In 2007, boxer Joe Calzaghe was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, thereby becoming the first Welsh sportsperson since showjumper David Broome in 1960 to win the award. Calzaghe beat the bookmakers’ favourite, racing driver Lewis Hamilton, into second place and fellow pugilist Ricky Hatton into third, with tennis player Andy Murray, athletes Christine Ohuruogu and Paula Radcliffe, rugby union players. Jason Robinson and Jonny Wilkinson, golfer Justin Rose and motorcycle racer James Toseland completing the 10-strong shortlist of nominees.
Accepting the familiar silver-plated trophy from former undisputed world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in Las Vegas, Calzaghe said, “I am very proud of it, it’s a tremendous achievement. To get two boxers in the top three – wow!” He had been at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas the previous evening to witness Hatton suffer a tenth-round technical knockout by Floyd Mayweather Jr., thereby bringing his 43-fight winning streak to an end.
Calzaghe, himself, fought twice in 2007, successfully defending his World Boxing Organisation (WBO) super middleweight title with a third-round technical knockout of Peter Manfredo Jr. at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff in April and doing so again, as well as winning the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight titles, with a unanimous points decision over Mikkel Kessler at the same venue in November. In the wake of the latter contest, Kessler said, “I don’t think his power is really, really hard, but it confuses you when he hits you 20 times.”
At the time of winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Calzaghe, 35, had already been a world champion for a decade, having orginally won the vacant WBO super middleweight title with a unanimous points decision over Chris Eubank at the Sheffield Arena, Sheffield in October 1997,and won all 44 of his professional fights. Having succcessfully defended the WBO title 21 times, he fought just twice more, winning non-title fights, at light heavyweight, against Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas and Roy Jones Jr. in New York in 2008. He retired the following year, as one of the most accomplished British boxers in modern history and with the rare distinction of an undefeated 46-0-0 professional record.