Warren to meet Palle? Hopkins fight offered for Jan

FROM FRANKWARREN.TV Joe Calzaghe wants a showdown with Mikkel Kessler or Jermain Taylor later this year - and insists he is avoiding no one. The WBO super-middleweight champion was guest of honour at a press lunch thrown by promoter Frank Warren today in London, and in combative mood following his win over Peter Manfredo Jr earlier this month. "I want to fight the biggest fighters out there," said Calzaghe, whose left wrist is still in plaster following the Manfredo fight, but expects to be out either in July, or more likely, September. "I've been 10 years as champion and I want the best. I want Mikkel Kessler or Jermain Taylor and I'll beat them both. "I don't want to waste six months of my life fighting another mandatory. Kessler is another Jeff Lacy and I'll do to him what I did to Jeff Lacy, even if I have to go up to light-heavyweight to make the fight happen. "People think I am avoiding fighters but that's not true. I'll fight Kessler anywhere. At the end of the day, a ring is a ring and I'll beat him any place. "Kessler and Taylor are two very good fighters, but the better the opponent, the better I perform. "Believe me, when Kessler or Taylor steps in the ring, you will see the same performance as I put on against Lacy. "Sometimes you need a bit of fear and the realisation that if you don't perform to your best, then you could get beaten. They are the kind of fights I need to secure my legacy." Calzaghe's promoter Frank Warren and Kessler's handler Mogens Palle have been making offer and counter-offer through the press over the last two weeks, but could meet face to face next week. Warren is due to fly to the States for talks with American television networks, and will try and thrash out a deal with Palle for the Kessler fight. "Joe wants the big names and so do I," said Warren, who added that Showtime may also be back in the picture. "We've been offered a Bernard Hopkins fight by HBO for January, but Joe wants to fight before then. "I offered Taylor good money (US$4million) but he wanted a ridiculous amount, and I've asked HBO to try and get him to the table and see sense. "As for Kessler, he is a fighter who is made for Joe Calzaghe. "He is upright, he likes to fight on the outside and I think that Joe Calzaghe will do a job on him. "Calzaghe is the guy they all have to beat, and I think he's the best British fighter I have ever worked with. I'm proud of everything he has acheived." The 35-year-old undefeated Welshman, 43-0, has also been linked to a fight with Carl Froch, but Warren said there had been little progress on that front, putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of the British champion. "We made Froch an offer," said Warren. "I know what Joe Calzaghe would do to Carl Froch, it wouldn't even be a race. "To cut a long story short, the fight didn't happen. It would have happened if someone (Froch) had believed he could do it. "Joe Calzaghe was getting much, much less than we offered Froch when he stepped up to the plate and fought Chris Eubank all those years ago. As far as I'm concerned, that fight is now dead in the water." Meanwhile Calzaghe revealed that his win over Peter Manfredo - which saw him equal the title defence records of both Larry Holmes and Benard Hopkins at 20 - left him fearing his career could be over. He fractured the scaphoid bone in his left wrist during the third round, and as he read up on the injury on the internet, realised it was potentially extremely serious. "I was worried about what it meant for my career," said Calzaghe. "But fortunately I've been told that if it is a fracture, it's a hair-line one and that's not so serious. "I've got an MRI scan later this week and will know for certain with it's fractured or if it is just ligament damage, but I'll definitely be back in September, if not before. It's nothing to worry about."