HEADBANGER

let's see who ducked who. is it calzaghe who in many interviews after 2002 said he couldn't fight in the usa because he was too scared of flying. his own promoter said he saw calzaghe go flying on holiday though hmmmm. is it calzaghe who's own promoter said calzaghe was scared to fight top opposition and begged him to be matched soft. is it calzaghe who refused on many occasions to even fight glen johnson and ducked him repeatedly. or is it hopkins who has one of the best resumes of the last 20 years. why you gettin all butthurt? the facts are there for everyone to see so why try and go the long way around them? hopkins turned down a career high payday to fight calzaghe in 2002 and then in his next 3 fights combined earned less than he would have for one fight with joe. we both know calzaghe had to pull out of the johnson fight on multiple occassions because of his well documented hand problems, do you think calzaghe would really be scared of fighting someone who had already lost at 168 to kiwanuku, sosa, ottke, vanderpool, branca, and sheika hahahahahaha - give over dumbo. when thinking about hopkins resume, its always important to remember that there were 8 times that hopkins got into that ring and wasn't good enough to beat his opponent. hopkins also never beat a 'Grade A' opponent at a fair weight.

A better question would be "Why did Calzaghe duck ALL of the prime boxers outside of the UK during his career?" Joe could have faced Hopkins, Jones, Toney, Griffin, when they were all prime and game. Instead he waited for them to age. Boxing apparently has a soft spot for certain so-called "greats" who have done that like Lennox Lewis and Manny Pacquiao. when do you think calzaghe ducked the fighters you named? he clearly offered hopkins a career high payday in 2002 which hopkins turned down to fight hakkar, joppy, and allan for less money combined than he would have received for fighting calzaghe. multiple steroid cheat toney was fighting at cruiserweight when calzaghe became champion at 168, so how could that match possibly be made? drug cheat jones was possible but i think calzaghe wanted to make some money first defending his belt. griffin was never really an option. you seem to be making plenty up without any real facts to back your case.

whats the point of posting if you don't even have the story straight? the contract was a 3 fight deal on showtime. why would hopkins lock himself up when an oscar fight could happen at anytime and he made 15 million for that fight which is a lot more than 3 million. even with a possible oscar fight on the horizon hopkins still accepted the fight in wales but at a higher purse(not even close to an oscar purse btw) warren and calzaghe wanted the fight in wales so hopkins called their bluff and said ok if you pay more i'll go over there. warren refused and walked away. warren was just using hopkins name to secure calzaghe more bum fights on showtime. the old bait and switch move and it worked to perfection. remember warren is the same guy who said calzaghe was scared to fight top opposition and calzaghe is the same guy who said he couldn't fight in the usa because he was scared of flying! no the facts are the fight was offered in america hopkins was offered a career high pay day hopkins turned it down, purposely priced himself out of the fight hopkins then fought hakkar, joppy, and allan over the next 2 years and earned less from those 3 fights than he would have earnt from 1 fight with joe calzaghe.

Hopkins didn't want it he was quite happy beating blown up welters at middleweight. Hopkins also didn't want to fight Toney or rematch Jones. Hopkins has done far more in his career post Taylor than previous to that. more facts. it just so happens that calzaghe beat hopkins sandwiched inbetween the best string of results in hopkins whole career of tarver, wright, pavlik, and pascal. calzaghe did all this despite - fighting in america - fighting at hopkins chosen weight - fighting with blatant cheat cortez as referee - fighting with 3 american judges

this stupid fvcking sh!t again, i swear...... the thread starter is a hack, of retarded proportions..... first of all, and this is all that really needs to be said about this lame and less than trivial question. hopkins was and still is one of the shrewdest businessmen in the sport, next to a couple of promoters throughout the history of the sport. he has never been worried about his record, he has never been scared of any challenge pertaining to the " Loss " part of his record, hopkins has always been concerned with making money, if the fight is worth it or not........... calzaghe and friends were bs'ing on the money, and hopkins wasn't going to go out of his way to make whatever they were offering when he could get more or less here without having to concede his position, aka a smart businessman, and a man about his business.... if calzaghe really wanted that fight back then, then they would've made it, same with hopkins, they would've kept at the negotiations until ti was made, nuff said. why has calzaghe ducked the rematch after they fought, calzaghe's toughest fight in his whole career, which was one that is highly disputed by boxing adepts and non biased fans. that is the real question, there is still business to settle and calzaghe has jet set into the sun set, far far away from the executioner. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////dude. why would calzaghe want to rematch a man who wanted to hold, headbutt, and feign injury all night rather than have a tare up. why would calzaghe rematch a man who went out of his way to make the 1st fight the most boring fight in history. calzaghe cleaned out 168 and then in he took out the main man on foreign soil at 175 in his first fight at the weight. there is no score to settle, calzaghe beat hopkins t a new weight with 3 american judges, despite a corrupt referee allowing hopkins to break every rule in the book. this is the same bernard hopkins that threw himself out of the ring v robert allan and turned the 2nd jones fight into an absoloute farce with his bull****.

who exactly did calzaghe need to fly to, to fight? the only person was hopkins and hopkins turned it down because he wanted to clean out the welterweight division instead of taking on a real challenge. where did the hopkins v calzaghe fight actually take place?

