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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.

[Byrd Man]

Just saw this on the front page of Boxingtalk. I had to laugh at his obvious "informercial" rambling on promoting the website....

GL: I got the call from the Golden CEO giving me the hottest boxing news in the world, that your fight with Joe Calzaghe is a done deal for April 19 in Vegas. The bigger news is that the fight will be televised on free HBO. Can you give us some thoughts on this?

Bernard Hopkins: "Yes, he finally signed. As the world of boxing has been aniticipating and waiting patiently for, he finally got the pen put into his hand by somebody on that side. Frank Warren, Jay Larkin or whoever is handling his business right now and it's a done deal. The media and the world and of course where the news comes from, and I'm saying where THE news comes accurate is Boxingtalk.com, where they give it to the fans as it develops and unfolds. Now I'm ready to give Joe Calzaghe something he hasn't experienced before and that's the letter L, for loss in that zero column. I'm ready to go and I'm ready to do whatever we have to do to put the world on notice that April 19 is execution day for the Welshman. Many will cross the Atlantic ocean to witness an execution on April 19

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumbsdown_anim.gif) @ the obvious whoring for the website. Wonder how much he got paid for that.