Joe Calzaghe, Roy Jones Jr. To Square Off In September Bout At MSG
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Calzaghe To Defend Title At
September Bout At MSG |
Boxers Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jr. will face off September 20 at MSG for the light heavyweight championship, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. The fight, which will be televised on HBO PPV, will be promoted by Jones' Square Ring in conjunction with Joe Calzaghe Enterprises. Square Ring, which Jones founded in '89, has "promoted many fights but has been somewhat dormant the past several years," and it has "never taken the lead role on a fight this big." But Square Ring CEO John Wirt said that Jones was "dedicated to building his company as well as fighting." Rafael noted Jones is fighting without the involvement of boxing promoter Don King, who promoted Jones' January 19 victory against Felix Trinidad and had an "option for Jones' next bout." Wirt: "Roy explained to Don that he wanted to fulfill his dream of promoting the fight on his own with Joe." Jones and Calzaghe over the past few months have "spoken with each other several times in an effort to make a deal." The two earlier this week met at HBO's N.Y. offices "working on various aspects of the fight" (ESPN.com, 7/8).
TIME TO SPAR: In London, Gareth Davies writes the September 20 date has been open to Calzaghe and Jones because HBO had already scheduled a bout for that night between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr., but that fight was canceled when Mayweather last month announced his retirement. Calzaghe had stated publicly that he "wanted to box again in front of 50,000 fans at the Millennium Stadium" in Cardiff, Wales, Calzaghe's home country. But HBO has "insisted that their backing would only be given" to a PPV contest in the U.S. HBO is planning to make a documentary leading up to the fight similar to what it did for December's Ricky Hatton-De La Hoya bout (London TELEGRAPH, 7/9).
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