http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/_images/misc/blog_files/rant.gif Adam Leitch speaks about how Joe Calzaghe has finally got the recognition he deserves.

JOE Calzaghe was a surprising yet worthy winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. The moral of the story is never underestimate how many Welsh people
vote in the contest.

It was nice to see somebody who had genuinely worked hard throughout his career honoured by receiving a trophy that really meant a lot to him. After a long career where he has struggled to earn the recognition he
has deserved for his talents Calzaghe is suddenly hot property.

Even America has woken up to the fact he will go down in
history as one of the great supermiddleweights of
all time and his star pedigree is probably only eclipsed by Floyd Mayweather after his victory over Ricky Hatton last week.

While the future for Calzaghe is hopefully a fight at light heavyweight against Bernard Hopkins it’s time for
Hatton to rethink his plans. Sadly his defeat to Mayweather proved many pundits right but surely Lennox Lewis is being premature in suggesting Hatton retire now.

His record may have been tarnished but with his heart and bottle he has plenty he can still achieve even if he
wasn’t quite good enough to beat the best around.