By Mark Vester
Light heavyweight champ Bernard Hopkins is not looking for the winner of Roy Jones Jr vs. Felix Trinidad. The veteran fighter is only interested in placing the first blemish on the undefeated record of undisputed super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe.
Hopkins told BBC Sport that he would love to face Calzaghe on date falling near July 4 (Independence Day) in America.
"If he's willing to come here, we can get the ball rolling. The man went on national TV and said: 'Bernard don't have to come over to the UK, I'll fight him in his backyard'. I hope some discussions take place while he's here and we can get the next big Europe-America fight on," Hopkins said. "The fight would be at 175lb for my undisputed light-heavyweight championship. I'll be ready when Calzaghe gets to Vegas, I'm always ready. If you want a time-frame, spring or June. I'd love it to be close to 4 July, because there's a lot of American history involved.
"I'm not interested in Roy Jones or Felix Trinidad, I've been there, done that. Joe's undefeated and I want to be the one who gets rid of his '0'. That would be an accomplishment at this late stage in my career - I'm 43 on 15 January. I need a reason to get up at 5.30 in the morning. I need to say 'this guy has a zero that I can turn into a one' to get me the hell out of bed."
Golden Boy Promotions recently made an offer to Calzaghe for the fight, which he shot down, because the amount of money being offered was lower than what he made for his Nov. 3 bout with Mikkel Kessler. The bigger problem is the date of the fight. Calzaghe has no interest in waiting until July or even June to fight again. In a recent interview, Calzaghe expressed his intention in making another fight at 168 to stay busy.
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