Preview: Vitali Klitschko vs. Juan Carlos Gomez
March 18, 2009
The return of Vitali Klitschko continues this weekend when he defends his WBC heavyweight title against Juan Carlos Gomez. Klitschko won the title when he returned from nearly four years away from the sport to dominate Sam Peter in October, claiming back the belt that he left with.
Klitschko could not have been more impressive in his win over Peter, making the Nigerian quit after eight one-sided rounds. It was better than anyone expected, and once again Klitschko made it look easy. Should we expect anything else from Gomez?
Based on Vitali’s career, there’s no reason to think things are about to change. So just how good is Vitali Klitschko?
At 36-2, Klitschko has only heard the scorecards read once in his professional career, knocking out all other opponents in his wins, with his only two losses coming by injury and cuts. In both of his losses, he was winning on all scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Lennox Lewis is the only fighter that ever looked like he belonged in the ring with Vitali.
Gomez, however, is no slouch. While Vitali has dominated virtually everyone he’s faced, his resume is not exactly a who’s who of heavyweight boxing. Gomez is a solid opponent that has sparred with Klitschko in the past, and poses a possible matchup dilemma.
While he’s four inches shorter than Klitschko, Gomez matches the Ukrainian in reach — and he’s a lefty. A southpaw that will be able to reach Klitschko could be just the kind of matchup that takes him off his game.
Gomez suffered his only defeat four and a half years ago, racking up 44 wins around it since going pro in 1995. Until 2001, Gomez was fighting as a cruiserweight, and was an impressive 34-0 with 29 knockouts before moving up. Now, he faces the toughest test of his career in Klitschko, and probably has to be damn near perfect to pull the upset.
Klitschko, on the other hand, probably just needs to not be injured to win the fight. That’s been the case in all of his other fights. He is a tremendously underrated boxer with devastating power, and a solid chin. In today’s world of heavyweights, about the only one with the package to defeat him is his brother, Wladimir, but that’s not going to happen.
I think Gomez will pose a slight threat for the first two rounds — and by threat I mean he won’t get dominated and could win a few rounds. I don’t see Gomez hurting Klitschko, so he will have to box very well and be very cautious to win a decision. He should give Klitschko some trouble in the early rounds, but once Vitali adjusts, he should take over and promptly put an end to the fight. If Gomez can get knocked out in the first round by Yanqui Diaz, then he may not take a right hand from a Klitschko that well.
Another dominant performance from Vitali and I won’t be surprised to see many boxing folks start putting him on top of the heavyweight rankings. His fights with Corrie Sanders and Peter showed that he is in fact the better fighter, so it is just a matter of giving him the nod over the brother with the better resume and more belts. But that’s a debate to be had after this fight.
An interesting side note in this fight is that it is the first heavyweight title fight ever to be shown live on ESPN. Kudos to the Worldwide Leader for picking up the fight, and even more kudos to them for having the sack to air it on The Uno — up against the March Madness. A solid performance from these two men is extremely important, as there may never be another stage so big for them again if it isn’t a great show.
I think we’ll get an entertaining fight, competitive for two or three rounds, then increasingly one-sided as Klitschko finds his distance, rhythm and timing. Once that happens, it’s just a matter of time before Gomez is on the canvas.
Prediction: Klitschko KO 5.
Golden Boy Planning June Title Tripleheader
March 18, 2009
Golden Boy is working on something, and that something could be a very special night of boxing.
According to Michael Rosenthal at Ring Magazine, Golden Boy is planning a triple-header for June 27 that would feature three fights that could all be considered headliners in a different time and place (see: HBO, 2008).
The card would take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, featuring a rematch between Chris John and Rocky Juarez, James Kirkland vs. WBO junior middleweight titlist Sergei Dzindziruk (assuming a Kirkland May 2 win), and Victor Ortiz against WBA junior welterweight titlist Andreas Kotelnik.
Kirkland and Ortiz shared a Boxing After Dark card in February, beating Joel Julio and Mike Arnauotis , respectively. John and Juarez fought to a close, but disputed draw on the undercard of the Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz fight in Houston. Most observors felt that John won the fight, but it was close enough, especially the final three rounds, to merit a rematch.
For Kirkland and Ortiz, this would be their first title shots.
“I’m working on it like crazy,” Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told Ring. “If I pull it off, it’ll be huge.”
