Wow! I am not sure what I just walked into here but with the risk of being banished before I even get started around here I will say this. We don't know what the actual terms were for the fight. We all know that in boxing everyone tends to exaggerate a bit and will always say what they have to so they look like the good guy who was being screwed.
In 2002 Joe Calzaghe was still looking for respect he had not really yet earned. As much as people hate to admit it he was still in need of proving himself at that point. In 2002 his only wins over some real names were Chris Eubank, Omar Sheika, Mario Veit and Charles Brewer. Eubank was on his way out, Sheika was and no real big accomplishment and Brewer had lost his title years before to Ottke who had not even had 15 fights yet. To make matters worse the WBO title was a joke at the time.
Bernard Hopkins would mess up a lottery win. If he hit for 10 million he would call up and tell them he wanted 25 because thats what the guy won last month. That is not a secret, If I am correct here Hopkins did not get his first million dollar pay day until the middleweight unifaction tourney in 2001 or somewhere near that time. Any man who holds a title above 140 pounds and is champion more then 5 years before making 7 figures in this day and age shows he is not exactly the most easy guy to negotiate with. Bi-polar in the pocket book if you will
One guy claims 3 million another 6 million, but the question really is had anyone signed the contract? Offers mean nothing until put in ink. Calzaghe and his team may have offered 3 million then Hopkins people did not like something so they said 6 million. This happens all the time, this is how one camp gets the other to agree to terms and in the end find out how bad the other wants the fight.
A champion who had already broken the record for most title defenses and who was considered by most to be the only champion of his division while the other's just title holders needs not to agree to anything, titles on the line or not.
If Joe Calzaghe wanted to fight Bernard Hopkins so bad he could have found a way to make the middleweight limit and earned one just like everyone else, he didn't so the fight must not have meant that much to him. If Bernard Hopkins felt as though he needed the fight to prove something he would have gained a few pounds met at the catchweight and made the attempt to proved it.
This is not a matter of why one changed his mind or another stating he made an offer that was rejected because of reason XYZ. Each man could have done what it took to make the fight happen. All that tells me is neither wanted the fight that bad. Then or Now. It is like the two toughest kids in school meeting in the park at 3 o'clock to prove the king of the playground then after all the insults neither one throws a punch but talks a good game. The next day both guys have a huge story on why they did not throw the first shot.
From what I have read through all the post here I can say that Bernard Hopkins did not change his so called agreement of 3 million because he was afraid to fight Calzaghe. Calzaghe did not wave a check for 3 million in front of Hopkins with his signature on a contract stating the venue would be in the states. If it was inked both would have signed.
There is my 2 cents stretched out into a nickle
Anyway this looks like the place to be for a good debate
, I just hope it isn't always so heated
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Re: This was the real deal between Calzaghe and Hopkins in 2002!
Originally Posted by superheavyrhun
First off Daxx, have a beer, smoke a joint, and chill the f**k out. I believed it wasn't your question which was never answered, but mine. I never said I believe Hopkins fears Calzaghe per se, I just said that I don't buy the excuse that you're putting forward for Hopkins doubling his demands. He is offered a sum of money, accepts it, and after thinking about it decides to double his demands. And by "bulls**t games", do you mean agreeing to fight in the USA and offering him a career high purse in a catchweight fight that would not affect the status of Hopkins' title? Because they don't fall into my definition of "bulls**t games". And as Bomp says, Hopkins and Jones are just as bad for negotiation as are the Calzaghe camp, as shown by this episode.
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....Calzaghe and his people....(and again I only say Calzaghe because it is his camp but in reality he does none of the negotiations....A reason why I went on the Warren tangent last night) Have earned a reputation as being the hardest people in boxing to make a deal with....
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