Fight archiveJoe Calzaghe vs. Bernard Hopkins
Venue Thomas & Mack Centre, las Vegas Referees Joe Cortez Officials Ted Gimza, Adalaide Bird, Chuck Giampa Result Split decision-Calzaghe winner 115-112, 116-111,113-114
Fight Summary
Well that was a tough one to watch! I thought the Kessler fight was tense. After a few drinks out with friends in my hometown I settled in front of the TV at 4am to watch what would be Calzaghes most difficult fight to date. In an untidy, foul ridden affair Calzaghe managed to secure a win by split decision over Hopkins much to the disgust of the Executioner. The fight was Joe’s first in the USA and was a celeb fest with Sylvester Stallone, Michael J Fox, Simon Cowell and Catherine Zeta Jones being in attendance. Tom Jones’ rendition of the Welsh national anthem was not the best but did help create a great atmosphere.
Joe entered the ring with a similar version of the tune used for the Kessler fight by Joe Hayde called “Still Undefeated” that can be downloaded for free from the Radio Cardiff website. It was clear that he had the greater support with apparently 8000 fans being in attendance. I am also proud to say that the fans behaved impeccably with no booing of the US national anthem like there had been at the Hatton vs. Mayweather fight and also the Calzaghe vs. Manfredo fight that I watched at the Millennium stadium last April. The fight started well for Hopkins who floored Joe in the first round with a wicked right hand punch which put Joe on the canvas for only the 3rd time in his career (Salem and Mitchell are the other 2) resulting in a cut on the bridge of Joe’s nose. Calzaghe was off the canvas very quickly but to be honest did not do much in the first 5 rounds as he was still stunned. As expected the fight was messy with Joe pressing forward trying to make a fight of it with Hopkins acting as a counterpuncher tying Joe’s jabbing arm whenever possible. The first five rounds were very difficult to score because of this but seemingly the US referees favoured the more aggressive approach of Calzaghe.
From round 6 Calzaghe started to have the measure of Hopkins’ punch and hold style with his constant come forward style starting to wear out the American. Rounds 8 and 9 saw Hopkins start to get hit more frequently which influenced some underhand behaviour in the tenth where Hopkins fell to the canvas after an alleged low blow which on the replay showed that it was only a glancing contact. This was repeated in the 11th by Hopkins and was clearly a ploy by the experienced American to get his breath back due to the fast pace being set by Joe. Fortunately, “fair but firm” Joe Cortez made Hopkins continue. The last round saw Calzaghe relentlessly pursue Hopkins who had been told by his dad Enzo he needed a knockout. Hopkins could only hold and attempt to hit Joe with counters but both fighters went for it in the last 10 seconds. Both fighters went to their corners with arms raised in victory but it was the pride of Wales who got the decision. Gimza and Giampa each had it for Calzaghe by 115-112 and 116-111 respectively whilst Byrd (from Philadelphia what a coincidence) scored it 114-113 to Hopkins because of “his work on the inside”. When Michael Buffer announced the result there was a big cheer from my living room but an even bigger one in the Thomas and Mack centre. I thought the result was VERY close but I still thought Joe was the winner. It was was not one of Joe’e best displays but in his defence he was fighting a tricky, ugly Hall of fame fighter, away from home, at a new weight with US referees. This makes this for me one of his best victories up there with Eubank and Kessler. Hopkins was a disgrace in defeat saying he had won and had taken “Joe to school”. That is all well and good but when you look at the Compubox stats which quantify the number of punches thrown and landed Joe managed to hit Hopkins more times than ANY other fighter he has fought and this includes a prime Roy Jones Jr who beat Hopkins in 1993. Whilst Hopkins threw the harder punches it was Joe who threw more scoring punches. Joe is now 45-0 and one thing I can say with certainty is that I will be attending his next fight in person. Whilst Setanta sports provides great coverage I want to make sure I am there for what will probably be Joe’s last fight.
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Mikkel Kessler
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Date Saturday April 19th 2008
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