Calzaghe Hopkins II OFF.

[richard (mossley)]

BBC SPORT | Boxing | Calzaghe rejects Hopkins rematch


Joe Calzaghe has ruled out a rematch with Bernard Hopkins insisting the forthcoming fight with Roy Jones Jr will be his last.
Hopkins, who lost a contentious split decision to Calzaghe in April, ended Kelly Pavlik's unbeaten record with a unanimous points win in Atlantic City.
And now the 43-year-old American wants a second go against unbeaten Calzaghe.
But the Welshman said: "Jones Jr will the last fight for me, definitely - that's it, me done."
He added: "Screw Hopkins, I'm not fighting again for any amount of money, I've been doing this for too long.
"Hopkins beating Pavlik in the style he did actually gives my victory over Hopkins more credibility. "When I beat Hopkins, people say he was just a washed up old man, a shadow of the fighter of years gone by.


Jones fight was right choice - Calzaghe


"But he has just annihilated the so-called next big thing in boxing in a fight he called the fight of his life."
Hopkins proved he can still compete at a world class level as he destroyed WBC and WBO middleweight champion Pavlik in their non-title 170lb catch-weight fight on Saturday.
"The Executioner" hailed the Pavlik victory as the best win of his 55-fight career.
He said: "Better than Antonio Tarver, better than Felix Trinidad, better than Oscar De La Hoya, better than my 21 defences.
"I wanted to do it to prove people wrong and prove I could still do it at the age of 43.
Now Hopkins insists he would travel to the UK for a rematch with Calzaghe, who fights Jones Jr at New York's Madison Square Garden on 8 November, to show the world he can still do the business.
606: DEBATE

Now Pavlik has been out-classed by Hopkins, maybe people might ease of Calzaghe should he beat Jones Jr as there isn't anything left for him to do



welsh_lion


"I would even go to England and fight Calzaghe in England if he beats Roy Jones Jr next month," he said.
But Calzaghe, who turned down a fight with Pavlik, he added: "Hopkins beating Pavlik is great for me because people will stop banging on about me fighting Pavlik.
"I always thought Pavlik was one dimensional, a very good fighter but not a great.
"So I can retire with a clear conscience knowing that I've beaten everyone who's worth beating.
"I heard Hopkins wanted a rematch with me, but I don't do rematches.
"I've got nothing to prove to anyone.
"I've proved everything that I needed to prove when I beat Hopkins in Vegas earlier in the year. "I'm hungry for Roy Jones Jr but after that my motivation for boxing will be over, because when I knock him out I'll have beaten the only legend I haven't take care of."

[Gandalf]

If Calzaghe is able to get through Jones okay, I think he should consider a Hopkins rematch. It was a close fight, a lot of people are not convinced as to who won. The fight would likely be in the UK. A chance to give the fans what they would like, and for Joe to try and win more convincingly and just retire. Why not?

[LondonBB]

Thats a shame, i wanted to see this one, hopkins vs calzaghe 2 wouldve been a very exciting fight to watch.

Im annoyed calzaghe wants to retire after fighting jones, would be better to see him fight dawson or hopkins in a rematch.

[ross]

Joe doesnt do rematches?

Then what the f*ck was the second Veit fight and all about then?

That was a more worthless rematch than a Hopkins one as he blew Veit out in the first round of the original, to be fair to Veit he did work his way back up the rankings to become mandatory again.

I think its just a matter of Joe feeling hes finally earned recognition and it may well have taken an edge off his tenacity, hes already decided hes retiring.

[LondonBB]

Joe doesnt do rematches?

Then what the f*ck was the second Veit fight and all about then?

That was a more worthless rematch than a Hopkins one as he blew Veit out in the first round of the original, to be fair to Veit he did work his way back up the rankings to become mandatory again.

I think its just a matter of Joe feeling hes finally earned recognition and it may well have taken an edge off his tenacity, hes already decided hes retiring.

Tbh i think joe might be a bit scared.

I believe joe when he says that his heart isnt in boxing anymore and he just wants to fight roy jones jnr for his last fight in madison sq.

But i just dont think he wants to face hopkins again. He knows how tough it was the first time and that he only won by a very narrow decission, he knows that it could be harder this time round even because hopkins will simply go for broke against him (if its both their last fights).

I cant see calzaghe wanting the rematch at all.

[ross]

I dont think Joe would be in any danger of losing to Hopkins at all.

If Bernard went for broke he would be spent, Joe would be the one who would do better in any rematch as like otehrs have said he had figured Hopkins out and was pouring it on in the second half, while Hopkins whined, held ran and crawled around on the floor, thats hardley the type of "fighter" to instill fear in Joe.

[SigmaMu]

I don't believe any of these old men anymore, they have been quiting for the past 10 years

I think there will be a rematch and I think the rematch will be a lot more exciting, IF Hopkins comes to fight that is and he did promise that he would come to fight from now on.

[LondonBB]

Well, if there is a rematch between them and in the re-match hopkins cones to fight rather than nullify, then i can say that it would be a cracking fight.

It would be so funny to see them both in the ring together really wanting to go toe-to-toe and trade, would have to end in a ko.

Hopkins will be great for first 8 rounds and then start to gas, like he did in the previous calzaghe fight, so if he comes to actually fight calzaghe like he did against pavlik then hes got to do something within the first 8 rounds.

I think hopkins believes he can damage calzaghe in 8, i think he could do as well!