If this card comes together as planned, and airs on regular, non-PPV HBO, then this will be just another example of what boxing is doing right in the last year. HBO and Showtime have both stepped up with quality non-PPV cards recently, and for the past two years we have seen a drastic increase in quality fights being made by top fighters and promoters.
Here’s hoping for more of the same.
Calzaghe Scores One More Win in Retirement
March 16, 2009
Joe Calzaghe may not do battle in the ring anymore, but he scored one last important victory in the courts, defeating his former promoter Frank Warren.
The High Court ruled that Warren’s Sports Network Limited must pay Calzaghe $2.8 million, the amount that Calzaghe claimed Warren owed him from his fight with Bernard Hopkins in 2008.
According to the Associated Press:
The undefeated former super middleweight champion claimed that Warren persuaded him to sign contracts under duress while he was suffering dehydration and hunger preparing for fights.
Warren argued he did not owe the boxer. He claimed Calzaghe owed him $1.4 million for breaking his contract over his last fight with Roy Jones Jr. in November.
The BBC , however, reported that the judge in the case rejected the claims from Calzaghe that he was made to sign contracts under duress.
Warren said in a statement that he never disputed the fact that he owed Calzaghe money from the Hopkins fight, he just says that they were in disagreement over the amount. He also said in the statement that they plan to appeal the ruling.
Sports Network, throughout the litigation, has always said that it would pay Joe Calzaghe but we disputed the sum he claimed (paragraph 16 of the Judgment: “The Claimant [Sports Network Limited] does not dispute that a substantial sum of money is owed by the Claimant to the Defendant [Joe Calzaghe] in respect of the bout with Mr Hopkins although it does dispute that the sum owed is as large as alleged by the Defendant”). We were right to do so and feel vindicated in defending Joe’s claim which we have reduced by almost £1.5million. Our lawyers have advised Sports Network to appeal to reduce the sum even further, which it fully intends to do.
The case came to life when Warren and Calzaghe split in 2008. Calzaghe went on to self-promote his fight with Roy Jones in November, prompting Warren to sue him for money that he felt he was due. Calzaghe then counter-sued for his Hopkins money, leading us to this ruling.
Apparently, Warren and Calzaghe had every bit of their relationship in writing and detailed contracts, but the judge couldn’t accept that Warren could not produce a single bit of evidence that Calzaghe had agreed to continue his relationship through the Jones fight. Warren was claiming that a verbal agreement was in place, but with his history of solid bookkeeping and records, a lack of evidence was what cost him.
Calzaghe retired from boxing in February, with an undefeated record of 46-0.
Mayweather “Announcement” This Week?
March 12, 2009
According to Norm Clark of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (HT: Fanhouse), Floyd Mayweather, Jr. pulled out of a gala and fundraiser in Ohio this week, and it will be clear why after an “announcement” that he will make this week.
Clarke is the eye and ears of the Las Vegas nightlife scene, documenting who’s where in the City of Sin on a nightly basis. If you’re famous and in Las Vegas, Norm knows what you’re up to.
Rumors of Mayweather’s return to the ring have been going full speed since the day he announced his retirement. Since Floyd left boxing, Manny Pacquiao has turned into a legitimate potential opponent, as has Juan Manuel Marquez possibly. There is also an option of a rematch with Ricky Hatton, should Hatton beat Pacquiao in May, and of course, Shane Mosley, if Mayweather really wants to claim boxing supremacy.
Finding an opponent is the easy part. Getting Floyd to fight said oppenent would be the hard part. More than likely, any return to the ring by Mayweather would be to find the perfect marriage between big-money and low-risk. That puts Pacquiao, Hatton and Marquez far ahead of real welterweights like Mosley or Miguel Cotto.
TheSweetScience.com reported this week that Mayweather was spotted sparring in his Las Vegas gym, another sign of Mayweather’s impending return.
There has been no official word from Mayweather’s camp about a possible return, but following Pacquiao’s destruction of Oscar De La Hoya in December, it was said that Mayweather instructed his team to size up potential fights.
Promoters said as recently as late February that Mayweather was asking for $20 million to get back in the ring, an unrealistic expectation in today’s economy.
Most insiders believe that it is only a matter of time before Mayweather returns to boxing, so the only real question will be against whom?
