By Mark Vester
In a recent interview with Ernest Gabion of BoxingScene.com, light heavyweight champ Bernard Hopkins had plenty to say on the subject of facing super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe, and why the fight should be made in the United States.
Hopkins told BoxingScene the fight would be a bigger event in America than Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton, because Calzaghe is more popular than Hatton in Europe and would bring even more fans across the ocean to see him fight. Hopkins praised Hatton for coming over to America on several occasions to take big fights.
“You think Mayweather-Hatton is big. This fight (with Calzaghe) would be twice as big. I think Joe Calzaghe is more popular than Ricky (in Europe),” Hopkins said. “You have to give it to a guy like Ricky Hatton for having the balls to come here and fight not one time, but three times and the difference between him and Joe is that he recognized that to be worldly known and to have both markets driving to see him fight again, Ricky knew that he had to get away from Frank Warren, that he had to get over to the United States and fight the best. And that's why Ricky Hatton is worldly known and Joe has not taken the step to come over to the other side of the world.”
When pressed on going over to Britain to stage the fight, Hopkins made it clear that he was not interested in making the fight in Europe, and if Calzaghe really wants to be regarded as a great fighter - he needs to leave his country for a big fight.
“Why should I fight in Britain? Anywhere on American soil is good with me. You know when you know that a guy is great, when you do what Bernard Hopkins did before I won my first title. I went to South America, fought in the high altitude, got there on a Friday and fought on a Saturday,” Hopkins said.
“When the hell did Joe leave his own neighborhood and fight? You know when you're good? When you come out of your neighborhood and go into another neighborhood and kick the best guy's ass. It's called a world (champion), he's a Europe champion. You say you are great. You want to be one of the greats ones. Then let me see you come out of your element and see how you function. That's great.”
The subject of Calzaghe fighting in Germany was brought up, and Hopkins said that Germany is still part of Europe. Calzaghe's failure to leave Europe, is the reason Hopkins feels that Joe is not well known on a world wide scale.
“Germany? Germany is Europe. Come out of Europe. I'm worldly known and he's not. You take Joe Calzaghe and put him on 54th street and Broadway at noon and I guarantee you that ten people would not know who he is. You put me in New York and I shut it down,” Hopkins said. “You put me in Wales, in England and I guarantee people would know who I am. That's worldly known and Calzaghe is neighborhood known. He's only known in Europe. He's the Europe champion. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but Europe is not the world.”
Ending it off, Hopkins says the fight is more important to Calzaghe‘s legacy, than it is to his own. Hopkins told BoxingScene his legacy is cemented, while the books are still open on Calzaghe.
“He's fighting a legend and I'm fighting a champion. Having me on his resume as a victory does more for him than it does for me to have him on mine as a win. I'm already who I am. I'm a Hall-of-Famer if I lose my next five, six fights. I am already cemented in the books. Joe needs that American icon on his resume. And right now the only thing he has is Jeff Lacy,” Hopkins said.
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