The Boxing Blog - Times Online - WBLG

Graceless Hopkins damaging his own legacy

Everyone knew Bernard Hopkins had a big mouth, but few suspected his had so little class. Prior to his defeat to Joe Calzaghe, Hopkins felt the need to remind everyone at every opportunity that he was a legend. Maybe so, but he will never really be loved and proved to be a very poor loser in Las Vegas.

Hopkins claimed he beat Calzaghe, Hopkins claimed he made Calzaghe look amateurish. Hopkins never said well done, he showed no love or respect, the chip on his shoulder is so big he even refused to touch gloves (a rule of the sport) before the final round. So if Hopkins refuses to show any respect, why should anyone give him the respect he feels he deserves?

Roach putting his money on Hopkins

Freddie Roach is one of those guys who doesn't talk much, but when he does, he is always worth listening to. The Hollywood trainer is used to working with the likes of Manny Pacquaio and Oscar De La Hoya, but will be in Bernard Hopkins's corner for the second time on Saturday night, after overseeing Hopkins's training for the bout against Joe Calzaghe in Pasadena.
And Roach thinks it's a close fight, unlike the Las Vegas oddsmakers who make Calzaghe a strong favourite. And he is willing to put his money on it.
"Odds-wise I’d make it even money if I was the odds maker," Roach said. "I’ve only bet on a couple of fighters in my career, but I’m going to bet on this fight."

Jones ready to come to Cardiff

Provided things go to plan for Joe Calzaghe last on Saturday night in Las Vegas and he sticks to his plan of two more fights, Roy Jones Jr has said he wants to come to Cardiff to give him a farewell party to remember.
Jones, 39, the legendary former world middleweight, super-middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight champion, is in Vegas to watch the fight and said he expects Calzaghe to beat Bernard Hopkins.

Enzo Calzaghe: "Joe is no angel"

Bernard Hopkins is likely to stop at nothing to try to beat Joe Calzaghe on Saturday night. He is likely to have little fear of going outside the laws of the game to secure victory, as he showed when he beat Ronald "Winky" Wright last year. But Enzo Calzaghe, Joe's father and trainer, knows his son can be dirty in the ring too.

"If you look at the three dirtiest fighters Joe has faced - Omar Sheika, Sakio Bika and Kabary Salem - Joe showed he could be a dirty fighter," Enzo said. "Hopkins is not meeting and angel."

Calzaghe - the cream of Manchester

Knowledge of geography has never been a strong point when it comes to Americans. I remember being sent this link to a comedy sketch on youtube last year where someone stopped people in the street in the US and asked them to find countries on a map. Australia was mistken for France and North Korea.

This has never been more noticeable than during the career of Joe Calzaghe, when out colonial cousins really try to figure out where Wales is. I read with interest an explanatory paragraph on the usually excellent website boxingtalk.com that explained that Calzaghe should not be referred to as a Brit, because he was in fact from Wales - buy an encyclopedia please.

Calzaghe getting fed up with all the talk from Hopkins

As Ricky Hatton found with Floyd Mayweather Jr, listening non-stop to a motormouth American opponent can drive you up the wall. Joe Calzaghe has just about become fed up with the non-stop talk from Bernard Hopkins, particularly the talk of how Hopkins's time in prison will mean he will have an easy time on Saturday's big fight.

"Hopkins had to go to prison to make himself hard, that means he is weak," Calzaghe said. "Me? I was born hard. Hopkins has been to prison. Big deal. Wow, give him a medal. Me I was knocking out guys who had been to prison when I was a 14 year old kid.

"I'm beginning to think they must teach people to talk shite out here when they are at school. They talk so much of it. I am going to make a grown man cry."

Calzaghe feeling relaxed and dismissive of Hopkins

If anyone was thinking that Joe Calzaghe was going to be in awe of boxing in Las Vegas, think again. The Welshman looks happy and relaxed ahead of Saturday's bout against Bernard Hopkins.
It is only Calzaghe's fourth trip to Vegas. He was here as part of a media tour at the end of February and last December to watch Ricky Hatton against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
But many do not realise that he was here too in 2001. He had been due to make his US debut on the undercard of the Felix Trinidad versus Oscar De La Hoya bout, but withdrew through injury. He decided to go ahead with the trip anyway.