Pacquiao is the logical opponent, should he beat Ricky Hatton. If Pacquiao doesn’t beat Hatton, then a rematch with Hatton is possible, but there wouldn’t be any huge money fights. Fights with Marquez or Mosley would be huge in the boxing world, but likely do mediocre business in the mainstream. A rematch with Hatton will make money thanks to the British fans, but would likely not be a big seller in the U.S., and a fight with Cotto could be big, but would be very tough to make, based on what we know of the fighters (New York vs. Las Vegas, glove size, promoters, money, etc.)
If there is in fact an announcement this week about boxing from Mayweather, I expect it to be no more than announcing his future return to the ring against an opponent to be named after that Hatton-Pacquiao fight. Exciting for the fans who want to see Floyd return, but nothing in the actual announcement to get excited about.
It’s all speculation for now, but there may be more to this as it develops.
Preview: Amir Khan vs. Marco Antonio Barrera
March 12, 2009
You really can’t get much further on the opposite ends of the boxing spectrum than in the matchup between 22-year old prospect Amir Khan and 35-year old former champion Marco Antonio Barrera. One is the “Baby Faced Assassin,” and the other is just, well, baby-faced.
It was just six months ago that Khan was considered by many to be the hottest prospect in all of boxing, but every time the insiders spoke of him, they all whispered the same thing — “he may be chinny.” For his entire pro career, there were rumors that Khan had some chin issues, but as of yet, no one had challenged it. But in September, Khan was put in the ring with a Colombian knockout artist and all of the rumors proved to be true.
Khan was knocked down by Breidis Prescott and subsequently knocked out, and he never made it to the second minute of the fight.
Now, with just one more fight of experience on his resume, Khan will step into the ring against the most accomplished fighter he’s ever shared a ring with, a man who may be dealing with his own issues.
Marco Antonio Barrera may be 35-years old, but he’s spent over half of those years in a professional boxing ring. He turned pro at 15, and by the time he was Khan’s age, he was making his sixth title defense. But with a pair of losses in 2007 to Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, Barrera appears to be near the end of the road. He’s managed back-to-back wins in the last four months, but they were of the meaningless variety. For Barrera, Khan will be the best fighter he’s been in the ring with since his last loss.
So the two major questions in this fight are: how much does Barrera have left, and can Khan compete at the top level in the sport of boxing?
Really, it can be narrowed down even more. You could simply ask if Khan has the chin to withstand the punch of an aged Barrera, and at his age, can Barrera land that punch just one time?
Barrera is certainly not what he used to be, but his demise isn’t quite as pronounced as some would have you believe. Yes, he was pushed to his limits against Rocky Juarez in 2006, but he did rebound from that and beat him handily in a rematch. Then, he was beaten by Manny Pacquiao for the second time in 2007, but realistically, he was defeated before he even stepped into the ring.
In his fight with Marquez later that year, Barrera actually did far better than the scores indicated. He lost by a wide margin, but you must remember that referee Jay Nady incorrectly ruled a clean Barrera knockdown of Marquez illegal, and deducted a point from Barrera. So a round that should have been 10-8 Barrera was called 10-8 Marquez. Factor in that the judging was a bit wide to begin with and Barrera’s loss to Marquez is not nearly as bad as the scorecards indicate.
His two meaningless wins since that fight don’t affect the case for or againt Barrera’s remaining skills. But we do know that the last time he was in with an elite fighter (Marquez), he not only held his own, but he put him on the canvas.
Khan has been in the ring with a handful of average fighters, but no one that even compares to Barrera in his prime. So the question becomes: how far is Barrera 2009 from Barrera 2002. He’s shown flashes of greatness in the last few years and he’s also shown some signs of aging.
Khan will either expose Barrera’s age, or Barrera will expose Khan’s limitations and inexperience.
It’s a tough fight to predict, since you can never truly judge just how much a fighter has left until they are in the ring. But I’ll say this — if Barrera has anything left in the tank, he beats Amir Khan.
The way I see it, an aging fighter can still possess the skills that made him great, just to a lesser extent. Even that version of Barrera is better than everyone that Khan has fought.
The other thing I see is that you just don’t learn to have a good chin. Khan was chinny before the Prescott fight, and exposed in the first minute of the Prescott fight. He has no better chin now than he did in September. The first big punch that Barrera lands will tell you everything you need to know about how this fight will play out.
Of course Khan and his people will have you believe that he is a changed man. He’s been training with Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao in the United States, and his sparring with Pacquiao has apparently done wonders for his confidence.
