I don't think Hopkins will be the one making excuses. Others may. Hopkins might disagree with the judges if the fight goes to a decision if he loses lol. No matter how close or lopsided the fight may be.
Though I do think Calzaghe will win it won't be an easy fight for him by any means. Prime for Prime it would be a dream match up but I guess we will never know. Don't be suprised if the fight goes the other way though.
Hopkins is doing it for the money now, and also because he doesn't want to be remembered as "the guy that ducked Calzaghe". Pretty simple.
When will Hopkins fight a LHW? Tarver was bulking down and was mediocre and then he fights a teletubby version of Winky Wright and has a close fight.
Yes I think he is doing it for the money and no not for being known as the guy who ducked Calzaghe. So it's not that simple. The truth is he would not be remembered that way because most people don't even know who the hell Calzaghe is in the US except people like us in these forums. The general public won't say " Hopkins was good but he never fought Calzaghe" when he is retired. Wether he fought Calzaghe or not he will alway be remembered as a great fighter.
Whats the fuss about fighting In the US anyway, except for Floyd, the best guys are either Mexican, Fhillipino or Puerto Rican.
Just because people have never heard of Calzaghe does not mean they are not boxing fans. He has never fought in the US before and no major networks in the US televised his fights until just recently. Most people don't come here on ESB everyday and discuss boxing like we do either. Now that he is fighting in the US against a fighter like Hopkins that the general public will know who he is but he only has a couple fights left anyway according to him.