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Video interview with some interesting comments.
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Video interviews with Calzaghe snr and jnr, with more of the same and some good comments from Roy and his team.
~RS~a~RS~International~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~45~RS~)
Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jr both narrowly made the weight ahead of Saturday's fight in New York.
Welshman Calzaghe, 36, and Jones Jr, 39, crept under the 175lb limit when they each tipped the scales at 174½lb at Friday's weigh-in.
The fight at Madison Square Garden is being seen as a clash for the de facto world light-heavyweight crown.
Jones is a former four-weight world champion, while Calzaghe is unbeaten in 45 professional fights.
"I'm excited," said Calzaghe.
"It's going to be a great fight, Madison Square Garden is a great place and you're going to see one awesome show tomorrow and (I will be) still undefeated, 46 and 0."
Jones countered: "This is going to be the best fight this year - cheer your man on but Roy Jones is back."
Calzaghe's father and trainer Enzo has questioned Jones Jr's heart ahead of the fight.
"When things get hard and his heart is searched and mind questioned, will he come up short? Against Joe, he will," said Calzaghe Sr.
"Jones had it his own way for too long, and when he found someone who wanted to knock him out, he came up short."
Calzaghe Sr, who has been in his son's corner for all of his 45 unbeaten professional fights, was referring to Jones' losses to Antonio Tarver [twice] and Glen Johnson between 2004 and 2005.
However, Jones' trainer of 16 years, Alton Merkerson claimed there were valid reasons for those losses, the main one being his charge's rapid weight loss following his defeat of John Ruiz for the WBA heavyweight crown.
"What Roy did has never been done, going up from light-heavyweight to win the heavyweight crown before coming back down to claim the light-heavyweight crown again [Jones claimed the WBC light-heavyweight crown from Tarver before his run of three successive defeats]," said Merkerson.
"He put on 18-20lb of muscle and shortly after he beat Ruiz we started negotiating with Mike Tyson, but he wasn't ready to fight Roy.
"So he was pressured into boxing Antonio Tarver by the boxing world and [television channel] HBO. The date was locked in and Tarver's name came up.
"It was complicated coming back down to 175lb and his mental frame of mind was messed up. He wasn't mentally or physically prepared and he didn't look very good.
"But he's right back to where he used to be. He's comfortable at 175lb, and I see in Roy now what I saw in him 12 years ago.
"It takes more of a man after being knocked out and continuing to march. I don't see him struggling with Calzaghe's speed. Some people can drive with windscreen wipers going, some people can't. So those punches won't bother Roy."
Merkerson, who was also in Jones' corner when the Florida native won a silver medal at the 1988 Olympics, added that the underdog status suits his man.
"Roy has nothing to prove, he's already made history," said Merkerson.
"But Calzaghe has a lot of pressure on him. He has a record of 45-0 and wants it to be 46-0. Everyone's saying Roy's the underdog, that Joe should beat him and that Joe's on top of his game and Roy's not.
"When Roy's the underdog, that's when he fights at his best. He was a 4-1 underdog against James Toney [when he took Toney's IBF super-middleweight title in 1994] and he made him look like an amateur.
"People said he was too small against John Ruiz and you saw what happened then."
However, Calzaghe Sr said there was no way his son would fall short in his aim to retire undefeated.
"As long as he turns up at the top of his game, there'll be no problems - he'll stay undefeated," said Calzaghe Sr. "That's his passion, his goal the dream he's always had.
"Joe has that extra bit of zest and passion. When his heart got searched, as it was against Chris Eubank [when Calzaghe won the WBO super-middleweight crown in 1997] he called upon his character, his endurance, and he adjusted.
"Sakio Bika [who Calzaghe outpointed in 2006], he called Joe the dirtiest fighter he fought in his entire life.
"So will it be the brawler or the boxer on Saturday night? I don't even know myself.
"Jones is fast and can throw two and three shot combinations, but Joe can throw 15-shot combinations and can do it for 12 rounds.
"Jones can't counter that. He knows it suits Joe going toe-to-toe and it suits Joe if he backs off, so Jones is in no-man's land.
"And when things get tough after round six, we'll see a different Roy Jones. When he goes to rev the engine, it won't be there."