Unfortunately, it seems that Roach is looking at Khan through some special glasses. He tried to compare Khan’s early loss to Pacquiao’s early losses, saying that Khan should have no trouble overcoming a tough opponent like Barrera since Manny did.
Problem is: a) Khan is no Pacquiao; and b) Pacquiao took two years and six fights between his second loss and his first major fight. Khan is trying to take that step in six months and one fight in between. Big difference.
Khan is a limited fighter. He’s got a good skill set, but when you are working with a below-average chin, you must compensate for it in other areas. He doesn’t have Roy Jones’ defense or Mike Tyson’s power, which means his chin is going to get tested by every good fighter he faces. Barrera is a huge step up for Khan, even at the age of 35.
Barrera is also limited, though by the power of nature more than a lack of ring skills. He’s not as quick as he once was and doesn’t take every punch like he did fighting at 122 pounds. He’s not a veteran at lightweight, having only two meaningless fights at that weight. How Barrera handles the weight is an important aspect of this fight, but based on his history, the weight by itself shouldn’t be a major factor.
So what happens when old meets young on Saturday night?
A good rule of thumb is: when in doubt, err on the side of experience. In my opinion, Khan is still a project, and at this point, as long as Barrera doesn’t show up looking like Oscar De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao, he will catch Khan on that fragile chin and win his way back to slight relevancy.
Khan will have an edge in speed and maybe even power, but Barrera can take a punch and he can still throw one. I have no confidence that Khan can avoid getting clipped for 12 rounds. I expect Khan to win rounds as long as the fight is going on, but once Barrera catches him, it’s goodnight Amir.
Prediction: Barrera KO 4.
Pavlik to Fight Mora, Not Abraham
March 11, 2009
Kelly Pavlik will defend his middleweight title for the third time when he meets up with Sergio Mora this summer, most likely in Atlantic City, Bob Arum told BoxingScene.com.
Pavlik will fight the former “Contender” reality television winner in June or July, marking the third defense for Pavlik and the second title shot for Mora. The fight will reportedly take place on June 20, July 18 or July 25.
Mora upset Vernon Forrest last year to win a title at 154 pounds, but was soundly beaten in a rematch, Mora’s only career loss. Now he will climb back up to middleweight to take on the lineal champion, in a fight that is being rightly criticized by many boxing fans.
Pavlik won the middleweight titles from Jermain Taylor with a knockout win in late 2007. He beat Taylor by decision in a rematch above the middleweight limit, meaning his only defenses of the title so far at middleweight have been against Gary Lockett and Marco Antonio Rubio. Pavlik moved up in weight between those two defenses and was beaten by Bernard Hopkins in a light heavyweight bout in 2008.
Making Mora the third defense is not the fight that fans want to see. Boxing fans around the world all want to see Pavlik fight Germany’s Arthur Abraham, a fight that shouldn’t be this difficult to make.
Both Pavlik and Abraham have repeatedly said that they want to make the fight happen, and Abraham came to America for his rematch with Edison Miranda as a sign of good-faith, that he would return to fight Pavlik.
The two sides have talked over the course of the last year, but it seems to be becoming more and more clear that Pavlik has no interest in fighting Abraham. Whatever the reason may be, Abraham’s people are more convincing of their desire to fight Pavlik than Pavlik’s team is of their willingness to entertain the offer.
Pavlik made it clear after the loss to Hopkins that he was done chasing paychecks and taking the wrong fight, but once again, he has chosen the wrong opponent. If it weren’t about the money, a fight with Abraham could be made.
Abraham consistently talks of fighting Pavlik, while Pavlik’s team talk up fighters like Mora and John Duddy. Fighting marketable opponents who are not talented enough to compete will only get you so far. Perhaps Duddy or Mora could upset Pavlik, but that’s not the point. The point is there is one fighter that a fight needs to be made with and Pavlik has repeatedly shown no interest in getting in the ring with him. I’m sure Pavlik doesn’t fear Abraham, but he sure is starting to make people believe that.
Abraham is already considered a king where he fights. He really doesn’t need Pavlik. But for Pavlik to be the star that people are expecting him to be, he needs Abraham.
Sergio Mora is no Arthur Abraham.
