Boxing-Calzaghe retains super-middleweight world title

LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) Joe Calzaghe retained his WBO super-middleweight title for the 19th time when he outpointed Cameroon's Sakio Bika after 12 brutal rounds in Manchester.

The 34-year-old Welshman, who also holds the IBF belt after his demolition of American Jeff Lacy in March, was given a severe test by the Australia-based African but did enough to win a unanimous points decision yesterday.

Calzaghe, regarded as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, suffered a gash above his left eye after a clash of heads in the fourth round and Bika was docked a point in the fifth for deliberate use of the head.

Afterwards Calzaghe, who has targetted Joe Louis's record of 25 world title defences, admitted he was well below his best.

''I injured my hand in July and I knew I was taking a 50-50 chance tonight,'' Calzaghe, who began an overwhelming favourite, told ITV Sport.

''He was a dirty fighter...he came in with head all the time and he was physically very strong.

''I was disappointed with my performance and wasn't happy with my ring sharpness. But we're not robots, a win's a win.'' Calzaghe's defeat of Lacy earlier this year was deemed one of the best displays in a British ring but Bika roughed him up from the start and the fight developed into a messy affair that could have cost the Welshman his unbeaten professional record which now spans 42 fights.

Despite his corner screaming at him to box behind his jab and avoid close-quarters combat, Calzaghe waded in wildly against the awkward Bika.

At times Calzaghe contemptuously dropped his hands, inviting Bika to get involved in a scrap and the African was only too happy to oblige, catching the Welshman with upper-cuts, head butts and flying elbows.

Both fighters unloaded blows after the bell had sounded at the end of the second round, while Calzaghe repeatedly gestured at referee Micky Vann to warn Bika about his head.

Only after he was cut at the end of the fourth did Calzaghe revert to his trademark combinations, picking Bika off with solid jabs and left hooks and staying clear of trouble.

Bika, who entered the ring undefeated for four years, rarely flinched, however, and produced some telling shots of his own in the ninth round as blood again seeped from Calzaghe's cut eye.

Calzaghe was clumsily wrestled to the canvas in the 10th and was doubled-up by an illegal low blow in the 12th. He looked a relieved man when the final bell sounded.

REUTERS SRS PM0437