Picture of the day – April 20
Calzaghe stopped Delaney in the fifth to complete a first British title defence.
Joe Calzaghe’s first defence of his British super middleweight title in April 1996 proved to be a test of character that he passed with flying colours.
The Welshmen had won all 16 of his fights and came up against West Ham’s Mark Delaney, who had won all 21 of his bouts.
Calzaghe’s promoter Mickey Duff lost the purse bid, which meant the fight took place at the International Centre in Brentwood, Essex, packed with Delaney fans.
But the hostile atmosphere only served to inspire Calzaghe, who put Delaney down within the opening minute and broke his nose with a second knock down inside the opening round.
Delaney battled on but the referee stopped the fight after two more knock downs by Calzaghe in the fifth.
Calzaghe went on to become the first boxer to unify three of the four major world titles (WBA, WBC and WBO) at super-middleweight and he was voted 2007 sports personality of the year.
