David Haye: "Calzaghe will have to fight the fight of his life to beat Jones"

David Haye believes Joe Calzaghe will have to "fight the fight of his life" to defeat Roy Jones Jr on 8 November. "An average performance will not be enough to beat even a washed-up Jones," England's former cruiserweight king Haye told BBC Sport. "Joe's not that effective against someone who's a counter-puncher and doesn’t chase him round the ring. "Bernard Hopkins' plan was to counter-punch, counter-punch, and that's what I think Roy Jones will do." American Hopkins lost to a split decision against Calzaghe in Las Vegas in April, although he gave the Welshman plenty of problems, fighting almost exclusively on the back foot. Haye, who steps up to heavyweight to fight Monte Barrett on 15 November, believes Jones will also fight Calzaghe on the retreat while attempting to win the fight courtesy of his fabled hand speed. If Joe comes in a bit lacklustre, he could be hearing the final bell not sure which way the decision’s going to go David Haye "The Bernard Hopkins fight could have gone either way," said the 28-year-old Haye, who fights American Barrett at London's O2 Arena. "If Joe comes into this fight thinking he's going to fight an old man who isn't up for it, he could be in for a hard night's work, because Jones has such fast hands. "Jones will do what Jones always does, he's not going to do anything new. And if he can throw combinations like he once did, he could nick rounds. "And if Joe comes in a bit lacklustre, he could be hearing the final bell not sure which way the decision’s going to go." Haye added that Jones will look upon his clash with Calzaghe as a chance to repair his legacy, after three successive defeats to Antonio Tarver (twice) and Glen Johnson between 2004 and 2005. Haye said: "Jones has the chance to right the wrongs. He doesn’t only win that one fight, he smoothes over all those losses. "They just become a bad spell in his career, he’s no longer defined by them. If he beats Calzaghe, he goes out on top and people will start talking about him as an all-time great again. "He came back, showed what he's all about and beat one of the great pound-for-pound fighters who was 45 and 0." The unbeaten Calzaghe and former four-weight world champion Jones will meet at New York's Madison Square Garden on Saturday 8 November, with the fight expected to begin in the early hours of Sunday, UK time. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7697088.stm I must say, I completely agree. Now before somebody jumps on me and says 'you're just looking for a way to justify this fight as competitive', it has nothing to do with that. I was as dissapointed as the majority of fans when Calzaghe chose to fight the seemingly washed-up Jones over Pavlik (not, as has been all but proved, Calzaghe-Pavlik would have been competitive). From purely a analytical standpoint I believe that the style of Roy Jones may prove a nightmare for Calzaghe unless Jones tires in the later rounds. Calzaghe has never faced anyone with hand speed close to Jones and is very used to being quicker than his opponents. We know Calzaghe has problems with pure counter punchers, and we know from the evidence of the Jones-Trinidad fight that Jones is likely to counter against Calzaghe. Now Calzaghe has shown his adaptability throughout his career both before fights and during fights, but can he adapt to an opponent this quick? So to summarize, the outcome of this fight will be decided by these two questions in my opinion: 1) Does Jones have the stamina to counter quickly all night? 2) Can Calzaghe adapt to a man with quicker hand speed and reactions than himself? My opinion is that Jones will win the first half of the fight by 4 rounds to 2 or by 3 rounds to 2. I believe he will counter Calzaghe well and Calzaghe will get caught wading in to flurry. The second half of the fight is what I debate with myself and what is relevant to the above questions. As a Calzaghe fan and an optimist, I went with my prediction that Jones tiring and Calzaghe adapting will happen simultaneously, but it is in question. On paper this looks a mismatch between a prime champion and a washed-up former champion; but in reality Calzaghe could be walking into a trap, whether Jones is a shadow of his former self or not.