Klitschko-Haye Reportedly Falls Apart Again
March 10, 2009
Contrary to recent reports, both here and elsewhere, the proposed fight between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye is still not done. Not only is it not done, but it may be off the table.
Talks had broken down previously, with Haye’s team apparently bungling the negotiations so badly that they enlisted the help of Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer to try to salvage their title shot.
As recently as last week, we were led to believe that everything was agreed to and contracts were being exchanged, only to find out that once again, things don’t look good.
According to BoxingScene.com, negotiations are back to square one and the Klitschko camp is already eyeing a new opponent — Chris Arreola.
Arreola recently had scheduled to fight Jameel McCline on the April 11 undercard of Winky Wright and Paul Williams, but a press conference to announce that fight was postponed. This has led to some speculation that Arreola and Klitschko may be meeting up, rather than David Haye.
Klitschko had stated in the past that he had a deal in place with Arreola if the Haye fight didn’t go through, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see a deal get made rather quickly for this fight.
The only thing that is certain seems to be that Haye is dealing with a team around him that is not prepared to negotiate on his behalf at the level they need to. Haye is a promising young heavyweight, and it would be a shame to see him mis-managed like some other great fighters. Just ask Mikkel Kessler what that’s all about.
Either fighter is an acceptable fight for Wladimir. Let’s just hope that a fight with one of them is agreed to with the quickness.
Kirkland, Ortiz Shine on BAD
March 7, 2009
James Kirkland delivered his best performance in his biggest fight, stopping Joel Julio when Julio quit on his stool after the sixth round. Julio landed a few solid punches, but was generally unable to deal with Kirkland’s aggression and volume.
The fight started with Kirkland pushing the action, forcing his way inside on Julio and smothering Julio’s ability to throw punches. Any time they created separation, Julio was able to sneak his right hand in on Kirkland, but no sooner did it land that Kirkland seemed to be back on top of him.
By the end of the third round, Julio was cut over his right eye and getting more and more tired. Kirkland continued to smother everything Julio did, physically break him down. By the fifth and sixth rounds, Julio’s offensive attempts were few and far between, as Kirkland was the only one coming forward and he really brought the fight to Julio.
After the sixth round, Julio appeared to tell the referee that he’d had enough and without hesitation, the bout was stopped.
Kirkland improves to 25-0, with 22 KOs, while Julio falls to 34-3 with 31 KOs.
In the undercard to the main event, Victor Ortiz was once again absolutely dominant, stopping Mike Arnauotis in the second round. At just 22-years old, Ortiz outclassed the veteran from the opening bell, landing a brutal left hand midway through the second round that sent Arnauotis back into the corner. Ortiz jumped all over him to force the referee to jump in and stop the action at the 1:27 mark of the second. Ortiz improves to 24-1-1, with 19 KOs with the win, while Arnauotis falls to 21-3-1 with 10 KOs in defeat.
In the first fight of the HBO telecast, Robert Guerrero and Daud Yordan battled for two rounds before an accidental headbutt caused a cut over Guerrero’s eye. Upon the advice from the doctor, and Guerrero’s admission that he couldn’t see out of the eye, the referee stopped the fight, making it a no-contest.
Preview: Joel Julio vs. James Kirkland
March 6, 2009
It was just two-and-a-half years ago that Joel Julio was one of the most promising young prospects in all of boxing. He was ESPN’s 2005 Prospect of the Year. He was one of the future stars of the sport. He was fighting in a big step-up fight on HBO’s Boxing After Dark against another undefeated fighter in Carlos Quintana.
When it came time to step up the competition, Julio was beaten soundly by Quintana, essentially derailing his promising career. Julio has won a few fights since then, then lost in November challenging Sergiy Dzinziruk for the WBO junior middleweight title.
Now it’s time for hot prospect James Kirklandto go on HBO’s Boxing After Dark to fight a step-up fight — against Joel Julio.
Like Julio, Kirkland made a name for himself on Showtime, before being snatched up by HBO to try to elevate him to the next level.
Kirkland has given us fireworks every time we’ve seen him, and against Julio, a fellow knockout artist, expect to see more of them.
Between the two fighters, they’ve fought 58 times. In 52 of those, somebody got knocked out. Now Kirkland is standing almost exactly where Julio was in 2006, looking to get over the all-important hump and propel himself into the next tier of fighters.