You'd think you'd be able to find at least one quote where Calzaghe says it seeing how often you talk about it. Again....weird. correct and calzaghe still flew to america and kicked hopkins ass at a new weight, with 3 american judges, a corupt ref, sandwiched inbetween hopkins best run of victories - tarver, wright, pavlik, pascal.

PUERTO RICO HERALD Trinidad Unmoved By Hopkins' Taunts By Gabrielle Paese "Tell Papa Trinidad to make the fight happen," Hopkins told the crowd of about 5,000. "I'm going to give him an opportunity to redeem himself whenever he wants but it's gotta be soon." Don King, sounding as desperate as Hopkins, joined in the plea. "Papa we need you. Papa please give Tito one last chance. Do it for Puerto Rico. Bernard has signed, let Tito sign too. We don't have to look for Bernard he's right here. Everything is ready for you guys." Trinidad Sr., however, reiterated again that it will never happen. While his son was absent, Trinidad Sr. was in the corner of his boxer, Alberto DeJesus Trinidad, who TKOd Catano's Rafael Sierra in the undercard. "Tito's not coming out of retirement. That's not going to happen, no matter how much money he offers," said Trinidad Sr. "The rematch is not going to happen," Trinidad Sr. told Hopkins after the fights. "You proved you're the super champion and the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. We wish you the best. We'll never look back. We have to be firm and not let Puerto Rico down." The fight, by the way, took a backseat to the Don King-Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. drama going on on the sidelines (Hopkins was also at the fight to beg Roy Jones Jr. to fight him). According to both King and Hopkins, the two worked out an agreement for Hopkins' next fight, no small accomplishment considering Hopkins spurned a $10.5 million three-fight Showtime offer made earlier this year that would have sent him into the ring to fight Morrade Hakkar, Joe Calzaghe and Harry Simon. "He's desperate for a fight and he needs to fight me because he messed up his deal with Showtime," Jones Jr. said in the dressing room prior to Saturday's main event. AGREED HOPKINS WAS CHASING A SUPERFIGHT WITH ROY JONES IN 2002, AND LATER DE LA HOYA IN 2003.....WHY SHOULD HE FIGHT 3 BUMS IN HAKKAR (MANDATORY), HARRY SIMON + JOE CALZAGHE FOR JUST $10.5m.......HE WOULD LIKELY TOP $30m FOR JONES + DE LA HOYA IN '02-03. what you talking about? hopkins went on the fight hakkar, joppy and allan for about $2m combined. hopkins would have never received $30M for fighting odly and jones in 02-03, what a crock of ****. all bhop wanted to do was feast on welterweights.

btw, i'm not really sure why some of you have got so touchy about this thread, it is a genuine question and i thought some of you hopkins fans might be able to justify it. i know if calzaghe turned down home advantage and a career high pay day to fight another fighter, i would want to know why calzaghe ducked that fighter. my own theory is that hopkins wanted easy paydays against welterweights and wasn't interested in taking on a real challenge, especially against a fast 2 handed fighter (the kind he's always had trouble with). remember there has been 8 times when hopkins has got into that ring and not been good enough to win the fight, maybe he knew that calzaghe's style was all wrong for him?

And there might be your answer, right there dimwit. Hopkins wanted to defend his title some more, and make money in the process. Plus he knew about Oscar's plans to move up to 160, to fight him, which would have been a guaranteed career high purse, on top of what he would make from PPV revenue. hopkins had cleared out the worst middleweight division in history, so why did he want to defend it more against such poor competition? if hopkins wanted to make money, then why not take a career high payday and fight calzaghe when he would get better paid for calzaghe than his next 3 fights combined? the oscar fight didn't come around for 2 years and 2 months after he ducked calzaghe in 2002. so why not fight calzaghe for all that money at 168 (baring in mind that 20 of hopkins first 21 fights were above the 160 middleweight limit) and then come back to 160 for odly. 2 years was easily enough time for hopkins to adjust back to the weight. hopkins seemed like he was much more interested in fighting welterweights like trinidad and odlh than taking a real challenge like calzaghe. hell, hopkins even called out mosley after the oscar fight lol

Hopkins was controlling 160 while Joe was at 168 no way Hopkins could duck him based on that alone fighters not obligated to move up for a fight and this topic is old hat they fought, nobody really won c'mon, we know hopkins loves them career high paydays. but he chose to fight hakkar, joppy, and allan instead for peanuts. hopkins fought 20 out of his first 21 fights above 160, he would have had no trouble filling out to 168, hopkins didn't want the challenge, he just wanted to keep fighting welterweights in the worst middleweight era ever. yeah they fought 6 years later but b-hop didn't know they would eventually fight years down the line when he 1st ducked calzaghe. when they did eventually fight, it was calzaghe who made all the concessions - fighting in america - fighting at the weight hopkins wanted - having cheating cortez as the referee - 3 american judges seems like the bottom line for bernard, is that he was never good enough to beat a 'Grade A' fighter at a fair weight.