Joe Calzaghe pulled off his 5 to 2 odds chance win over Bernard Hopkins tonight in Las Vegas. It was a close but sloppy fight throughout the night with clinches and over exaggeration on foul play (courtesy of Hopkins). The 43 year old,Bernard Hopkins, could have beat just about any other fighter tonight but Calzaghe’s hand speed put to rest that the Executioner’s statement that “no white boy” could beat him.

Hopkins came into this fight with 3 excellent boxing trainers (Freddy Roach, John David Jackson and Nasim Richardson) and arguably the best sports conditioning coach in all sports, Mackie Shilstone. There’s no doubt that he didn’t take this fight seriously and trained harder than any fighter but Father Time has every fighter’s number. All credit is given to Hopkins for taking such a serious fight at such an advanced age but the worst thing an old fighter can do is face is a younger and faster fighter.

Calzaghe comes with a two-fisted attack that doesn’t end. His punches in close range lack power but overwhelm in speed. Hopkins got off to a great start dropping Calzaghe in the first and holding the first six rounds close but the later half of the fight belonged to the Welshman that kept his hands busy and didn’t fall into the trap of Hopkins’ psychological warfare. Hopkins landed cleaner and harder blows but Calzaghe had the busier hands and slowed him down the stretch of the fight. The official scores were 115-112, 116-111 Calzaghe, Hopkins 114-113. I had it 114-113 for Calzaghe.

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