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LOL, I missed that part
Calzaghe had tried to make a Hopkins fight for years as well:
- Jay Larkin, then Showtime TV Network's Senior Vice-President of Sports and Event Programming.
http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxin...flirted-years/
Calzaghe had tried to make a Hopkins fight for years as well:
"A teleconference was set up in my office in New York for July 30th, 2002, and on the call was myself, Don King who was in the room, Frank Warren and Bernard Hopkins' lawyer, Arnold Joseph. Along with Arnold was a woman named Linda Carter, who was there on behalf of Bernard. We asked Arnold if Bernard wanted to fight Joe Calzaghe and we asked him how much money would he want if he did. The response we got was $3million and the fight would have to take place in the United States. After a little scratching of the head, we said 'Okay, done.' Frank Warren agreed on the spot, Don King agreed and we agreed so as far as we were concerned all parties were singing off the one hymm sheet. Arnold excused himself with Linda and I can only assume it was to call Bernard. Either that day or the next day, they came with a new demand: $6million, double the sum that had been agreed, the deal blew up.....he had then and still has no desire to fight Joe Calzaghe, that much is pretty clear.
Joe gets criticised sometimes for not having fought the big-name Americans, but in this case the fault has never rested with him."
Joe gets criticised sometimes for not having fought the big-name Americans, but in this case the fault has never rested with him."
The fight almost went down in 2004, and there was a $2.5 million offer on the table to Hopkins, who rejected it. Calzaghe and Warren scrambled to plug in a foe for the date saved for Hopkins, and Calzaghe wound up downing Armenian Mger Mrktchian (TKO7) and giving the Hopkins romance a rest. Calzaghe and Hopkins had been flirting for much of 2002, and 2003 too, so this ‘all flirt-no eff farce has been unfolding for a looong spell.
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