18.09.08 – by James Slater – The war of words between the Joe Calzaghe and Kelly Pavlik camps has been going on for some time now. Calzaghe and his father and trainer claim Pavlik is afraid of him, while Pavlik and his father and trainer claim the exact opposite thing. Whatever the truth of the matter may be, it does not look like the unbeaten light-heavyweight king and the unbeaten middleweight boss will be getting it on. A shame indeed, and once again it is the fans who lose out..
With Calzaghe going into what may well be his last fight this coming November 8th, against former pound-for-pound master Roy Jones Junior, and Pavlik having yet another catch-weight fight three weeks earlier, against former Calzaghe foe Bernard Hopkins, it is apparent “The Pride of Wales” and “The Ghost’s” paths will never cross in the ring.
Speaking with U.K newspaper The Sun recently, Joe claimed Pavlik never actually wanted a fight with him anyway. Again claiming the big-punching American is afraid of him, Calzaghe said he actually offered Pavlik a fight with him twice in the past, only for the Youngstown man to decline.
“Pavlik is just trying to make a name for himself on my back,” Calzaghe told The Sun. “I tried to get a fight with him twice before. We approached him immediately after I beat Jeff Lacy in 2006 but he declined. He fought and beat Jermain Taylor instead and immediately had a rematch with him to dodge me again. It’s easy to come out of the woodwork and mouth off when you’ve already signed to fight somebody else.”
Calzaghe claims Pavlik only began running his mouth when he had signed to face Jones, thus knowing a fight with him would not take place.
“It’s funny that he’s started to get a bit brave not that I’ve signed to fight Jones,” Joe stated. “He didn’t even call me out after he beat Gary [Lockett]. When Pavlik beat Gary, he actually didn’t say anything to me at all afterwards.”
While Pavlik would almost certainly have something to say about these claims, it doesn’t look like it will matter; what with both guys signed up for other fights. And if Joe keeps his word and retires after his fight with Jones, the mouth-watering bout will be destined to join the number of other potentially great fights that sadly never happened.
Calzaghe said, on the subject of Pavlik’s next fight, that “The Ghost” would likely beat the man he himself got off the floor to out-point in his last bout. But Joe said it won’t be easy, or pretty, for Kelly.
“I’m surprised Hopkins has agreed to fight Pavlik as he’s getting that old now he didn’t even know what corner to walk to when I fought him. Although he fought a very good tactical fight against me, I think he should retire. Pavlik will win the fight, mainly due to his youth, although Hopkins still has the ability to make it very messy. But he is definitely over-hyped and I think Mikkell Kessler would beat him.”