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[easywork]

Hopkins-Calzaghe in Vegas on April 12th?

"I believe the date the 11th or the 12th of April. I know I'm just looking to make it happen. I don't believe anything is signed yet. I got a letter from Arnold Joseph and Richard Schaeffer saying that we have an oral agreement. I could say oral agreements have stood up for the last five years of my career. They expressed to me that we have a deal and I'm expecting an official confirmation on that no later than Monday. I was hoping to hear something yesterday or today, but I'm expecting things to be wrapped up the middle of next week the latest," stated light heavyweight king Bernard Hopkins in a recent interview.

Hopkins revealed that the fight would likely take place in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay or the MGM Grand and he hopes that HBO will be willing to do another 24/7 series for the fight. "I think maybe with a 24/7 if everybody is willing to pitch in, that's HBO, Golden Boy and Frank Warren, if they're willing to pitch in because that ain't free, but I think it would do everybody justice, not only in our bank accounts, but I think the fans will get to see the behind the scenes back and forth that goes on with the game. Again, this ain't a salespitch to convince anybody, I'm just saying that this is one of them kind of fights where I think 24/7 is needed to uplift what's already there. Coming off the heels of the big blockbuster that happened on December 8 one month later, I think it would be great."

Hopkins also revealed that he's been training lightly for the past two or three months, but he's planning on beginning serious training for the fight in about two or three weeks. Along with Brother Nasseem and Freddie Roach, Hopkins is considering reuniting with Mackie Shillstone. "I didn't use him for the Winky Wright for one reason or the other, but for this fight I see that his biggest weapon is punches in bunches and trust me, from what I've experienced with the Tarver fight with Mackie Shilstone, he got me to the point where I was throwing so many punches per round that it was unbelievable."

When asked whether or not Calzaghe would be one of the toughest southpaws he's ever faced, Hopkins emphatically stated, "Oh, No. No. No. Absolutely not. The best southpaw I ever fought in terms of being tricky is John David Jackson." In fact, Hopkins went so far as to say that Calzaghe was at the bottom of the list of southpaws he's faced, behind the likes of Robert Allen, Antonio Tarver and Winky Wright.

[Big Slim Sweet]

So other than a wasted Jones, Tarver has a crap resume of wins. Harding beat him the first go round and was handing it to him the second time till he got caught.

Totally disagree with this statement (not that you're the first person here to ever make it). Tarver may have caught Roy at the right time and become overrated afterwards as a result, but his career resume is solid. Harding, Reg Johnson, Griffen, Glen Johnson... And I hate the fucking argument people like to use with the Harding rematch. Tarver got outboxed for three rounds and then beat the snot out of Harding. Not luck, not a fluke.

Only the fact that Roy became complacent and had slipped just enough combined with the physical deterioration from losing weight is what I attribute him losing to Tarver in the 1st place because 6 years ago, Tarver would have gotten the beating of his career had he fought Roy then but like the coward he was, ducked him all those years ago.

Did I miss some intended sarcasm here? Are you the real PR316 who's a respected poster on this board? Am I not reading your sentence correctly? Tarver ducked Jones all those years, are you fucking kidding? If anything Jones ducked Tarver. And Tarver opted for a rematch with Harding when he didn't have to, when he was risking his mandatory. Tarver may have been a lot of things but a coward he was not.

I'm not even a Tarver fan but some of the hate vented towards him here is extreme. Actually fuck it. Hate all you want, but call a spade a spade.