Briton Joe Calzaghe recovered from an early knockdown to dominate American Roy Jones Jr and win a unanimous decision to retain his Ring Magazine light heavyweight title in New York on Saturday.
Calzaghe, 36, was cut on the nose and dropped by a left-right combination late in the opening round but then thoroughly overwhelmed the former eight-time world champion to improve his record to 46-0.
The 39-year-old Jones, who had blood pouring down his face after suffering a gash over his left eye in the seventh round, fell to 52-5.
The Welshman won every other round of the fight after the first, peppering Jones with swift combinations, taking the offensive and mocking Jones' showy style by dropping his hands and daring him to hit back.
"He stunned me with a good shot in the first round but that is what champions are all about," Calzaghe told reporters. "I've been down before but I've also got back up. When you put me down, I come back stronger."
In his previous bout, Calzaghe's first in the US, the Welshman bounced back from a first-round knockdown to win a split decision against American Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas.
"This year I beat two legends. I took the risk. I came to the United States and I beat both those guys. Tonight I beat Roy Jones," Calzaghe said. "I made it happen."
Jones caught Calzaghe on the bridge of the nose with a straight left and followed it with a right cross to the jaw, dropping the Welshman with about 40 seconds to go in the first.
That seemed to incense the Welshman, who pinned Jones against the ropes and into the corners with unrelenting aggression and a steady stream of jabs and hooks as the American grew increasingly defensive.
By the end of the fight, Jones's cornermen could not stem the blood and the former champion bled throughout the final rounds.
"He won the fight, he definitely won the fight," said Jones, who before the bout described many of Calzaghe's punches as "pitty-pat".
"The pitty-pats were a lot harder than I thought," he conceded.
All three judges scored the bout 118-109 for Calzaghe.
Before the fight, Calzaghe indicated he might retire from the ring after crowning his career with victory over Jones but the Welshman said he would take time before making a decision. "I'm going to go home and talk to my family and think about it," he said, before thanking the raucous, singing Welsh fans among the crowd of 14,152 at Madison Square Garden, and delivering a message to his mother back home.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily November 10, 2008)