Calzaghe Injured: Roy Jones Jr Fight Postponed

According to the BBC, Joe Calzaghe has put the impending light heavyweight championship match up with Roy Jones Jr on hold.

During training camp Joe suffered an injury to his right hand.  Like many fighters he has battled of hand injuries for most of his career, but has managed to fight through the ailments.  

No date has been rescheduled as of yet, but as of now the Pay-Per-View event at Madison Square Garden that was supposed to have taken place on September 20th, is off until further notice.

Clazaghe Not Done After Jones?

According to Boxing News 24, Joe Calzaghe may be taking back his recent words of retirement.

Calaghe has informed the president of the WBO that he intends to defend his super middleweight title after the conclusion of the Roy Jones Jr. fight at Madison Square Garden, on September 20th.

Apparently the onslaught of media backlash (us included) that was directed his way after turning down a chance to fight middleweight champ, Kelly Pavlik, finally got to him.  There is no mention of who he would be fighting in his return to super middleweight, but it definitely leaves it open for a Calzaghe - Pavlik Showdown.

Roy Jones Jr. Accepts Calzaghe's Challenge

The BBC has reported that former number one pound-for-pound, multi-division champion, Roy Jones Jr., has accepted the challenge from the Welsh light heavyweight champ, Joe Calzaghe.

"Me and Joe are going to fight this fall and right now it's looking like September 20th," said Jones.

Despite the negativity surrounding this fight due to Calzaghe side stepping a chance to fight Kelly Pavlik, it should still be a decent match up. Both fighters are skilled and fast, needless to say quite a few punches will be thrown (even if some of them are open handed slaps from Calzaghe).  And we think Jones has a pretty good chance of ruining Calzaghe's final bow, which he again stated this fight will be.

"What a perfect way to finish, fighting one of the greats of this generation in what I expect to be my final fight before retirement," said the Welsh champ. "Not many fighters know to bow out at the right time, too many go on and on (wait, you mean like the one you picked to fight?) - it'll be the fight of my life."

So apparently all you Pavlikers out there will have to wait and see who his next victim will be. Maybe in the meantime Calzaghe will come to his senses and decide to step in the ring one more time after Jones, and partake in what really would be the fight of his life.

Old Man Calzaghe Reaffirms: No Pavlik Fight

Enzo Calazaghe told Setanta Sports that his son Joe will absolutely not meet Kelly Pavlik inside the ring.  We said in the past that we somewhat respected Joe's decision, but yesterday's rant by his father has got us second guessing ourselves.  See below.

From what could be deciphered from his Euro-Britalian jive, he basically said, that Kelly The Ghost Pavlik was not a top class fighter and doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as his son.

"I don't feel he [Pavlik] deserves a shot yet at the big-time.  On the back of one performance against a subdued, light fighter (his own pupil, Gary Lockett)... There is a vast, vast difference between Gary and Joe Calzaghe. Gary would be the first to say. It's chalk and cheese (whatever the hell that means)."

Wake up from your lucent dream buddy, Kelly Pavlik is as big as your going to get.

Enzo, we all know Gary Lockett is no Joe Calzaghe, but your son is not the untouchable deity that you are trying to make him out to be.  And the fighter that you trained (and just tossed under the short bus) got dominated more soundly than we have seen in some time by the man that you claim is not even a well known fighter.  If Kelly Pavlik, the undefeated top middleweight in the world, doesn't deserve a shot a Joe Calzaghe, then we don't know what fighter on the this green earth does.  

It is clear that Joe Calzaghe wanted to end his career with an aesthetically pleasing win on paper over Roy Jones, who is rapidly approaching his expiration date in the sport.  Instead, all of this will do the exact opposite. He will be remembered for ducking the best possible fight for his own career advancement, because it is not how the symphony begins, but the finale that you remember the most. 

For Joe Calzaghe to cement his legacy, he must fight Kelly Pavlik or admit that he doesn't want to step in the ring with the young gun from Youngstown out of fear of defeat.

Kelly will bide his time and continue to put pressure on the Calzaghe camp to take the fight. If it doesn't happen, it won't be a problem for The Ghost.  He is currently 26 yrs. old and has plenty of other options, the same cannot be said for his counterpart .

Joe C. will continue to press for his anti-climactic Roy Jones Jr. finale and in the meantime will be walking on water and turning water into wine - right Enzo?