Hopkins flashes usual hype before big bout with Calzaghe

By Jeff Haney

Thursday, April 17, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Pound for pound the most politically incorrect man in boxing, Bernard Hopkins was at it again this week on the Las Vegas Strip.

Preparing at Planet Hollywood for Saturday’s light heavyweight showdown with Joe Calzaghe at the Thomas & Mack Center, the 43-year-old future Hall of Famer made some distinctively Hopkinsesque predictions as to the outcome.

Calzaghe, unbeaten in 44 bouts, will be fighting in the United States for the first time after making his name competing exclusively in Europe and mostly in his native United Kingdom.

Hopkins saw fit to compare Calzaghe’s coming-to-America party to a funeral ceremony, in that the guest of honor receives a flurry of accolades and attention only to be gone and forgotten the following week.

In another rather unpleasant metaphor, Hopkins promised he has a strategy to defuse Calzaghe’s busy, aggressive attack but said he couldn’t reveal it — just as if he were going to burglarize your house, he wouldn’t tell you the details of his plan ahead of time.

This all followed Hopkins’ infamous statement last year that he would never allow a “white boy” like Calzaghe to beat him. In the buildup to Saturday’s scheduled 12-rounder, Hopkins tried to play down that remark, again in his inimitable way: “You know, he just happened to be not African-American or not Spanish or not Mexican.”

In a reflection of his tactical style in the ring, Hopkins chose his spots as if he were trying to pick away at various facets of Calzaghe’s persona.

Hopkins maintained his age would not be a factor because his conditioning regimen has provided him with the body of a fighter 15 years younger.

“Mentally, physically and spiritually I am a different animal,” Hopkins, of Philadelphia, said. “I am a different animal than Joe, a different animal than any other fighter.”

Hopkins then questioned the caliber of Calzaghe’s opponents, a roster of names unfamiliar to many American boxing fans, but also a couple of big victories against Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler.

“If you look at his resume of quality competition and you look at my resume of quality competition, I’ll win by knockout,” said Hopkins, who made 20 successful defenses of the middleweight world title before losing two close decisions to Jermain Taylor in 2005.

In an attempt to get under his opponent’s skin, Hopkins compared Calzaghe, unfavorably, with another wildly popular fighter from the United Kingdom.

“Is Joe a Hall of Famer?” Hopkins said. “In Europe he is. But he is not a Ricky Hatton.”

The largely pro-Calzaghe crowd at Planet Hollywood for public workouts by the fighters Tuesday was reminiscent of the fan support Hatton received in three Las Vegas fights last year, including a megabout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December.

Thousands of fans from Calzaghe’s home in Wales are expected to outnumber Hopkins supporters at the Thomas & Mack. The fight will be shown on HBO (Cox Cable channel 200).

Calzaghe became the WBO super middleweight world champion by defeating Chris Eubank in 1997 and made 21 successful title defenses. He added the IBF, WBA and WBC belts with his victories against Lacy and Kessler before stepping up to 175 pounds to face Hopkins.

With the exception of taking a mild shot at Hopkins’ age by calling him “Popkins,” Calzaghe has taken Hopkins’ prefight jabs in stride and remained focus on straightforward boxing talk.

“He’s going to have to come out eventually because I feel 100 percent there’s no way he can beat me,” said Calzaghe, a southpaw who’s listed as a 5-2 betting favorite in Las Vegas sports books. “He can’t outbox me and he can’t outfight me ...

“I am so relaxed about this fight, I can’t tell you how confident I am. I don’t have a strategy. I just go in there and do my thing. I’ll be aggressive and see where we go from there.”

Hopkins seized on the “Popkins” remark, interpreting it as a reference to yet another U.K. luminary.

“He called me Mary Poppins,” Hopkins said. “But if you know the history of Mary Poppins, which was one of my favorite bedtime stories when I was small, she was a very powerful lady. She had magical powers with that umbrella. The history of Mary Poppins is nothing to laugh about.”