Hopkins/Calzaghe: Joe Calzaghe Gearing Up For Bernard Hopkins Showdown

Matthew Hurley: Undisputed super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe finally cleared the air in regards to Bernard Hopkins’ now infamous remark that he would “never lose to a white boy.” Hopkins uttered the comment at the weigh in for the Floyd Mayweather – Ricky Hatton fight back in December. The two fighters are now officially scheduled to square off on April 19th at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas..

“It did piss me off,” Calzaghe said today at a London press conference to announce the fight, “but it was more embarrassing for himself. He made himself look like an idiot. I wasn’t offended because I know what is going to happen. I’m not going to lose to a black guy, a white guy, a purple guy or a green guy. I’m not going to lose full stop. It’s a stupid comment from him. At the end of the day it takes a lot to get under my skin, and that doesn’t get under my skin at all.”

Calzaghe out of Newbridge, Wales, who will be making his American fistic debut when he trades punches with the former undisputed middleweight champion, also reiterated that his career, which now stands at 44-0 with 32 KOs, is coming to its conclusion.

“I could go on until I’m forty years old. It’s so easy to fight on, but there are very, very few fighters who retire unbeaten. I want to be one of the very few who get out at the top still undefeated. Rocky Marciano retired at the right time. I’ll have two more fights. I can say that now easily enough, but hopefully I’ll stick by it and remain undefeated. Money is great but staying undefeated means more to me than money.”

As for his prediction on the outcome of this long anticipated match up Calzaghe was blunt in both his desire to take Hopkins apart and in his anticipation of dirty tactics from the Philadelphia fighter.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t run,” he said. “Let’s hope the ring isn’t as big as the arena. I’ll smash him up and sort him out. I hope he’s not going to spoil it and be dirty. He head-butted Winky Wright twice and got away with it. I’m hoping for a fair fight with a fair referee and fair judges. Hopkins says this is going to be his last fight, so he better enjoy it and come to fight.”

In his recently published autobiography Calzaghe sees a parallel between his career and that of Hopkins.

“I used to look at my situation and compare it to Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s,” he writes. “(He was) a great champion who didn’t have his biggest fights against Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard until he was in his 30s. The same with Hopkins. His situation was similar to mine. He was a long-reigning titleholder in the middleweight division, not really given a lot of credit. He’d never beaten any great fighters until well into his 30s when he got the big fights against Trinidad and De La Hoya. So I realized, as I reached my 30s, that there was hope. All I could do was fight and keep winning.”

As for a potential showdown with Roy Jones, should Calzaghe defeat Hopkins, the Welsh fighter was non-committal.

“I’m more interested in the winner of Taylor – Pavlik next to be honest. I’d rather fight a guy in his prime. They are the fights I get up for – big, big fights.”

As of the formal announcement for the Calzaghe – Hopkins fight it looks as though it will be broadcast on regular HBO rather than pay-per-view.