Hopkins, Calzaghe will square off at light heavyweight

LONDON - Joe Calzaghe is arguably the best active world champion American boxing fans have never seen.

He'll show off his skills in the United States for the first time when he faces Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas on April 19. The long-awaited matchup at the Thomas & Mack Center will bring together two fighters with a combined 40 world title defenses.

"He definitely needs a facelift and I'm going to sort him out," Calzaghe said at a news conference Wednesday. "I just hope he's not going to run. If he comes toe-to-toe, it's going to be a war and hell of a treat for the fans."

After 21 successful defenses and unifying the world super-middleweight titles, the unbeaten Calzaghe (44-0) hopes that his aggressive, fast-punching style will overwhelm the cagey Hopkins and neutralize the American's home advantage.

Calzaghe is moving up to light heavyweight for the non-title fight.

"I've unified the (super middleweight) titles and, if I go over there and win, then I've done everything," the Welshman said. "To go to the States and beat their top man at light heavyweight, there's no one who can pick holes in my career."

For a change, the 35-year-old Calzaghe is fighting someone a good deal older. Hopkins is 43.

Although Hopkins once had 19 successful defenses of the world middleweight title, he has fought only twice since December 2005 when he lost for the second straight time to Jermaine Taylor.

Since then, Hopkins surprised Antonio Tarver in his first fight at light-heavyweight in June 2006. He came out of retirement and took advantage of a perceived third-round head butt to win a decision over Ronald "Winky Wright" in July 2007.

Calzaghe totally outboxed both Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler in what appeared to be risky super middleweight title fights. He intends to hold on to those belts, despite the switch to light heavyweight.

"Lacy and Kessler are my best performances and that came at the age of 34 and 35," he said of his lopsided points decisions in March 2006 and November last year. "The bigger the fight, the more motivated I get and the better I perform."

Hopkins (48-4-1) is easily the biggest opponent of Calzaghe's career. Hopkins, meanwhile, has fought Roy Jones Jr., Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Taylor, Tarver and Wright.

Hopkins has built a big reputation with some stellar performances in the United States, unifying the world middleweight titles with a ninth-round knockout of De La Hoya in September 2004.

Calzaghe has struggled to make a name for himself outside of Britain despite beating all the major contenders at the super middleweight division.

He took the WBO title from Chris Eubank in 1997 and, after a series of routine but unspectacular defenses, impressively beat both Lacy and Kessler on points. He has overcome concerns about his suspect left hand, which he has broken or injured several times during his career.

"I have new goals, new things to achieve," Calzaghe said. "I've also got to fight in the States before I retire. I could go until I'm 40, but in boxing it's easy to take one fight too many. There are very few that retired undefeated at the right time."

The fight, expected to draw 18,000 fans at the Las Vegas arena, will be televised on HBO.

"I'm going in with an American referee and three American judges," Calzaghe said. "That's a challenge in itself."

• ELECTRICAL PROJECT MANAGER

• ACCOUNTING

• FISCAL ANALYST III

• DRIVERS

• HVAC MECHANICAL

• View all Top Jobs