It would be such a good fight to watch, so much build up and really be the final battle for both fighters.

[ClubberLang]

The first fight was pretty dull, so I'm not sure what the point of a rematch would be. Calzaghe has nothing to gain by fighting Hopkins a second time (except money). It won't do a thing for his legacy. There really aren't any big blockbuster left for Calzaghe now that Pavlik has been vanquished. Hindsight is 20/20, but he probably should have fought Pavlik and then fought Jones Jr. in his last fight next year. He probably would have won a wide decision against Pavlik.

[Taeth]

I don't think Hopkins would fight the same way.

All that being said
I am glad Calzaghe will be able to retire undefeated, he works as hard as anyone, he's been a great fighter and he deserves it, I think he would be fucked against Chad Dawson, and that Hopkins would be only fight left, and even that would be more danger than its worth.

[Pugilistic]

It was never on to begin with.

I would love to see a rematch but Joe won't want to risk his precious "0".

[Bx730NY]

Reading some of this makes me very confused. You would have to be blind not to see how clearly Joe beat bernard. He had him faking low blows and fighting extremely dirty just to survive until the final bell.

Joe made his adjustments around the 4th round and it was over for hopkins from there. There's no way Joe should give him the satisfaction of a rematch after seeing how dirty hopkins is and what a bad sport he is by not giving him any credit what so ever for beating him soundly.

[Pugilistic]

Reading some of this makes me very confused. You would have to be blind not to see how clearly Joe beat bernard. He had him faking low blows and fighting extremely dirty just to survive until the final bell.

Joe made his adjustments around the 4th round and it was over for hopkins from there. There's no way Joe should give him the satisfaction of a rematch after seeing how dirty hopkins is and what a bad sport he is by not giving him any credit what so ever for beating him soundly.

You must be a calzaghe nuthugger to think Calzaghe won soundly because the fight was close and either fighter could have won.

[ICB]

Reading some of this makes me very confused. You would have to be blind not to see how clearly Joe beat bernard. He had him faking low blows and fighting extremely dirty just to survive until the final bell.

Joe made his adjustments around the 4th round and it was over for hopkins from there. There's no way Joe should give him the satisfaction of a rematch after seeing how dirty hopkins is and what a bad sport he is by not giving him any credit what so ever for beating him soundly.

At most i'd say you could only have Joe Calzaghe winning by 2 points, i had Bernard Hopkins winning based on the knockdown. Opinion's varied on the fight, i liked Bernard Hopkins cleaner, harder, more effective punches.

Joe Calzaghe did throw and land more, but how many of those punches were effective ? can you even really name one good punch Joe Calzaghe landed in the entire fight ? because i can only remember one decent straight left hand, and one good body shot from Joe Calzaghe and thats about it. Regarding effective punches.

[LondonBB]

Reading some of this makes me very confused. You would have to be blind not to see how clearly Joe beat bernard. He had him faking low blows and fighting extremely dirty just to survive until the final bell.

Joe made his adjustments around the 4th round and it was over for hopkins from there. There's no way Joe should give him the satisfaction of a rematch after seeing how dirty hopkins is and what a bad sport he is by not giving him any credit what so ever for beating him soundly.

At most i'd say you could only have Joe Calzaghe winning by 2 points, i had Bernard Hopkins winning based on the knockdown. Opinion's varied on the fight, i liked Bernard Hopkins cleaner, harder, more effective punches.

Joe Calzaghe did throw and land more, but how many of those punches were effective ? can you even really name one good punch Joe Calzaghe landed in the entire fight ? because i can only remember one decent straight left hand, and one good body shot from Joe Calzaghe and thats about it. Regarding effective punches.

Icb, who did you think won the cotto vs margarito match?

Just wonder. Everyone says that cotto threw the much cleaner and effective crisper punches...but then look what happened to him, he gassed out and didnt have anything left, he buckled.

Look at how hopkins is gassing for air from the 8th round. Something from calzaghe mustve been hitting hopkins whether you saw it or not, because hopkins (who has very good stamina as proven by the fight with pavlik) was gassing for air after the 8th round.

Dont get me wrong, i dont think for a moment that it was a clear win for calzaghe. It was anything but a clear win, i had calzaghe winning it by only 1-2 rounds infact. I can see how people might have had it as a draw as well or even a hopkins win by a round. I cant see how anyone couldve given the fight to calzaghe by more than 3 rounds though.

I seem to remember that calzaghe did catch hopkins with a nice combo in (i think) the 9th round and it looked like hopkins was rocked from it, he clinched after that anyway and started gassing in the clinch.

The one thing you have to say is odd, if nothing was landing (and i totally agree that calzaghe's punches did not look clean except maybe a few in the whole fight) but they mustve been doing something to hopkins because the guy who has found an answer how to deal with tarver, wright and school pavlik was left gassing for air after the 8th round against calzaghe.

Just as margarito's swinging and non-crisp, non-straight punches totally fukd up cotto. Calzaghe's punches mustve done something to hopkins for him to be gassed out by round 8.

People place far too much emphasis on 'crisp, clean, straight' punches on here. Look at how cotto was worn down and battered by margarito...cotto hit marg with beautiful displays of punches, crisp solid punches...but they did f all to him.

Something calzaghe did in the fight with hopkins fukd him up, had him gassing for air from round 8. The same with kessler, something calzaghe does against fighters of top quality has them gassing and gasping for air as former shells of themselves in the later rounds of the fight, so he must be doing something right?