By Matthew Hurley: According to Promoter Frank Warren the much anticipated Bernard Hopkins – Joe Calzaghe showdown is set for April, probably the 12th, in Las Vegas. The site is as of yet undetermined but both the MGM Grand and the Mandalay Bay have been mentioned. Warren is set to make an official announcement this week..
“The venue is not set in stone but it does look like the fight will be in Las Vegas and will be in one of the major casinos,” Calzaghe told the South Wales Argus. “Fighting in America for the first time is the logical step for me to make. I will be thirty-six in March and the clock is ticking on how much longer I can carry on.”
Calzaghe acknowledged that talks with Golden Boy Promotions, Hopkins’ representatives, have been going exceedingly well and are near completion.
Hopkins had been pushing for the fight to wind up in Yankee Stadium or possibly Madison Square Garden, but after the successful Floyd Mayweather – Ricky Hatton promotion in Las Vegas, in which thousands of Hatton fans made weekend trips to the strip from Manchester, Vegas became the logical financial choice. The two fighters also engaged in a memorable face-off at the MGM Grand, which staged Mayweather – Hatton, to get the promotional ball rolling.
It was in that bit of ‘smack talk’ that Hopkins uttered his now infamous remark that he would, “never let a white boy beat me.” Calzaghe laughed off the taunts but several media scribes took Hopkins to task for the comment. Calzaghe, however, understands that Hopkins was simply in his ‘promotional’ mode and the sound bite did in fact create a buzz.
“Can you imagine if I had said something like that?” Calzaghe said with a smile. “I don’t think I would have won Sports Personality of the Year (from the BBC), that’s for sure.”
Calzaghe also admitted that a fight in the United States was long overdue.
“Fighting in America for the first time is the logical step for me to make. I don’t want people to look back at my career and say I defended my title over twenty times but I bottled the chance to make a big name for myself in the states. I want to be remembered as someone who was always ready to take the biggest fights and biggest challenges, and Hopkins is the right fight for me.”