Vote Calzaghe for Sports Personality of the Year (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Vote Calzaghe for Sports Personality of the Year

6:16pm Monday 19th November 2007 in Sport By Blake Richardson

Joe Calzaghe is not wanting for much. He is the newly-crowned undisputed super-middleweight champion of the world, has got money to burn, a gorgeous wife and, according to my own trouble and strife, has a body to die for and a face like Adonis.
What else could the man who has everything possibly wish for?
How about the gratitude and adulation of the nation, in the form of the 2007 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award?
This prestigious trophy would not look out of place in his overflowing trophy cabinet alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO belts and would be a fitting prize for a man who has done more to put the Great back into Britain over the last 12 months than any of our other sports stars, Lewis Hamilton included.
Ricky Hatton fans may have something to say about that but, unfortunately for the Hitman, his own super-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jnr will take place just hours before the BBC 1 show on December 9 and therefore too late to influence the vote.
If Hatton wins their MGM Grand mega-match (and fight aficionados will appreciate that is a very big if) then he will have eclipsed even Calzaghe’s achievements, as in boxing circles Mayweather is a far bigger name than the vanquished Mikkel Kessler and is widely regarded as the best pound for pound fighter on the planet.
But we cannot second-guess the future and, for this reason, Calzaghe has to win.
My blood pressure cannot stand a repeat of last year’s miscarriage of justice, when Zara Phillips scooped the award with, incredibly, a third of the public vote (the same Zara Phillips who is 11th in line to the throne, has never struggled for money or backing and competes in a minority sport accessible only to the privileged few).
I am appealing to you all (well, the three or four of you who read this blog) to pick up the phone and vote for Calzaghe. Help restore my faith in the British public.
Just look at the facts: unbeaten as a professional, with 44 consecutive victories, 32 by way of stoppage, with 21 successful world title defences.
To put that into perspective, it is just four short of heavyweight legend Joe Louis’ all-time record.
The worry is that middle England will once again shun a Welsh boxer whose face many people cannot put a name to due to most of his fights having been broadcast on Sky television.
My heart is rooting for Calzaghe, sadly, my head is telling me Lewis Hamilton will win the vote, following in the footsteps of previous Formula One sports personality of the years Damon Hill (twice a winner), Nigel Mansell (twice a winner), Jackie Stewart and Stirling Moss.
I’m afraid to say, the annual coronation is in danger of degenerating into a copy of another hit BBC 1 show, Strictly Come Dancing, in other words nothing but a glorified popularity contest.