Hopkins finds Eastman forgettable

Both Bernard Hopkins and Joes Calzaghe did public workouts for fans at Planet Hollywood on Tuesday. Workout is actually generous for the effort either put in. Calzaghe shadow-boxed for about five minutes before finishing with a round of autograph signing, Hopkins also did some shadow boxing and then some skipping, having spent ten minutes getting his hands wrapped.

Woods loses title

Clinton Woods's reign as a world champion ended with a whimper in Tampa last night as he was completely outboxed by Antonio Tarver, who took his IBF light-heavyweight title with a unanimous points decision.

At 39, the American looked there for the taking, but Woods barely took him outside his comfort zone. Instead Woods mostly stood in front of him, allowing Tarver to work away with cluster of punches, few of which carried much weight, but many of which landed.

Johnson still after a fourth fight with Woods

If Clinton Woods has concerns that he wouldn't see any familiar faces when he boxed in Florida, he need not have worried. Sitting just along from him at Thursday's press conference was Glen Johnson, who hae has boxed 36 rounds with.

The Florida-based Jamaican, who faced Bernard Hopkins for the IBF middleweight title back in 1997, challenges Chad Dawson for the WBC light-heavyweight title tonight on the same bill that sees Woods defend his IBF light-heavyweight title against Antonio Tarver. Johnson and Tarver are both 39, four years older than Woods. Dawson, who is making the third defence of his title, is the youngest by far at 25.

Johnson knows a bit about both Woods and Tarver, he faced Woods three times, first a draw, then a Johnson win and finally a Woods win in Bolton in 2006. He has also a win and a loss against Tarver. And he finds it hard to pick a winner between the pair.

Woods and Tarver make weight

Clinton Woods and Antonio Tarver both made weight at the first attempt for tomorrow's IBF light-heavyeweight title bout here in Tampa, Florida. At the weigh-in, at the ballroom of the Westin Harbour Island Hotel, at 5pm local time, Woods, the champion, scaled on the 12st 7lb limit, while Tarver weighed 12st 5 3/4lb.

Tarver is not ready to retire

Thursday's press conference was always going to be an occasion for Antonio Tarver to unveil the showman that is never far from the surface and so it proved. Two days to go before he challenges Clinton Woods for the IBF light-heavyweight title and Tarver was there to sell tickets and get the Tampa Bay area out to support him in the first of what he hopes will be a run of three titles in three bouts.

"I'm not ready to retire, I'm not here to play no games, I'm not ready to go nowhere," Tarver, 39, said. "So all those writers who are writing me off, talking about 'I've seen my best day', they don't have a clue.

"If you think I've come this far to let Clinton Woods get anything on Saturday, you've got to be kidding. I'm back, I'm as stong as ever, we trained our ass off and we are going to set Tampa alight. Clinton Woods and his team are excited and they are going to have a lot of hopes and dreams that are going to be dashed. It's going to be a spectacular night."

Poxon has no worries about Woods

Richard Poxon has only know good times as the trainer of Clinton Woods. So it is no surprise that he has few doubts that Woods will make a fifth successful defence of his IBF light-heavyweight title against Antonio Tarver, in Tampa, on Saturday.

Tarver, 39, is favourite and boxing in his home town, but Poxon is confident. "You cannot ignore Tarver's pedigree, he was world No 1 as an amateur, but if Tarver wasn't a southpaw, I wouldn't lose any sleep on this," Poxon said. "The question with Tarver is heart and desire and that's just what Clinton is."

Tarver planning to box his way

Many boxers spend hours studying every aspect of their opponent, before working out a detailed battle plan. Antonio Tarver is not one of those boxers. In fact, ahead of Saturday night's IBF light-heavyweight title bout against Clinton Woods in Tampa, Florida, which will be shown live in the UK on Setanta Sports on Saturday, Tarver revealed he has not watched any tapes of Woods at all.

"My coaches watch the tapes," Tarver, the IBO champion, said. "They then draw up the gameplan for me.

