LAS VEGAS (AP)Bernard Hopkins kept his hands to himself Friday at the weigh-in for his fight with Joe Calzaghe, engaging in none of the shenanigans that led to a $200,000 fine after his last fight.
Before thousands of singing, cheering British fight fans and a handful of vocal Americans, Hopkins and Calzaghe both weighed in at 173 pounds at the Planet Hollywood casino, easily coming in two pounds below the light heavyweight limit for Saturdays fight at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Though Hopkins and Calzaghe touched heads and engaged in some vigorous trash-talking after stepping on the scales, the gamesmanship didnt erupt into violence, as it did before Hopkins last fight against Winky Wright in July 2007.
Hopkins shoved Wright in the forehead, setting off a skirmish between the fighters and their entourages that ended with Hopkins trainer Freddie Roach getting knocked off the stageand Hopkins getting hit with a huge fine by the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Hopkins all but acknowledged he staged the conflict to spur pay-per-view sales, which it apparently did. Perhaps he behaved this time because Saturdays fight is live on regular HBO.
Although the British fans were further back from the stage than they were at Ricky Hattons memorably raucous weigh-in for his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. last December, they still turned the proceedings into a thrill. Ticket sales for the fight have been sluggish, but there was no lack of enthusiasm in the weigh-in arena.
Calzaghes supporters hung a half-dozen large Welsh flags from the balcony, and many wore the same blue Cardiff City soccer jersey sported by Calzaghe on his way to the scales. Shortly before the fighters took the stage, at least 25 fans were in line for beer at the early afternoon event.
Who are ya? Who are ya? they chanted derisively at Hopkins as he crossed his forearms in his usual Executioner stance.
Hopkins stepped into Calzaghe when the fighters went nose-to-nose, but Calzaghe laughed and bobbed his head while promoter Frank Warren separated them. Calzaghe lost his smile when Hopkins began talking to him.
What are you going to do about it? Calzaghe said to Hopkins while gesturing at his fans.
Actors Sylvester Stallone and Michael J. Fox joined the fighters on the stage, along with boxers Roy Jones Jr., Zab Judah, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Diaz, Shannon Briggs and Amir Khan, the British Olympic silver medalist who could fight for a lightweight title this year.
ROUND 12: Dan Rafael scored it 114-113 Hopkins.
ROUND 12: 114-113 Hopkins...
ROUND 12: 115-112, Calzaghe
ROUND 12: 116-111, Calzaghe
ROUND 12: Joe Calzaghe by split decision! We have a new linear light heavyweight champs, ladies and gents.
I respect the hell outta Hopkins, but boy, is his "style" boring.
My bf scored the fight 114-113 for Calzaghe, but that was a dull, dull fight that was much less interesting that it seems just from reading the scores.
Saturday, April 19, 2008 Unbeaten Calzaghe climbs off canvas to get split decision
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS -- Joe Calzaghe didn't stop punching after a terrible start against Bernard Hopkins, and now the Pride of Wales is the best light heavyweight in the world.
Calzaghe remained unbeaten with a split-decision victory Saturday night, tenaciously rallying in the final rounds against his cagey 43-year-old opponent to end his long-anticipated U.S. debut with a flourish.
Hopkins (48-5-1) put on a master class in the veteran skills of their sport at the Thomas & Mack Center, knocking down Calzaghe (45-0) with a sneaky right hand just 70 seconds in before repeatedly frustrating Calzaghe's attempts to trade blows.
But after floundering against Hopkins' defense through the early rounds, Calzaghe never stopped working and wearing down his older opponent, eventually gaining control in the final rounds.
"I knew this wouldn't look pretty tonight," Calzaghe said. "He's so awkward. He gave me some good shots. It wasn't my best night, but I won the fight. The world title in a second division and a win in America is just icing on the cake for my career."
Judge Ted Gimza scored it 115-112 for Calzaghe, and Chuck Giampa favored Calzaghe 116-111. Judge Adelaide Byrd gave it 114-113 to Hopkins, as did many reporters at ringside - including The Associated Press, which also favored Hopkins 114-113 despite Calzaghe's dominance in the final five rounds.
"I just really feel like I took the guy to school," said Hopkins, who grimaced and shook his head when the verdict was announced. "I feel like I made him fight my fight, not his." Calzaghe landed 33 percent of his 707 punches, while Hopkins connected with 27 percent of his 468 blows. Calzaghe had the edge in power punches with both total and accuracy, and he heavily outjabbed Hopkins.
Shortly after Tom Jones finished singing the Welsh national anthem, Hopkins ducked in his crouch and knocked down Calzaghe with a perfectly placed right hand. Hopkins was a shade quicker and more elusive in the early rounds, staying away from Calzaghe's more powerful punches with movement and carefully disguised holds.
While Calzaghe turned the momentum with his superior athleticism midway through the bout, referee Joe Cortez briefly stopped the fight twice for low blows by Calzaghe, including an extended delay early in the 10th round that infuriated Calzaghe. It also seemed to give Calzaghe the motivation to finish strong. "I had to let the punches go as the fight wore on," Calzaghe said. "He was very defensive. I was only hurt one time, but he never caught me with a clean punch. It was the toughest fight of my career. He's very clever. I'm very proud."
Calzaghe has been a super middleweight champion since 1997, winning 21 consecutive defenses and adding two more belts last November with a unification victory over Mikkel Kessler. But the flying-phobic Welshman never found a matchup enticing enough to get him across the Atlantic Ocean to boxing's biggest stage. Saturday's bout has been anticipated for at least six years by fight fans who craved the stylistic contrasts between two of the longest-reigning champions in boxing history. After several false starts and disputes between the fighters' promoters, the bout gained steam last December when Hopkins and Calzaghe got into a shouting match one day before Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s fight with Ricky Hatton.
"I would never let a white boy beat me. Never," Hopkins proclaimed, and Calzaghe quickly agreed to find out whether the Executioner was correct. With 20 straight title defenses as one of the longest-reigning middleweight champions in boxing history, Hopkins' only losses since 1993 were two debatable decisions against Jermain Taylor in 2005. He then posted stunning upsets in his first two fights at light heavyweight, knocking off Antonio Tarver and Winky Wright with the same mix of impenetrable defense and counterpunching that threatened to confound Calzaghe.
Hopkins, whose win over Tarver made him the linear 175-pound champ, has shown remarkably few signs of athletic decline in his early 40s. He still assembled three top trainers - Freddie Roach, Nazim Richardson and John David Jackson - to prepare him for Calzaghe's unusual mix of challenges. "I wanted him to run into my shots," Hopkins said. "I think I made him do that, and I think I made it look pretty easy. I think I controlled the pace, and I controlled the fight. I think it was an old-school execution. He really wasn't landing his shots. Maybe if he threw five or six, one or two landed if he was lucky."
The Planet Hollywood casino put on a solid show in its first attempt at staging a major prizefight, but it was contested in an arena with huge numbers of vacant seats. Though thousands of Brits traveled to Vegas for the bout, not everybody could afford the exorbitant ticket prices.
But thousands of British fans who turned out for Friday's weigh-in got tickets, and the fight attracted an eclectic mix of celebrities, from Simon Cowell and Whitney Houston to Sylvester Stallone and Jay-Z - as well as Wales' own Catherine Zeta-Jones.