Joe Calzaghe ranks one man as the best in history: “He was the greatest”

Joe Calzaghe believes there is no debate on who is the greatest boxer of all time.

Calzaghe is often credited by many as being the greatest boxer the UK has ever produced, having the rare honour of retiring undefeated after winning all 46 of his professional fights.

He spent over 10 years as WBO super-middleweight champion before going on to add each of the IBF, WBA and WBC belts at 168lbs, before moving up to light heavyweight and ending his career with victories over Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr.

When it comes to naming the best ever though, Calzaghe once told BBC Sport that he felt there could be nobody other than Muhammad Ali.

“In a 1,000 years time people will look back and say he was the greatest. He is the greatest boxing and greatest sporting icon of all time. He was my inspiration, I tried to copy some of his moves as soon a I started boxing at the age of 10 or 11.

“Boxing is the hardest sport in the world and in a time when he was champion, it wasn’t a great sport – it was on a bit of a downward spiral but he transcended the sport with his personality and style.

“People loved him, he was someone completely different, he backed it up in the ring and everybody wanted to tune in and watch him fight.”

Calzaghe isn’t the only former super-middleweight king to view Ali as the greatest of all time, with Canelo Alvarez also having the same opinion.