By Sean McDaniel: in an interview on Steve Bunces’ Boxing Hour today, Bernard Hopkins appeared to be still more than a little bitter about his 12-round split decision loss to Joe Calzaghe in April, and not about to own up to the fact that he was beaten by him. Sounding genuinely angry about the loss, Hopkins said “Joe [Calzaghe] Knows In His Heart That The Judges Beat Bernard Hopkins, and he has to live with that fact for the rest of his life. Yeah, a win is a win, is a win, but at the end of the day, if that is all Joe Calzaghe has to show that he is worth…I wouldn’t worry about a decision this time. He’ll get knocked out. Whether it’s in Wales, or London or whether it’s in the U.S.”
At this point, it’s still uncertain that Calzaghe will give Hopkins a rematch or not. Calzaghe has an important bout with Roy Jones Jr. on November 8th, and needs to win that fight in order to move forward for any additional fights. However, Calzaghe is set for money, and doesn’t need to fight anymore after having made a bundle in his last three fights. Also, he plans on retiring immediately following the Jones fight, and it seems doubtful that Hopkins, a fighter that Calzaghe has already beaten fairly decisively, would be enough for him to want to stick around for a little while longer. For what it’s worth, Hopkins didn’t help his cause given the way he acted before and after the fight last time out against Calzaghe. Hopkins was aggressive and antagonistic towards Calzaghe much of the time, even at one point saying “I’d never let a white boy beat me.”
After the fight, rather than own up to having been beaten, Hopkins has said that he schooled Calzaghe, and went a step further on Bunce’s show by saying that the judges beat Hopkins. If Hopkins wants another fight with Calzaghe, I’m not quite sure that he’s going about it the right way. While calling a fighter out and trying to shame them in public might work for some fighters, I think it has the opposite effect on Calzaghe, who probably figures ‘if that’s the way he’s going to be, why should I want to help him out by giving him another fight?’
I know for me, I wouldn’t want to be around someone like that for weeks on end trying to promote a fight. It would be ugly the whole time, and even if you beat him, you’ll get little credit for having done so, because it will likely be by decision. Hopkins seems to think that Calzaghe will have a change of mind at some point, perhaps after enough people in the media exert pressure for the fight to take place.
Obviously, Calzaghe is going to be offered a ton of money to make the fight, and with Hopkins working for Golden Boy Promotions, he’s in a good position to ensure that Calzaghe is given a good offer. However, I’m still doubtful that Calzaghe will change his mind about fighting Hopkins. Calzaghe never does rematches, as he recently pointed out, and he’s not happy with how the first place took place with all the trash talking involved. Hopkins is pretty clever, though, and if he can change the way he talks about Calzaghe in the media, kind of the way he did leading up to his fight with Kelly Pavlik, then Calzaghe might have a change of mind.
Hopkins is going to have to start pouring on niceness real fast when he talks about Calzaghe from now on, because I don’t see Calzaghe responding to being called out in a traditional way, the type that involves trashing talking. Although it would be nice to get another big paycheck, I’m sure Calzaghe would find it much more appealing – if he decides on sticking around – to fight someone new, like Carl Froch or Chad Dawson, rather than fighting Hopkins again, especially when he knows that it will probably be a dull fight for boxing fans to watch.
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