Hopkins happy to be underdog against Calzaghe
Enlarge imageBy Kieran Mulvaney
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Bernard Hopkins is known as ’The Executioner’ but he is happy to be the underdog for Saturday’s light-heavyweight clash with Joe Calzaghe.
Calzaghe’s prodigious output, combined with Hopkins’ conservative style and the American’s age of 43, means that the quick-punching Welshman has been installed as the bookmakers’ favourite for his Las Vegas debut.
"They say, ’How do you feel to be an underdog?’ I was born an underdog," Hopkins told reporters ahead of the long-awaited showdown at the Thomas & Mack Arena.
"That’s what I like. Don’t you know that that helps me? That’s not a negative to me.
"That’s a positive to me. I’d rather be that, because that’s my world, that’s how I function. Everything I got, in and out of the ring, I’ve had to fight for."
Hopkins, who turned to boxing after being sent to prison as a 17-year-old, and his opponent have between them fought 46 world title bouts. Each will face an entirely new challenge this time, however.
Calzaghe, 44-0 with 32 KOs, has yet to face an opponent with the big-fight experience of Hopkins -- whose resume includes contests against Roy Jones, Jermain Taylor, Felix Trinidad and Oscar De la Hoya.
Hopkins has never .....continued below
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fought a man who throws more than 1,000 punches in a fight, as Calzaghe did against Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler in November.TREMENDOUSLY HARD
Hopkins (48-4-1 with 32 KOs) has lost just twice since 1993 while Calzaghe, unbeaten as a professional, has held a super middleweight belt since 1997.
Hopkins won the IBF middleweight belt in 1995 and moved up to light-heavyweight in 2006, taking the title from Antonio Tarver and defending it in 2007 against Winky Wright.
Ten years after winning the WBO super-middleweight title, Calzaghe added the WBA and WBC crowns when he outpointed Kessler.
After defeating Kessler, Calzaghe told reporters that "the obvious thing was to fight at light-heavyweight and who else to fight but Bernard Hopkins? He’s been champion himself for nearly 10 years at middleweight."
Calzaghe, who has said he wants to "put on a show and smash him to bits", sounded confident at the final pre-fight news conference.
"Bernard has lost a few times, but he’s never been stopped," he said. "That’s something I obviously believe I’m going to do on Saturday night. Basically, I’m punching tremendously hard. My fitness and everything is amazing. I’m just tremendously excited."
He acknowledged that Hopkins was a dangerous foe.
"Bernard can be quite skilled at times, but he can also be quite crude," he said. "He’ll have done his homework, and he’ll have realized that I like fighters who come to me.
"It could be a cagey fight at times, I have to make sure I’m patient.
"If I get drawn into a sloppy fight, then I’m asking for trouble."
Hopkins refused to be drawn on his plan for victory.
Page: 12next
By Kieran Mulvaney
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Bernard Hopkins is known as ’The Executioner’ but he is happy to be the underdog for Saturday’s light-heavyweight clash with Joe Calzaghe.
Calzaghe’s prodigious output, combined with Hopkins’ conservative style and the American’s age of 43, means that the quick-punching Welshman has been installed as the bookmakers’ favourite for his Las Vegas debut.
"They say, ’How do you feel to be an underdog?’ I was born an underdog," Hopkins told reporters ahead of the long-awaited showdown at the Thomas & Mack Arena.
"That’s what I like. Don’t you know that that helps me? That’s not a negative to me.
"That’s a positive to me. I’d rather be that, because that’s my world, that’s how I function. Everything I got, in and out of the ring, I’ve had to fight for."
Hopkins, who turned to boxing after being sent to prison as a 17-year-old, and his opponent have between them fought 46 world title bouts. Each will face an entirely new challenge this time, however.
Calzaghe, 44-0 with 32 KOs, has yet to face an opponent with the big-fight experience of Hopkins -- whose resume includes contests against Roy Jones, Jermain Taylor, Felix Trinidad and Oscar De la Hoya.
Hopkins has never fought a man who throws more than 1,000 punches in a fight, as Calzaghe did against Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler in November.
TREMENDOUSLY HARD
Hopkins (48-4-1 with 32 KOs) has lost just twice since 1993 while Calzaghe, unbeaten as a professional, has held a super middleweight belt since 1997.
Hopkins won the IBF middleweight belt in 1995 and moved up to light-heavyweight in 2006, taking the title from Antonio Tarver and defending it in 2007 against Winky Wright.
Ten years after winning the WBO super-middleweight title, Calzaghe added the WBA and WBC crowns when he outpointed Kessler.
After defeating Kessler, Calzaghe told reporters that "the obvious thing was to fight at light-heavyweight and who else to fight but Bernard Hopkins? He’s been champion himself for nearly 10 years at middleweight."
Calzaghe, who has said he wants to "put on a show and smash him to bits", sounded confident at the final pre-fight news conference.
"Bernard has lost a few times, but he’s never been stopped," he said. "That’s something I obviously believe I’m going to do on Saturday night. Basically, I’m punching tremendously hard. My fitness and everything is amazing. I’m just tremendously excited."
He acknowledged that Hopkins was a dangerous foe.
"Bernard can be quite skilled at times, but he can also be quite crude," he said. "He’ll have done his homework, and he’ll have realized that I like fighters who come to me.
"It could be a cagey fight at times, I have to make sure I’m patient.
"If I get drawn into a sloppy fight, then I’m asking for trouble."
Hopkins refused to be drawn on his plan for victory.
"That’s just like if I’m going to burglarize your house I’m going to call you up and tell you I’m coming through the front door," he stated. "I’m not going to do that if I don’t want you to catch me."
The Executioner did make one simple prediction, however.
"You’re going to see an effective, punishing, precise execution in this fight," he said.
(Editing by Alan Baldwin)
© 2008 Reuters Click for restrictions
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