Woodhall and Calzaghe clashed over coffee!
Richie Woodhall and Joe Calzaghe were in the services together when they were supposed at odds ahead of their all-British world title clash.
The match had been made for former WBC super middleweight champion Woodhall to challenge for Calzaghe's WBO crown,
It was a last chance for 32-year-old Woodhall, born and raised on Woodside in Telford, to reclaim global honours. He'd lost his WBC strap on points to Markus Beyer a year earlier.
Promoter Frank Warren made the fight for 16 December 2000 at the Sheffield Arena and arranged media coverage to help hype the contest.
Both contenders were in the unique position of having their father as coach, with the late Len Woodhall coaching Richie and Enzo Calzaghe in the corner of Joe.
Everyone knew they are all friends, so no attempt at trash talk was ever going to work anyway, but Joe revealed just how unshakeable their bond was.
The two were reunited at Bar Sport's Premier Suite, where Calzaghe gave an after-dinner speech to nearly 300 guests with Woodhall posing the questions as host.
He recalled: "There was never any falling out, business is business. Obviously, we had the same promoter so the fight was easy to make.
"I remember going to one of the press conferences and, on the way home, we stopped at the services. We saw Richie and Len in the cafe.
"I was with my Dad, too, and they were like 'hey, come over.' It was mad, I was fighting the guy in a few weeks and we were sitting there having a cup of coffee and a sandwich!"
The pleasantries ended when they stepped through the ropes for a fight Calzaghe actually wishes would have happened earlier, so they could have made it double-or-quits with their world titles.
The Welshman had claimed the vacant WBO honours with a points win over Chris Eubank in 1997 and was making his seventh defence.
Him and Woodhall met in the centre of the ring and went to work, coming to significant blows when Calzaghe countered to land a right hand flush in the opening minute.
Woodhall regrouped to up the pace and land the cleaner punches of the second, with his best work coming in the earlier rounds.
By the second half of the fight, Calzaghe had started to take control and he went up the gears towards the finish.
A right hand over the top as both fighters traded bowled Woodhall over in the dying seconds of the ninth but, despite being bloodied, he saw the bell.
Calzaghe resumed his onslaught when action resumed in the 10th, pinning Woodhall onto the ropes and letting his punches go.
Woodhall covered up and took the blows until referee Roy Francis stepped in to spare him further punishment, 28 seconds into the session. He still has "no complaints."
Calzaghe added: "I had mixed feelings about all of it, Richie had lost his world title and that was a shame. It would have been better if it we were both world champions and it was a unification bout.
"We got in there, it was a tough test, Richie put up a great fight and made it hard for me. He won some of the earlier rounds.
"Richie was technically very good and caused me problems. I knew what I was in for and trained extra hard for it. I was in great shape and I needed to be.
"It was strange, in a way, to go up against someone you respect so much and is, above all, a friend. But, when we touched gloves and I looked into his eyes, I knew he wanted my title."
Calzaghe kicked on to become the undisputed ruler of the division, winning every major title with a staggering 21 defences of the WBO crown.
He took the undefeated records of the genuine threats to him during his pomp when he defeated Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler.
He stepped up to light heavy for the last two fights of his career and beat two of the pound-for-pound greats in Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jnr.
The 44-year-old hung up his gloves in 2009 as one of only 11 men to retire undefeated as a world champion. He recorded 46 wins from 46 bouts, with 23 inside-the-distance.
Only three world champions in history have successfully put up their honours more occasions. He was also made an MBE and then CBE.
Yet Calzaghe is not without his critics, who lamented his time came after the warrior's era of Eubank, Nigel Benn and Steve Collins. The latter quit boxing rather than face him.
Woodhall, 48, retired after losing to Calzaghe and takes issues with any notions that his mate and nemesis doesn't deserve a mention as of the sport's best ever.
He said: "I don't understand how he has any critics, he never avoided anyone and you box who is out there, at the time. He fought everyone.
"To debate whether he would beat anyone before him, at their peak, is a hypothetical question. He come out on top against what was out there, there was nothing more the man could do.
"The only other thing he could have done to further cement his place in the record books would have been to beat Rocky Marciano's record of 49-0.
"At one point, he was the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world, there was no-one who could touch him. What else could he have done? He had it all.
"In a nutshell, Calzaghe is the best pro I fought. I already considered him, even at that time, to be the best super middleweight out there."