Calzaghe confident he can deal with Hopkins's tricks

It is not often someone could accuse Joe Calzaghe of a lack of experience. But some have raised the questions of whether Bernard Hopkins is awkward enough to fool him out of their April 19 bout in Las Vegas. Hopkins, 43, is likely to try everything legal and otherwise to get an edge on the Welshman, but Calzaghe could not be more confident.
"I can box and fight, so I adapt to whatever means I need to do in the fight," Calzaghe said. "Maybe he'll run from me, maybe when he’s losing and stops trying to fight, who knows.

Calzaghe feeling strong at light-heavyweight

With just over three weeks to go until his long-awaited United States debut, Joe Calzaghe seemed fit, fresh and happy as he opened his Cwmcarn gym to the media this week. New challenges are the order of the day for Joe when he meets Bernard Hopkins at the Thomas & Mack Centre in Las Vegas on April 19, it will not only be his first bout in the US, it will be his first at light-heavyweight after 15 years making the 12st super-middleweight limit - the change has been good for him.

Calzaghe goes in search of a hoodie

Joe Calzaghe turned up for the start of his three-date US media tour in New York on Tuesday with Bernard Hopkins wearing a smart suit (albeit combined with a Planet Hollywood T-shirt). It moves on to Los Angeles and, while Calzaghe may not be planning to sink to Hopkins's level regarding the trash talk, he is certainly planning to dress down a bit - he's asked for a hoodie.

More titles, or no belts at all - what is the way forward?

I am sure like a lot of others, I winced when watching post-bout interview on ITV4 after the WBU welterweight title bout between Michael Jennings (left) and Ross Minter. It had been a great domestic scrap, Minter's aggressive style mixing well with the boxing skills on the move of Jennings. After, the pair were particularly respectful to each other and Minter said he knew it would be tough because Jennings was "a world champion". Some may put the pair up for the British Boxing Board of Control's sportsmanship award, others would want Minter up before the Board on a charge of bringing the sport into disrepute.

American champs unhappy with British hospitality

It seems that Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Tarver didn't have such a good time on their fleeting trips to London last week. Certainly that was the tone of interviews the pair did on the website boxingtalk.com when they returned to the US. Not only did they come across like a pair of whingers, they seem to live up to the stereotype of Americans that believe that everywhere outside the good ol' US of A is a third-world country.

Any takers this time for Gary Shaw's house?

Gary Shaw, the American promoter, is never slow coming forward to back his guy. On Tuesday, at a casino on Leicester Square, he was standing squarely behind Antonio Tarver, who challenges Clinton Woods for the IBF light-heavyweight title at the St Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida, on April 12. Shaw is so confident his guy will win, he says he's willing to put his house on it.

Fry finally makes his mark

Sydney 2000 - the Great Britain Olympic team consists of two boxers, both of whom won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games two years previously. Audley Harrison wins gold, Courtney Fry goes out early. Harrison turns professional with a huge contract, Fry turned pro on a Harrison undercard. And if you thought Harrison's pro career was a non-event, Fry's was non-existent.

Woods's bout with Tarver a vindication for Hobson

Confirmation that Clinton Woods will defend his IBF light-heavyweight title against Antonio Tarver in Tampa, Florida, on April 12, is not only great news for Clinton Woods, it is also a vindication of his promoter Dennis Hobson. Dumped by Ricky Hatton, after being his promoter for four contests - three in the United States - as he went to pursue his bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr, Hobson has shown he can deal at the big table and work in his own right with American television.

World shrinking for Britain's champions

It used to be a big event when a British boxer went to America, now it happens almost every week. Joe Calzaghe is, of course, off to Las Vegas to face Bernard Hopkins on April 19, but another three of our world champion could find this week that they are heading Stateside too.
Clinton Woods, Junior Witter and Alex Arthur are on the verge of  huge fights and victory in them could set up even bigger matches closer to home.

Calzaghe-Hopkins - the name calling begins

Making a fight between Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins is not a new difficulty. The match was first made, briefly, back in 2002. With Calzaghe approaching 36 and Hopkins 43 in January, it really is a case of now or never.