Calzaghe-Jones implications reach far

NEW YORK – Roy Jones Jr. has spent a lot of the last couple of months talking about history.

And depending upon how things go in Saturday's light heavyweight bout at Madison Square Garden, a lot of boxing's recent history could be stepping aside not long after Jones and Joe Calzaghe climb out of the ring.

The unbeaten and second-ranked Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs) will face Jones (50-4, 38 KOs), the iconic ex-pound-for-pound kingpin in an HBO Pay-Per-View bout that could have repercussions far beyond just the two men in the ring.

Calzaghe, who is nearly a 4-1 favorite, has long said this bout will mark the end of his career, though he has begun to hedge on that in recent days.

Jones has vowed to fight on regardless of the outcome, but a bad loss could have him rethinking that position, particularly given brutal knockout losses to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson in the not-too-distant past.

But if Calzaghe beats Jones in such a way that it forces Jones to end his Hall of Fame-bound career, that could then lead to the retirement of Bernard Hopkins, who is desperate for a rematch with the winner.

Calzaghe, who won a desultory split decision over Hopkins in Las Vegas in April, has little interest in that fight. With few other options for a big fight available, Calzaghe would likely go with plans to retire if there isn't a lucrative rematch available.

Given the public's less-than-enthralling reaction to the Calzaghe-Hopkins fight and the tepid – at best – ticket sales to Calzaghe-Jones, it's hard to imagine anyone anteing up huge money for a rematch of either of those fights, particularly with the nation's economic problems growing by the day.

That could knock all three men out in one fell swoop, because Hopkins is well aware of his limited options.

All of that, has, though, created a sense of urgency in both Jones and Calzaghe. Each man understands the significance of the occasion. And Jones, who knows he'll have to find a way to slow down or at least combat the 100 or more punches per round that Calzaghe will throw, believes he'll find a way one way or another to do that.

"He punches more than anybody I've ever seen as far as my weight class goes, so I can't tell you he's nothing special," Jones said. "That's not true. I never said that. I said nothing special is going to happen on his part that night."

To prevent something special, he's going to have to do something that neither the then-highly touted Jeff Lacy nor Hopkins were able to do, which is to slow Calzaghe's hands enough to land some punches himself.

Jones had exceptionally fast hands in his heyday and Hopkins believes Jones' hands are still faster than Calzaghe's now. That will help him slow down the rapid-fire pace of Calzaghe's incoming attack and let him mount an offense of his own.

"He has the ability to neutralize it," Hopkins said of Jones. "He's not going to stop it, but he's going to neutralize it to the point where Joe is going to find a different tactic or try to find what else he can do other than throwing a whole volume of punches."

But while Hopkins and Jones share the trait of being unorthodox, they're far from similar. Hopkins is a defensive master who did a lot of clinching and holding against Calzaghe and tried to keep the fight at a slow pace on the inside.

Jones agreed that he needs to do something about Calzaghe's hands, but said he'll have to come up with a plan that fits his style.

"Bernard does a lot of things differently than I do," Jones said. "He probably does more clinching and stuff than I'm known to do. His style of doing it is totally different than my style of doing it. I will be neutralizing him, but not the same way."

One gets the sense, though, that Calzaghe believes Jones is made to order for him. Every fight with Hopkins is like trench warfare, but Jones relies more on his athleticism and not his will to win a fight.

Calzaghe said Jones' style mixes better for him than Hopkins and should allow him to be more offensive, not less, despite what the old foes may believe.

"I can't just fight the way I fought against Hopkins against Jones," Calzaghe said. "Styles make fights. I always knew Hopkins had a style I wouldn't like. He's very defensive. He doesn't throw many punches. He waited for me to lead and I felt I almost had to force the fight. If I didn't come forward there wouldn't have been a fight. I think everybody would have walked out halfway through.

"Roy Jones likes to be a showman. He likes to fight. He likes to try and dazzle, so I think that'll play into my hands because he isn't going to stay back, stay back, stay back."

Calzaghe had hoped for many years in the 90s that he would get a shot at Jones, who then was one of boxing's biggest stars, along with Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. But Jones was not inclined to go to the United Kingdom and in those days, Calzaghe fought exclusively on the European side of the Atlantic.

And when Calzaghe, who had a long-time fear of flying, finally opted to come to the U.S., Jones was no longer the standout attraction he had been a decade earlier.

Calzaghe had given up on him, but somehow, the fight still managed to get made and grab its share of the headlines.

"I am one guy who wrote Roy off, but he came back and won three big fights," Calzaghe said. "He is a legend bigger than Hopkins. He's hungry and you can't write him off. He is in great shape and I can't come in as sloppy as I was with Hopkins.

"I was happy with Hopkins' win (over Kelly Pavlik on Oct. 18). I am not friends with him, but I was happy he beat Pavlik because it showed how big my win was over him. Either I am doing something right in the ring or they are all having off days."

If Jones has an off-night, it could lead to the end of three of the game's legends.

Calzaghe's says he's going out, and a bad loss could wind up forcing both Jones and Hopkins to say goodbye along with him.

In that regard, boxing is no different than the political world.

Change, it seems, is coming.