CALZAGHE-JONES vote results ~ What's next for them? Hopkins, Dawson, Kessler?

The HBO website now confirms that the fight is on for November 8 at the MSG, on PPV.

 

Also a press release and ticket info:

Tickets for the big fight between "Super" Joe Calzaghe and "Superman" Roy Jones, set for November 8, 2008 at Madison Square Garden, will go on sale Tuesday, August 19th at 12 Noon. The Ring Magazine light heavyweight belt will be at stake when these two legends step between the ropes for their twelve-round bout. Calzaghe vs. Jones will be presented by Square Ring, Inc. and Calzaghe Promotions in association with Madison Square Garden and will be produced and distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View.

"I am looking forward to fighting one of the great legends of the sport at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden," said Calzaghe, who will be fighting for the first time in New York. "I am sure the many thousands of fans who will travel to support me will make it a truly memorable evening and I will not let them down."

"I've always fought well at Madison Square Garden," said Jones. "After all, it's the Mecca of sports arenas, which has as much history and tradition as Yankee Stadium or Chicago's Wrigley Field. It's an honor to fight in the same building as many other greats have including Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Floyd Patterson, Joe Louis, Max Baer, Jake LaMotta, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and so many others. I'm looking forward to fighting in a historic place that I'm very comfortable in and have never lost. The fans that come to these fights are not only knowledgeable, they create a lot of noise. It's the best venue for my fight with Calzaghe."

"We are excited to host the much anticipated Joe Calzaghe versus Roy Jones fight as we continue to offer the very best to our loyal New York area boxing fans," said Joel Fisher, executive vice president, MSG Sports Properties. "Both fighters are World Champions and will certainly add to the long standing boxing tradition at Madison Square Garden."

Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs) from Newbridge, Wales, United Kingdom is the reigning WBA and WBO super middleweight champion and is boxing's longest reigning world champion. Joe won the WBO championship on October 11, 1997, added the IBF title on March 4, 2006 against Jeff Lacy and the WBA title on November 3, 2007 against Mikkel Kessler in front of 50,000 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. But perhaps Calzaghe's biggest win of his career came in his last fight, a unanimous decision win against former Undisputed World Middleweight Champion Bernard Hopkins on April 19, 2008. The win over Hopkins established Calzaghe as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

Roy Jones (52-4, 38 KOs) from Pensacola, FL, dominated Felix "Tito" Trinidad in his most recent fight, winning a unanimous decision at the Garden on January 19, 2008. This will be Jones' sixth bout at the Garden (three of which were in the now WaMu Theater) and was victorious in each, winning three by knockout and two by unanimous decision. Jones is a former middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight champion. For well over a decade, he was known as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and was virtually unstoppable. Jones' win over Trinidad gives him the opportunity to fight a man who is now at the top of most pound-for-pound lists, and a win over Joe Calzaghe on November 8 will return him to the summit once again.

MSG Sports Properties is part of Madison Square Garden, L.P. owned by Cablevision Systems Corporation and includes the New York Knicks (NBA); the New York Rangers (NHL); the New York Liberty (WNBA); the Hartford Wolf Pack (American Hockey League); MSG Entertainment, which includes concerts and events at Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, The WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden, the Beacon Theatre, as well as the legendary Chicago Theatre; and which manages wholly-owned live entertainment properties including the Radio City Rockettes and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular; MSG Media, which is comprised of television networks MSG and MSG Plus, and MSG Interactive which oversees all company wireless and online initiatives; Fuse, the music television network; and the Madison Square Garden arena complex, located in the heart of the New York metropolitan area.

Tickets, priced at $1500, $1000, $750, $500, $250 and $150, will be available at the Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets or online at ticketmaster.com.

The Calzaghe vs. Jones pay-per-view telecast, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, will be produced and distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to more than 71 million pay-per-view homes. The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry. For Calzaghe vs. Jones fight week updates, log on to www.hbo.com.

 

Joe Calzaghe countersues former promoter Warren!

It's all over the net: Joe Calzaghe countersues Frank Warren for $4,55M claiming the former promoter owes him money from the Bernard Hopkins fight. Of course Warren started the legal battle stating they had a verbal agreement on promoting the Calzaghe-Roy Jones Jr. fight, but Joe says no such agreement was made and he's legally a free fighter.

Of course the ticket sell is starting today, and according to news sources, the pre-orders were very very good and the fans' interest is pretty big. But will these legal battles KO the fight in the end? Will it be a distracting factor for Joe, who's looking for his biggest superfight of his career?

 

HBO announces 24/7!

HBO Sports' groundbreaking reality franchise "24/7," which captured three Sports Emmy® Awards earlier this year, returns next month with the exclusive series CALZAGHE/JONES 24/7, leading up to their light heavyweight pay-per-view showdown on Nov. 8. The first episode of the three-episode, all-access series debuts SUNDAY, OCT. 26 (8:30-9:00 p.m. ET/PT), on HBO, with another episode debuting the following SUNDAY, NOV. 2, at the same time, while the finale debuts THURSDAY, NOV. 6 (11:00-11:30 p.m.), two days prior to the bout. All three episodes will also be available on HBO On Demand.



Also watch today's press conference on the official HBO website:

http://www.hbo.com/boxing/