Epitome of a champ, Calzaghe looks to go out in style against Jones

Joe Calzaghe won the WBO super middleweight crown in 1997 and successfully defended the title 21 times. Jarrett Baker/Getty Images Forecasting Calzaghe vs. Jones SI.com's Chris Mannix and Sports Illustrated boxing editor Richard O'Brien weigh in on Saturday's big fight. CHRIS MANNIX: A natural light heavyweight, Jones is fighting at a comfortable weight while Calzaghe will be fighting for just the second time above the 168-pound super-middleweight limit. Still, Jones' career should have ended three years ago when Antonio Tarver dismantled him in a lopsided decision. He has the power advantage and will not be hurt by Calzaghe's slapping blows, but in the last 12 rounds of his career, Calzaghe will rain punches on Jones for the full 36 minutes and emerge with the high-profile victory he has long been craving. PREDICTION: Calzaghe by close, but unanimous, decision. RICHARD O'BRIEN: This is a compelling matchup -- one that should have happened a decade ago. A southpaw with a superhuman workrate, Calzaghe tends to overwhelm opponents, but he is far from a devastating puncher. And Jones, freed from the specter of ending another fight flat on his back (see Tarver and Glen Johnson), should be loose and confident. His foot speed may no longer be quite so otherworldly, but the hand speed and power are still there, and Calzaghe will be in front of him. It should be the sort of tough, protracted struggle that Jones never had in his prime, but I think he still has the skill and power to prevail. PREDICTION: Jones by close decision

NEW YORK -- You would think Joe Calzaghe would be just a little bit nervous about the biggest fight of his career. You would think Calzaghe would be apprehensive about the fact that the biggest fight of his career will also be the last fight of his career. You would think Calzaghe would be sweating as he wonders which Roy Jones Jr. is going to step into the ring Saturday night -- the one who looked thoroughly dominant in his last three fights, or the one who looked equally anemic in the three before.

You would think all those things about Calzaghe. You would think them, but you would be wrong.

As the clock ticks toward the final chapter of Calzaghe's brilliant 15-year career, a light heavyweight showdown with Jones (HBO PPV, 9 p.m. ET), the undefeated Welsh champion is a picture of cool. Sitting on a couch inside his tastily decorated midtown hotel room, Calzaghe (45-0) slowly sips a cup of tea and recounts the story of his life.

Flanked by his longtime trainer and father, Enzo, his brother, Sergio, and a handful of other members of his undersized entourage, Calzaghe talks about the long and winding road he has taken to get to this point. He talks about a career spent grinding through the European boxing ranks as he struggled to get a world-title shot. He talks about the lack of respect he received from the public -- particularly the American public -- after he won the WBO super middleweight title from Chris Eubank in 1997 and successfully defended it 21 times. He wonders aloud whether beating Jones (52-4), the face of American boxing once upon a time, will finally earn him the recognition he craves.

Will it? That remains to be seen.

If there is a criticism to make of Calzaghe it's that he sometimes has a warped perception of the skills of his opponents. Ask Calzaghe about his proudest accomplishment in boxing and he will point to his decisive 2006 victory over Jeff Lacy. Ask him to rattle off his greatest in-ring moments and he will invariably list dropping Lacy in the 12th round as one of them. The entire first chapter of his book, No Ordinary Joe, is devoted to the fight against Lacy. At the time, Lacy was considered a rising star in the super middleweight division, a power puncher who was thought of as a pocket version of Mike Tyson. Though Calzaghe completely dominated the fight, Lacy's subsequent performances (three uninspiring decision victories over inferior opponents) have exposed him as a vastly overrated fighter. In fact, at 31, Lacy is facing a make-or-break fight when he takes on Jermain Taylor on Nov. 15.

Similarly, Calzaghe has convinced himself that in the last two years he has challenged the cream of the American boxing crop. But Peter Manfredo, who Calzaghe KO'd in 2007, is one step above a club fighter. Bernard Hopkins, who Calzaghe out-pointed in a narrow split decision last April, was 43 when he stepped in the ring with him. And Jones, by Calzaghe's own admission, "may not be as good as he once was."

But while Calzaghe's own insecurities may haunt him, there is little question as to whether "Super" Joe will go down in history as one of the greatest super middleweights of all time. Just like there is little doubt he will ever fight in that division -- or any division for that matter -- again after Saturday night.

In boxing, fighters retire for two reasons: (1) They can't fight anymore, and (2) they don't want to fight anymore.

Calzaghe is certainly not the former. With movie-star good looks and hand speed that rivals men half his age, Calzaghe is still a superior fighter. Should he beat Jones, there is no question that for the first time in Calzaghe's career he will be a marketable, worldwide star. Fighters will clamor for an opportunity to take him on and Calzaghe would be well compensated for his services.

But Calzaghe doesn't want the millions. "The day you only fight for money is the day you get beat," he said.