Calzaghe holds his own with Hopkins

If Joe Calzaghe ever wanted to create an impact with the American media, he did it with his appearance in the media centre here on Friday, prior to the weigh-in.

Hopkins and Calzaghe hope to get it together for a summer showdown next year. Golden Boy, Hopkins's promoters, talk about it going on at Yankee Stadium or Giants Stadium, Frank Warren, Calzaghe's promoter, has talked about Las Vegas or Madison Square Garden. While the promoters have not been able to come to agreement, yesterday's confrontation, held in the centre of a media scrum, had staff from HBO, the US broadcaster, licking their lips, which can only help it to happen.

Calzaghe, who arrived in Las Vegas on Thursday to support Ricky Hatton, came into the media centre to do interviews with the host of US radio stations that are set up there. At the time, Hopkins was on stage with Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley, giving his prediction for the big fight - he thinks Hatton will win.

After they finished their respective media duties, Hopkins walked towards Calzaghe. At first Joe seemed slightly unsure about what to expect, but he soon found out that Hopkins was not there to shake hands.

"You going to take the fight, you going to take the fight?" Hopkins said, going on to accuse Calzaghe of being a European champion. "I'm a legend, you're a champion," he said.

But Calzaghe turned matters around, condmning Hopkins for backing out of the match before and saying he would easily win. And when Calzaghe ridiculed Hopkins for losing twice to Jermain Taylor, Hopkins seemed to snap, ""I will never let a white boy beat me, never," the former world middleweight champion said.

"Well, you're going to lose to me," Calzaghe replied.

Calzaghe, the world super-middleweight champion, was buzzing after the confrontation. "I've never met Hopkins before and it was great to get involved like that," he said. "I've come out to support Ricky but this was a bonus. I've been chasing the fight with Hopkins for years but he's always backed down. You heard him, he promised to make the fight this time and I'm happy to come to America to make it happen."

Hopkins said he would like the bout to be a big US v Great Britain event around independence day. "I will dress up like Uncle Sam or Apollo Creed and I could have a band of midget drummers," he said.

Later the two stood near each other on the stage before the Hatton-Mayweather weigh-in. The pro-Hatton crowd wildly cheered Calzaghe and booed Hopkins.