IF this was to be Joe Calzaghe’s final night in the sport of boxing, then it is hard to imagine a more fitting way for a genuine icon to have bowed out.

Of Calzaghe’s sensational 46 unbeaten fights, Sunday’s electric display against a man destined to appear in the Boxing Hall of Fame the second his name is put on the ballot in Roy Jones epitomised every aspect of what makes Calzaghe one of the greatest sportsmen ever to come from the United Kingdom.

Down in the first after a left hand and right forearm smash into the bridge of his nose, Calzaghe was floored by what ranks, by his own admission, as the toughest shots he has ever taken in his 15 years as a professional.

A mere mortal may have, as Calzaghe did, made it back to his feet, but there are only a handful of men on the planet who would have been able to fight on.

Not only did Calzaghe do so, but he went on to produce a performance that ranks probably only behind his gutsy breakthrough 1997 title win over Chris Eubank and career-defining annihilation of Jeff Lacy as the stand-out fight of his career.

Not for one second will I accept that this victory came over a Roy Jones who was shot, who no longer possesses the reactions or skills to perform at such a level, even if he is no longer the great he was.

Jones’ performance in many ways was as admirable as Calzaghe’s, he showed the heart of a lion, with a fortitude and steely determination emphasised perfectly by the way he fought on after suffering an horrific cut to his left eye thanks to a booming hook from Calzaghe in the seventh.

Jones had lost four times before, and had twice been the victim of stunning KOs. But never had the Floridian, who at his peak was as fine a fighter as boxing has seen, been subjected to such a devastating and sustained beating – at the hands of an opponent whose legend is both permanent and current.

Calzaghe was simply imperious and Jones couldn’t match him, but the credit is Joe’s, take nothing away from the Pensacola puncher who contributed to a thrilling and absorbing fight, the kind that will go a huge way to protecting the sport of boxing, so under threat from the cage specialists in UFC.

Calzaghe’s chin is possibly the most undervalued asset in boxing, he has been caught flush so few times in 15 years that his almost superhuman ability to take a punch has been overlooked.

Perhaps the manner of his comeback after being floored and conceding a two-point first-round advantage to Bernard Hopkins back in April, reassured the unflappable Newbridge southpaw in Madison Square Garden on Sunday morning.

Because from the start of the second round until the final bell, Calzaghe was dominant, exhibiting flawless footwork, finding neat angles and rapier combinations that left Jones bewildered and benign in his increasingly isolated offence.

Calzaghe comfortably won the second, third and fourth rounds with sustained and emphatic combinations and aggressive assaults, finding angles and lines of attack that Jones simply couldn’t anticipate and as a result, defend against.

Calzaghe also added an intriguing and breathtaking new facet to his armoury, dropping his hands and his head at regular intervals – at times directly onto Jones’ gloves – tempting the 39-year-old to come forward and take more punishment as Calzaghe twisted and countered with balletic precision.

Four-weight world champion Jones rallied in the fifth, landing two of the left-right combinations he so favoured in his brief offensive periods, but even by then Calzaghe’s intensity had taken a toll to the extent that Jones was beginning to seem dazed.

Calzaghe took the sixth before the massively important seventh round, when a lacerating left jab and left hook from the Newbridge man caught Jones and cut him deeply millimetres above his left eye.

It was the decisive moment, Calzaghe in total control from there on in, exhibiting a ruthless desire to force a stoppage in rounds eight, nine and ten as he remorselessly targeted the huge cut, with bunches of body shots thrown in for good measure.

Calzaghe has huge respect for Jones, and some will be surprised at the way he continued to goad the former great and relentlessly continued on the offensive post cut, but great champions don’t achieve their status by showing humility.

However, again to his credit, that is exactly what Calzaghe did in the final two rounds, easing off the pedal, adopting the predominantly jabbing strategy of the Lacy and Mikkel Kessler fights and sparing Jones the indignity of the towel being thrown in on what was surely the final fight of a sensational career.

In doing so, Calzaghe failed to throw over 1,000 punches, ONLY managing 985, with 344 landing in comparison to Jones’ 159, but it is a measure of Calzaghe’s respect for Jones that he opted to essentially carry him to the finish line, knowing that the American had nothing left.

By the end the statistics revealed that Calzaghe hit Jones more times than anyone in 31 fights, and the Floridian was taken to a nearby medical facility immediately after the fight for stitches and observation.

Judges Terry O’Conner, Jerry Roth and Julie Lederman all scored the contest 118-109 and the Pride of Wales was celebrating yet again as Michael Buffer announced the result to the delight of the Welsh crowd, who I would estimate made up around 8,000 of the 14,152 in attendance.

Was it the final chapter for Calzaghe? Only time will tell and only Joe will decide, with television executives happy to bow to his desires in 2009.

However, if it proves to be the case, if Calzaghe does call it quits after beating an icon of the sport in the Mecca of boxing with a masterful display, then few will debate that it represents a fitting end to a sensational career for a man who may well now bow out of the sport as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.