September 17, 2008
By Matt Richardson / Photos: Ed Mulholland
It wasn’t that long ago that Roy Jones was in the position Joe Calzaghe is now.
A rising super middleweight champ, newly crowned light heavyweight champion and no worse than number two on any objective rankings of the best fighters in the world, pound for pound.
Only now, Calzaghe has what Jones once did and the 39-year old former champion is hoping to regain it all back.
“I love to fight,” Jones (52-4, 38 KO’s) explained at Tuesday’s press conference to announce the November 8th fight between the two light heavyweights. HBO PPV will televise live from Madison Square Garden.
“I just love it,” Jones continued, dismissing concerns about his health. “Nah, I learned to put that aside. God handles that. If I didn’t (feel like I could still do it) I wouldn’t be fighting Joe because he’s the wrong guy if you ain’t ready.”
“This is probably one of the biggest fights of my career,” Jones said. “I know it’s going to be a wonderful fight. We’re all going to have a wonderful time because he’s going to start punching 7 o’clock the night before and he ain’t going to stop until sometime on Sunday,” Jones said of Calzaghe’s famous work rate.
But with Jones’ advanced pugilistic age and with titles in four divisions, many insiders feel the fight should have taken place a long time ago when both fighters were younger and closer to their prime. Now, though, with Jones freeing himself from promoter Don King and Calzaghe from allegedly, the fight is finally on.
“Boxing politics and so on, that’s the way it is,” Calzaghe reasoned. “Obviously I’ve watched Roy Jones all of his career. I’ve always been a fan. Roy Jones is a great fighter. He wanted to fight me as well but everything gets in the way. And finally, me being free from a promoter, finally being in charge of my own career, I want to fight Roy Jones. I want to fight legends. Roy Jones is the man to fight. I think Madison Square Garden is a fantastic way to finish a career. It’s awesome.”
Both boxers’ trainers reiterated their pupil’s comments. “It’s going to be one hell of a fight,” said Jones’ trainer, “Coach” Alton Merkerson. “They got together and worked out their differences. He’s a master of boxing,” Merkerson said pointing to Calzaghe. “But Roy’s a grandmaster of boxing.”
“This has been going on for years and years,” said Calzaghe’s father and trainer, Enzo. “Joe was being a pain in the ass saying ‘I want Roy Jones, I want Roy Jones.’ I’m proud of that request and I’m proud that I approved it.”
“There was only one guy I wanted to fight and that’s Roy Jones Junior,” Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KO’s) said at his turn at the podium. “It’s the only thing missing in my career. With Roy, I know he’s going to fight. Don’t miss this because it’s going to be a treat.”
While many boxing fans would have preferred to see a Calzaghe-Jones fight take place a few years ago, there is an opponent in his prime that many boxing fans would prefer to see Calzaghe tackle right now. The Welshman, however, didn’t seem too interested. “Listen, Kelly Pavlik don’t mean anything,” Calzaghe told Fightnews. “In 20 years people will know who Roy Jones is. No one will know who Kelly Pavlik is in 20 years time. At the end of the day he’s not even done anything yet. He beat Jermain Taylor, big deal. I had this problem with (Mikkel) Kessler. People were saying the same thing. (Jeff) Lacy, people were saying the same thing. Listen, prove yourself. I’ve done my dues. I’m 36. At the end of the day, who knows? If Pavlik gets beat by (Bernard) Hopkins what are people going to say? And bear in mind I tried to get a Pavlik fight twice. After I beat Lacy and after he beat Taylor and twice he turned it down. So it’s quite appropriate that he’s calling me out after I sign to fight Roy Jones, trying to get his name back out there. So that’s just boxing.”
In January, Jones pulled in better pay-per-view numbers than anticipated in his fight with Felix Trinidad (around half a million). HBO is looking to capitalize on that success by producing their third installment of their popular “24/7” series to promote the Calzaghe fight. The first series was for Floyd Mayweather versus Oscar de la Hoya while the second was for Mayweather against Ricky Hatton. “We couldn’t be more excited about a Mayweather-less 24/7,” said HBO’s Ross Greenburg. The first episode of the three part series debuts on Sunday, October 26th at 8:30 PM on HBO, with another episode debuting the following Sunday, November 2nd at the same time, while the finale debuts Thursday, November 6th at 11:00 PM.
On the undercard, local junior welterweight contender Dmitriy Salita looks like he will finally get his inaugural title shot against WBA titleholder Andres Kotelnik. “It’s done on our side,” Salita said of the probability of the fight, estimating that the fight has a “95-percent” chance of taking place. “I think it’s great. It’s a dream come true. It was always one of my dreams to fight for a world title. This is my opportunity to get a belt.” Salita (28-0-1, 16 KO’s) has had difficulty obtaining lucrative, significant fights in the past though he said he was optimistic that period had come to an end. “I’ve had some frustrating moments in my career. I’m excited and I’m going to bring the title back to Brooklyn, New York.” Salita, a staple of Big Apple boxing, recently signed a contract with Jones’ Square Ring promotional company.
Tickets for the card, priced from an astronomical $1,500 to a more moderate $150, are on sale at the Garden’s box office and at all Ticketmaster outlets.