Video interviews with Calzaghe snr and jnr, with more of the same and some good comments from Roy and his team.
Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jr both narrowly made the weight ahead of Saturday's fight in New York.
Welshman Calzaghe, 36, and Jones Jr, 39, crept under the 175lb limit when they each tipped the scales at 174½lb at Friday's weigh-in.
The fight at Madison Square Garden is being seen as a clash for the de facto world light-heavyweight crown.
Jones is a former four-weight world champion, while Calzaghe is unbeaten in 45 professional fights.
"I'm excited," said Calzaghe.
"It's going to be a great fight, Madison Square Garden is a great place and you're going to see one awesome show tomorrow and (I will be) still undefeated, 46 and 0."
Jones countered: "This is going to be the best fight this year - cheer your man on but Roy Jones is back."
Calzaghe's father and trainer Enzo has questioned Jones Jr's heart ahead of the fight.
"When things get hard and his heart is searched and mind questioned, will he come up short? Against Joe, he will," said Calzaghe Sr.
"Jones had it his own way for too long, and when he found someone who wanted to knock him out, he came up short."
Calzaghe Sr, who has been in his son's corner for all of his 45 unbeaten professional fights, was referring to Jones' losses to Antonio Tarver [twice] and Glen Johnson between 2004 and 2005.
However, Jones' trainer of 16 years, Alton Merkerson claimed there were valid reasons for those losses, the main one being his charge's rapid weight loss following his defeat of John Ruiz for the WBA heavyweight crown.
"What Roy did has never been done, going up from light-heavyweight to win the heavyweight crown before coming back down to claim the light-heavyweight crown again [Jones claimed the WBC light-heavyweight crown from Tarver before his run of three successive defeats]," said Merkerson.
"He put on 18-20lb of muscle and shortly after he beat Ruiz we started negotiating with Mike Tyson, but he wasn't ready to fight Roy.
"So he was pressured into boxing Antonio Tarver by the boxing world and [television channel] HBO. The date was locked in and Tarver's name came up.
"It was complicated coming back down to 175lb and his mental frame of mind was messed up. He wasn't mentally or physically prepared and he didn't look very good.
"But he's right back to where he used to be. He's comfortable at 175lb, and I see in Roy now what I saw in him 12 years ago.
"It takes more of a man after being knocked out and continuing to march. I don't see him struggling with Calzaghe's speed. Some people can drive with windscreen wipers going, some people can't. So those punches won't bother Roy."
Merkerson, who was also in Jones' corner when the Florida native won a silver medal at the 1988 Olympics, added that the underdog status suits his man.
"Roy has nothing to prove, he's already made history," said Merkerson.
"But Calzaghe has a lot of pressure on him. He has a record of 45-0 and wants it to be 46-0. Everyone's saying Roy's the underdog, that Joe should beat him and that Joe's on top of his game and Roy's not.
"When Roy's the underdog, that's when he fights at his best. He was a 4-1 underdog against James Toney [when he took Toney's IBF super-middleweight title in 1994] and he made him look like an amateur.
"People said he was too small against John Ruiz and you saw what happened then."
However, Calzaghe Sr said there was no way his son would fall short in his aim to retire undefeated.
"As long as he turns up at the top of his game, there'll be no problems - he'll stay undefeated," said Calzaghe Sr. "That's his passion, his goal the dream he's always had.
"Joe has that extra bit of zest and passion. When his heart got searched, as it was against Chris Eubank [when Calzaghe won the WBO super-middleweight crown in 1997] he called upon his character, his endurance, and he adjusted.
"Sakio Bika [who Calzaghe outpointed in 2006], he called Joe the dirtiest fighter he fought in his entire life.
"So will it be the brawler or the boxer on Saturday night? I don't even know myself.
"Jones is fast and can throw two and three shot combinations, but Joe can throw 15-shot combinations and can do it for 12 rounds.
"Jones can't counter that. He knows it suits Joe going toe-to-toe and it suits Joe if he backs off, so Jones is in no-man's land.
"And when things get tough after round six, we'll see a different Roy Jones. When he goes to rev the engine, it won't be there."
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