According to a recent interview with The Sun, WBO/WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (44-0, 32KOs) says that a potential bout with light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (48-4-1, 32KOs) is close to being final. The fighters agreed on a 50-50 split for the bout, with Calzaghe making a career-high purse. After weeks of ongoing negotiations and disagreements on dates and venues, it appears the bout is being discussed to take place in the month of April, with a Las Vegas venue as the site. Hopkins has been pushing for the fight to take place in either June or July, but Calzaghe, who last fought on November 3, refused to wait that long to fight again. Calzgahe plans to fight two more times and then retire. “My intention is to have two more fights in one year and then retire as undefeated world champion," Calzaghe said. “I want one of those fights to be against Hopkins in Las Vegas. I’ve had a taste of it watching Ricky Hatton’s fight from ringside and I’d like that for myself.”
I'm still not convinced. If RJJ beats Tito surely it'll take a matter of minutes to agree a rematch with B-Hop which leaves JC in the lurch. However, if it does go ahead the hype will be fantastic and it'll be interesting to see, in the UK, who gets the TV rights. ITV nabbed the Lacy fight but Setanta got the Kessler fight. Sky and Warren ain't talking so I would safely assume it'll be Setanta again. Like I said, the hype will be terrific but I'm not sure the fight will deliver.
They've been going back and forth about fighting since the late 90s and they've never come close to agreeing. What makes you think it'll be any different now? Hopkins at this point will ask for the lion's share against Jones because, well frankly, he deserves it being the light heavyweight champ and still relevant. Jones, of course, will let his ego get in the way and ask for some sort of ridiculous 50/50 split, which Hopkins will of course scoff at seeing as Jones hasn't done anything since the Ruiz fight to warrant getting any sort of equity with Hopkins. Besides, Hopkins has nothing to gain by fighting and beating a shell of Roy Jones. I doubt the money would be any better anyway, seeing as how much money the Calzaghe fight would be able to generate in Britain alone. After the Hatton fight, I think GBP is itching to make another big fight involving an American champ and a British champ.