Calazaghe closes in on Vegas Deal

Calzaghe Closes in on Las Vegas deal with showdown againt Veteran Bernard Hopkins-Stephen McMillan The Guardian Thursday December 13, 2007 Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins are almost ready to stop talking and start dancing. After circling each other for more than a month the two boxers are expected to make a deal this week to fight in Las Vegas in April. All being well a contest with Jermain Taylor would follow for Calzaghe in the summer. The new BBC sports personality of the year has had Hopkins in his sights since beating Mikkel Kessler in Cardiff on November 4 to become the undisputed world super-middleweight champion. For his part, the American said the only opponent who could motivate him to fight again was the undefeated Welshman. The devil has been in the detail, however, or perhaps more precisely in Hopkins' notoriously difficult business style. "He's a pain in the ass to negotiate with" was Calzaghe's assessment of the former undisputed middleweight champion. Talks in Las Vegas between Calzaghe's promoter, Frank Warren, and the Hopkins camp before the Ricky Hatton-Floyd Mayweather fight last weekend moved matters along and agreement on a contest in the light-heavyweight division is now very close. Presuming Calzaghe beats a man who will turn 43 in January he would face Taylor a few months later at super-middleweight level. Taylor, who beat Hopkins twice in 2005, lost his WBO and WBC middleweight belts to Kelly Pavlik in September but has exercised a rematch clause and the two will meet again in Las Vegas on February 16 in a non-title contest at super-middleweight. But a fight with Calzaghe is already in Taylor's sights according to his promoter, Lou DiBella. "It's hard to look past this fight but, knowing Jermain, if he beats Pavlik, Joe would be the fight he would want," DiBella said. "Joe is the best and Jermain has always reached out for the best so I would be very surprised if he didn't say, 'Go pursue Calzaghe'. "At this point in time I think anyone who knows boxing knows that the second best fighter in the world is Calzaghe and that's only because Floyd Mayweather is out there." DiBella believes Calzaghe would find Hopkins easier to deal with in the ring than in the boardroom. "It's no disrespect to Hopkins, who was one of the great fighters of all time, but I just don't see Calzaghe losing to a 43-year-old man who can't punch. I think Hopkins can frustrate him and maybe win a few rounds but Calzaghe has too much and is too young." Alex Arthur, the interim WBO super-featherweight champion from Edinburgh, believes Hatton would have required "six arms and two guns" to beat Mayweather last weekend. The 29-year-old, who will defend his title against Manchester's Stephen Foster Jr on Saturday, trained alongside Mayweather in Las Vegas in 2006 before fighting Ricky Burns. "Someone said to me, 'How do you think Ricky Hatton will get on against Floyd Mayweather?' I remember thinking to myself, for anyone to beat that man they would need six arms and two guns. It's not fair him fighting against other human beings. You should see him in the gym. It's frightening." Mayweather was portrayed as flashy in the build-up to last weekend's bout but Arthur insists his experience of the fighter was enjoyable. "When I was over there with him, at first I found him kind of arrogant. But once I got to know him, all he went on about was his kids."