Calzaghe Beware of Hopkins Dirty Fighting

Joe Calzaghe will have to watch out because Bernard Hopkins will use more than his gloves in the ring during their fight Saturday, April 18, 2008 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hopkins will headbutt, hit low, hold, tie up, use his shoulders and elbows. If Calzaghe gets aggravated by Hopkins' dirty tactics it could cost him the fight because a mad fighter is not a good fighter.

Hopkins will resort to dirty tactics to win a fight by blatantly headbutting to change the course of a fight. A cut eye can do that. Look what happened to Winky Wright. Hopkins will say it was accidental. That it happens with southpaws and orthodox fighters. (Calzaghe is a southpaw too just like Winky Wright.) But the fact is that it's part of Hopkins game plan.

Hopkins knows he has to neutralize an outside fighters jab, to close the distance and not allow them to win by boxing. Hopkins will hold, hold and tie up, hold and maul bordering on grappling. His fights can be very ugly and frustrating for his opponent and fans.

Referee Joe "Firm But Fair" Cortez will be the third man in the ring for the Hopkins-Calzaghe fight. He also refereed the Mayweather-Hatton fight. Cortez did not allow Ricky Hatton to hold in his fight with Mayweather. Whenever the fighters got in close Cortez immediately jumped in and broke up the action which suited Mayweather, an outfighter. Cortez claimed that his actions were justified in that Hatton's holding and hitting was illegal. So, if Cortez allows Hopkins to hold and hit in this fight with Calzaghe suspicions of Cortez being biased against Brits would once again arise.

But there is another twist. Hopkins who has lodged several complaints against Cortez in the past and even had him removed as the referee of his fight with Tito Trinidad in 2001 has been unusually quiet about Cortez being selected referee. This makes one wonder if Golden Boy Promotions whom Hopkins is vice president of has Cortez in their pocket.