born on 23 March 1972 in London but was brought up in Wales.

Trained by his father Enzo Calzaghe and promoted by Frank Warren, Joe turned professional on 1 October 1993 after taking three ABA titles at different weights.

At 6 foot, with a reach of 75in, Joe Calzaghe won the British super middleweight title with his 14th professional fight. He then took the WBO title from Chris Eubank.

After an up and down period, Calzaghe confirmed his world class with a top quality victory over Jeff Lacy.

Joe Calzaghe retained his World Boxing Organisation super-middleweight title and took Lacy's International Boxing Federation crown in the process.

After the Lacy fight, the Telegraph had this quote from Calazaghe:

" ... I said from the age of 13, when I won my first title, that I would go on to become an undisputed world champion."

Joe Calzaghe told The Observer Sports Monthly about his defeat of Lacy: "I had never fought as well as I did that night and probably never will again."

WBO super middleweight champion Calzaghe was voted BBC Wales Sport Personality of the Year for 2006.

On April 7, 2007, Joe Calzaghe easily beat Peter Manfredo Jr to make his twentieth successful defence of his WBO super middleweight title.

In November 2007, Joe Calzaghe outpointed Mikkel Kessler to claim the undisputed super middleweight title. Kessler had been the WBA and WBC title-holder.

Joe Calzaghe is divorced. He has two sons, Joe and Connor.

Joe Calzaghe has released an autobiography, No Ordinary Joe.

In 2007, Joe Calzaghe was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and his father Enzo was voted best trainer / coach.

In April 2008, Joe Calzaghe, in spite of being knocked down in the first round, won a split decision victory over Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas.

It was his light-heavyweight debut and meant that Joe Calzaghe had won all of his 45 professional contests.

In June 2008, Joe Calzaghe was appointed a CBE by the Queen in her Birthday Honours List, which he received in November 2008.

On 26 September 2008, the BBC reported that Joe Calzaghe was giving up his WBO super-middleweight belt to focus on his light-heavyweight bout with Roy Jones Jr.

On 8 November 2008 Joe Calzaghe beat Roy Jones Jr at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Calzaghe came back from being floored in the first round to gain a unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the bout 118-109 in Calzaghe's favour.

It meant that Joe Calzaghe's unbeaten record was extended to 46 fights.

In February 2009, Joe Calzaghe announced his retirement.

In 2009, Joe Calzaghe partners Kristina Rihanoff in Strictly Come Dancing.

In September 2009, differing reports emerged as to the nature of Joe Calzaghe and Kristina Rihanoff's relationship. It emerged that they were going out, but broke up in August 2013.

In spite of often being saved by the public vote, Joe and Kristina were eliminated in the fifth week.

On 28 March 2010, Joe Calzaghe, after reports in the News Of The World, issued a statement saying he regretted his occasional use of cocaine since retiring from boxing.

In May 2016, it was reported that Joe Calzaghe was returning to boxing as a manager