CALZAGHE OUT TO MAKE NAME IN VEGAS
Joe Calzaghe believes that this weekend's bout with Bernard Hopkins offers the ideal challenge before he retires from boxing.
The Welsh boxer faces the veteran Hopkins in the early hours
of Sunday morning for his first ever bout in the USA and his first ever bout in
the light heavyweight division.
Calzaghe, who has only ever fought twice outside of the UK - something that he attributes to a fear of flying, is still something of an unknown to American fans despite his unbeaten 44-fight career.
Can Calzaghe answer his critics and make a name for himself in Vegas? Make sure that you catch up with all the latest boxing betting markets and specials with Sporting Index
"Well, obviously, a lot of Americans don't realize what I can do,'' Calzaghe told US broadcaster HBO.
"I thought, 'Well, it's kind of the end of my career and it
would be a shame never to experience it (fighting in Las Vegas) first hand
yourself.' Fighting in America and challenging myself, that's basically it.
"It'll be great to be one of the few Brits to go over and succeed. So that in itself is cool for me and it's worth getting me excited. It's not just about fighting for money. At the end of the day you'll get paid money but maybe boxing 26 years it takes a lot for me to get excited these days.
The 36-year old also explained that his decision to step up
to a new weight division came as, after a record-equalling 22 title defences,
nothing "excited" him at super middleweight.
"Kessler got me excited. (Former undefeated IBF super middleweight champion Jeff) Lacy got me excited. Nothing else in super middleweight at the moment interests me, hence me going up to fight at 175.
And the Brit, who is the favourite ahead of this weekend's
fight at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, believes that he can
overcome the challenge of Hopkins and silence his critics.
"It's a challenge in itself to go to America and win.
Let's face it. I'm going outside my comfort zone and at the end of the day he's
the Golden Boy (promoted) fighter so I have to not just go there and win I have
to go there and win a proper fight. I have to go there and dominate.
"That's a difficult task to do against somebody like
Hopkins. I know you say he's 43 years old but he's still an excellent fighter.
You can't take that away from him. Look at his last two fights. He's won
comfortably (beating Winky Wright and Antonio Tarver). The guy can still fight.
His two fights with Taylor were disputed decisions so you can make a case to
say his last loss was to Roy Jones all those years ago (15 to be exact).
"Going over there and winning in his back yard with everything in his own circumstances as regards to weight and that he wants me to come out and fight in their location on the date I'm challenging myself."
Calzaghe, who was in Nevada for Ricky Hatton's bout with Floyd Mayweather Jnr in December, also highlighted the reception that the Manchester boxer got from an estimated 20,000 British fans who travelled across the Atlantic - most of whom without tickets.
"I saw going into the weigh-in the tremendous reception Ricky (Hatton) got (in Las Vegas)," added Calzaghe. "It was incredible. Absolutely incredible. The sight of all the thousands and thousands of fans it was just brilliant and I had a buzz off that and I wanted to get a bit of that before I retired because that's one thing missing really from my record.''
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