By Mark Vester
If you thought Joe Calzaghe was done with his verbal venom, he was just getting warmed up. Bernard Hopkins' dominating win over Kelly Pavlik, which took place last Saturday, has lit a fight under Calzaghe and he's spewing plenty of verbals jabs at everyone in sight. For months, he took a lot of heat from fans and the boxing media. They said he beat an old, washed up version of Hopkins back in April. They said he was ducking the challenge of Pavlik. According to Calzaghe, Hopkins' win vindicates him fully, and the only thing on his mind is to kick the ass of Roy Jones Jr. on November 8 at New York's Madison Square Garden.
"I'm just concentrating on kicking ass. Roy Jones is going to get it big time," Calzaghe would tell PA Sport.
Calzaghe says Hopkins is trying to land a rematch in order to make big bucks in the UK, but it won't happen. He says their first fight was ugly to watch and the rematch would be worse - plus he claims to have been at his worst when beating Hopkins. He says the 43-year old veteran would not stand a chance on British soil.
"He is thinking of the money," said Calzaghe. "At the end of the day, I didn't fight my best and he lost and I did that in Las Vegas. What chance has he got over here? He That fight is not getting me excited. I won the first fight and it wasn't a great fight to watch."
"Sometimes styles make fights and there are styles that gel. Our styles did not gel and I don't think a second fight would be more exciting. It would probably be more boring. I've beaten him and I wouldn't want to go over old ground."
You didn't think Pavlik was going to get off the hook. Calzaghe took a few more swipes at the WBC/WBO middleweight champion.
"I didn't feel pressure (to fight Pavlik)," Calzaghe said. "Regardless of what happened, he is limited. It was nice to be proved right. It wasn't just a beating (against Hopkins), it was a 12-round humiliation."
"Pavlik was the so-called baddest guy in America and he (Hopkins) made him look like a little boy. "Pavlik is just a one-dimensional robot who couldn't even throw a double jab."
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