JONES JNR IN CALZAGHE'S SIGHTS
Joe Calzaghe is eyeing one final fight before he retires from boxing and Roy Jones Jnr is the likely opponent.
The Welshman, the undisputed super-middleweight world champion, introduced himself to American fans with a hard-fought victory over Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The split-points decision took his unbeaten record to 45 fights and the 36-year-old is thought to be looking at Roy Jones Jnr as his final opponent before retirement.
Jones, along with several thousand Welsh fans, was in the star-studded crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center at the weekend and has already spoken of his desire to face Calzaghe in Cardiff - a bout that could be worth as much as �20m
"All that's left is one more fight and that could be either Roy Jones or Kelly Pavlik," Calzaghe told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"Roy Jones is making himself seen and heard. I've spoken to him, he's totally different to Bernard Hopkins.
"He is a nice guy, full of respect and that will be a massive fight and what a way to finish off your career against the former middleweight, super-middleweight, light-heavy and heavyweight champion of the world. That would be an amazing way to finish off.
"I don't want to push it too far, one more fight from me and then that is it, I'm done," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"Everyone wants to stay unbeaten and I'm no different. If you carry on too long eventually you will get beaten."
Calzaghe, a complete unknown to American fans before this week, had to recover from a first-round knock-down in his first fight on US soil and early on, it appeared that Hopkins' restrained style would prove the more effective, with Hopkins taking the early rounds.
However, like Ricky Hatton in December, Calzaghe was not helped by the persistent intrusions by referee Joe Cortez, who allowed Hopkins to hold on and slow the fight numerous occasions and also missed several instances where the 'Golden Boy' promoted fighter appeared to lead with the head.
Calzaghe started to take charge as the fight progressed however and, in the middle stages, appeared to be getting the upper hand.
The controversy came to a head in round 10, as Hopkins was accused of gamesmanship after taking around two minutes to recover from an alleged low blow although replays suggested no intent on the part of Calzaghe.
Calzaghe piled the pressure on his 42-year-old opponent in the final two rounds and did enough to take a split decision, although the margin in the scoring was somewhat surprising.
Adalaide Byrd scored it 114-113 to Hopkins whilst Ted Gimza and Chuck Giampa gave the result to Calzaghe by wide margins of 115-112 and 116-111 respectively.
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