Undisputed super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe is reportedly tiring of Bernard Hopkins, and wants him to step up to the table and sign for the fight. Hopkins, 43, however has yet to to agree to the fight, instead throwing barbs at Calzaghe, saying that he’ll beat the English fighter. The two came close to fighting in 2002, but Hopkins wanted more money for the fight, thus an agreement couldn’t be made. This is what has Calzaghe and his promoter Frank Warren worried now – that Hopkins will make a ridiculous offer, something that will be next to impossible for the Calzaghe camp to me.
After which point, Hopkins would point the blame on Calzaghe, suggesting that he wasn’t serious about his offer to fight him. Calzaghe, though, appears almost disparate to make the fight, knowing perhaps that he doesn’t have much time left in his career and that every effort needs to be made to make the fight happen. Calzaghe, 35, has said that this will be his last year in boxing, as he intends on retiring after 2008, a reason why he is trying extra hard to fight Hopkins at this stage of his career.
Aside from Hopkins, there’s few big-name opponents with which Calzaghe can make a big pay day against. Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor are a couple of fighters that Calzaghe would like to fight after Hopkins, but only one will be left, as the loser of the fight will be essentially damaged goods afterwards. Roy Jones Jr, another fighter that Calzaghe has talked of fighting, had badly gone down hill in recent years, losing to Antonio Tarver twice, Glen Johnson and taking a lot of punishment in his last bout against the mediocre Anthony Hanshaw. At 39, Jones has about run out of marketability, meaning that a fight with Calzaghe would have little interest by the general public.
Oscar De La Hoya would be an excellent prospect for a bout, however, De La Hoya has lost three out of his last five bouts. More than that, De La Hoya is mostly interested in fighting smaller fighters now, after being stopped by a single punch in the 9th round by Hopkins in 2004. For that reason, De La Hoya is likely to have little interest in fighting Calzaghe, even if it meant another huge payday for De La Hoya. Why should he? If De La Hoya can make millions by losing to smaller fighters, why risk worse punishment by facing a fighter slightly bigger than him. Although De La Hoya essentially ways 160-180, so it wouldn’t be asking a lot.