The late great George Foreman had huge respect for British boxing legend Joe Calzaghe.
Calzaghe famously remained undefeated throughout his professional career, with a record of 46 wins and 0 losses.
His lightning-fast hands, stamina and slick southpaw style saw him retain his WBO super-middleweight world title for more than a decade across 20 defences, which is a record that remains unbeaten.
He later unified the division and had famous nights with the likes of Mikel Kessler and Chris Eubank Jr and, in his final two fights, moved up to light heavyweight, where he defeated two American legends in Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr before retiring in 2009.
Calzaghe is widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest and most accomplished fighters alongside the likes of Lennox Lewis. Though he could have fought across the pond more to build his name worldwide, the Welshman still managed to catch the attention of the oldest heavyweight champion in the sport’s history.
Posting on X years back, Foreman had huge praise for Calzaghe and said only one man was on his level.
“Joe Calzaghe was a fighting machine. Other than Henry Armstrong, boxing has never seen such. No-one could beat him; not even the great Roy Jones Jr. Roy Jones was about as good as they come.”
Armstrong was a legendary American fighter famous for holding world titles in three weight divisions simultaneously in 1938, namely featherweight, lightweight and welterweight. He was a high pressure boxer with a fine engine and racked up over 150 wins in his career, and so remains an all-time great and pioneer of the sport. For any fighter, Calzaghe included, it is high praise to be mentioned in his company.