Joe Calzaghe refused to announce whether or not he will retire after a unanimous decision light-heavyweight victory over Roy Jones Jr at Madison Square Garden last night. Calzaghe scored a resounding 118-109 victory on all three of the judges' scorecards to extend his unbeaten record to 46-0 in what the Welshman said before the fight was to be his final ring appearance.
It was the de facto world championship belt he had won by scoring a split decision victory over Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas last April and like that fight Calzaghe was floored in the opening round, this time by a jolting straight left that momentarily stunned roughly half of the 14,152 fans supporting the Welshman inside the legendary venue.
Calzaghe came back to wear down the American, causing a damaging cut above the former four-division champion's left eye in the seventh round that Jones' corner could not staunch.
After the decision, the Welshman said of the knockdown: "Yes, I was hurt, he caught me with a good shot. But that's what being a champion is all about - when you're put down on the floor, you come back stronger.
"It's an honour getting in the ring with Roy Jones, the guy is a wicked fighter and caused me a lot of trouble. I didn't see the punch coming, it was a good shot. It's the fourth time I've been down and come back strongly."
As for his future, Calzaghe said: "I'll have to sit down and have a think. It could be my last fight, I won't make the final decision yet. I'll go home, sit down, have a think and evaluate the situation.
"I'm 36, nearly 37 and I'm not going to announce anything right now. I said before the fight it would possibly be my last fight but I'm just really happy. I enjoyed it, except the first round of course.
"I can't answer those sort of questions right now. Those are the answers I'm going to go away and evaluate.
"I don't really like to do rematches. I just want to spend some time with my family, have a rest. I'm so happy with what I've achieved this year.''
Jones was similarly non-committal about his future. "I'll talk to my team, talk to my family and see how I feel," he said. "If I feel good, I'll continue to fight. If I don't, I won't.
"Joe was the better man tonight."
With his second fight on American soil and his polished victory over Jones, Calzaghe said he felt his perception Stateside of being carefully matched in Europe throughout his career was now well and truly buried.
"I'm just overwhelmed at the moment,'' Calzaghe said. "It took me eight years to get a unification fight and I was more frustrated than anybody.
"I wanted to show the world that I've always been a true champion. It was through no fault of my own that I didn't get the big, big fights that I always wanted.
"I beat Mikkel Kessler, and became undisputed (super-middleweight champion in 2007) and after that there was only two more things I wanted to do.
"That was to come to the States because you guys never thought I'd come over and beat two legends in the ring, one in Bernard Hopkins and a bigger legend in Roy Jones Jr.''