Triumphant Calzaghe ready to hang up his gloves after next fight

Published on Monday 21 April 2008 10:46

JOE CALZAGHE has confirmed he will contest one more fight before hanging up his gloves and retiring from boxing after his victory over Bernard Hopkins.

The 36-year-old Welshman is unbeaten in 45 contests and defeated Hopkins on a split-points decision on his light-heavyweight debut yesterday. Calzaghe brushed off a first-round knockdown to take a contentious decision in Las Vegas over Hopkins, with one judge scoring the fight 114-113 in favour of the American, while the other two saw Calzaghe winning by 115-112 and 116-111.

American pair Roy Jones Jr and Kelly Pavlik are the Welshman's two most likely opponents, with a fight set to take place later this year.

"I don't want to push it too far, one more fight from me and then that is it, I'm done," Calzaghe said. "Everyone wants to stay unbeaten and I'm no different. If you carry on too long, eventually you will get beaten. All that's left is one more fight and that could be either Roy Jones or Kelly Pavlik.

"Roy Jones is making himself seen and heard. I've spoken to him, he's totally different to Bernard Hopkins. He is a nice guy, full of respect and that will be a massive fight and what a way to finish off your career against the former middleweight, super-middleweight, light-heavy and heavyweight champion of the world. That would be an amazing way to finish off."

Jones Jr was in Las Vegas to watch Calzaghe's fight with Hopkins and the 39-year-old revealed he has spoken to the former four-weight world champion.

"That's all I want to do next, nothing else but that," Jones Jr said. "Joe's saying that this is going to be his last year so maybe we should make it quicker than November. But both the countries want to show the fight so I think we should agree to two fights, one in his country and one in mine.

"I would love to fight Joe in front of all those fans in Wales. I hope we will have the deal done next week to fight on November 15. I would see it as the best moment of my career."