Both guys are offense first, defense when necessary — a good blueprint for an action-packed fight. Of Kirkland’s three fights that didn’t end in knockouts, two of them were just four rounders. Since moving out of that class, he’s knocked out 15 of his last 16 opponents, including five in a row.
Julio had rebounded from the Quintana loss to win seven straight fights, five by knockout, before being defeated for the second time in November.
Certainly this is a huge fight for both men. A win for Julio over a hot prospect like Kirkland puts him back into the realm of relevancy, while a win for Kirkland over a fighter with as much experience as Julio could propel him to much bigger fights.
A loss by either fighter sets them back significantly.
If fighters like Julio have taught us anything, it’s that your first fight against big-league competition is not to be taken lightly. Kirkland is in the biggest fight of his life, while that may not be the case for Julio. It’s certainly important right now, but his fights with Quintana and Dzinziruk were bigger fights for him at the time.
We know two things going into this fight. Julio can be outboxed and Kirkland can be hurt.
The question then becomes, can Kirkland outbox Julio better than Julio can hurt Kirkland.
Another question is: Is Kirkland good enough to knock Julio out?
Kirkland’s last fight with Andy Lee conqueror Brian Vera was an all-out war. Kirkland hit him with everything but the kitchen sink, but just couldn’t seem to knock him out. He dropped him in the second round and looked on his way to an easy KO win, but he learned the same thing that Lee did — Vera can take a punch.
Kirkland grew up a lot in that fight, having to set up his punches as the fight went on, and learning to fight with a ballooned up eye. Kirkland took some big punches, but delivered even more. He was finally able to take Vera out in the eighth round, but it was a very difficult fight for him.
Now Kirkland will have to build off of what he learned in that fight and do it against a better fighter. Julio, meanwhile, is 0-2 in the two biggest fights of his career, and this is probably the third biggest fight. Will he do better against this high quality fighter than he has in the past.
I think we’re in for a slugfest in this one. Julio has shown his power enough in America to know that he is not just another Columbian with a blown up KO record, and his power must be respected.
Don’t be surprised to see both fighters on the canvas in this one, but I have a hunch that Julio takes it to the younger fighter, pulling of a mild upset.
Julio has the experience now to deal with an aggressive slugger like Kirkland, and as we’ve seen before, Kirkland can be hurt. I think Julio’s power is for real (as is Kirkland’s), and he’ll get up off the canvas to stop the hot prospect.
Expect fireworks.
Prediction: Julio KO 6.
Hopkins Still Looking For a Fight
March 5, 2009
At 44 years old, Bernard Hopkins is still good enough to compete with the best that boxing has to offer.
He proved that in 2008, with a close decision loss to Joe Calzaghe, then putting on a clinic in thoroughly defeating Kelly Pavlik.
Now, Hopkins wants to get back in the ring again. The only question is against who?
ESPN’s Dan Rafael reported recently that Hopkins has been sizing up cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek, and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer says that Hopkins is still trying to lure Calzaghe out of retirement for a rematch.
One reason that an Adamek fight is intersting is that Hopkins would be attempting to win another title in another weight class, and looking to win the Ring Magazine title in a third class. After dominating the middleweight division for much of his career, Hopkins moved up to light heavyweight in 2006 to take that title from Antonio Tarver.
He may be just 3-3 in his last six fights, but all three losses were close enough that even at 44 he is listed by most people as one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
He’s been seeking a rematch with Calzaghe for the last year, but Calzaghe announced his retirement earlier this year, seemingly putting an end to those talks.
But Hopkins won’t take no for an answer.
Schaefer told Setanta TV recently that he is still trying to make a rematch happen, even if it means going to Wales to do it.
“I’ll be talking to Joe because I can see a huge event if he wants to do one last fight in Wales. Bernard specifically told me that he would come to Wales to fight Joe Calzaghe. This would be the biggest challenge for Joe. I think there’s some unfinished business between them. I haven’t given up hope. Never give up hope.”
Outside of those two, there aren’t many options remaining for Hopkins. A fight with Chad Dawson would be huge in the boxing world, but wouldn’t satisfy Hopkins or the masses.
If he were to pass on Dawson, and a fight can’t be made with Calzaghe or Adamek, there is a good chance that Kelly Pavlik will go down as Hopkins final professional boxing opponent.
Since I don’t see Calzaghe fighting him and I don’t see Hopkins fighting Dawson, it looks like Adamek is the last chance for Hopkins to get back in the ring.