Calzaghe, who was dropped by Jones in the first round, was finding Jones's speed and guile difficult to deal with initially, before he began to take control of the fight from around the fourth round.

Jones was still dangerously pot-shotting Calzaghe until the half point, but then his engine began to stutter and stall and his usually steadfast legs began to look feeble as the veteran of 56 fights spanning 4 weight divisions since turning pro in 1989.

In round seven, Jones ducked into a shot which opened up a nasty cut above his left eye which troubled the fighter. Calzaghe tried to press the action more but Jones was still too tough and dangerous for Joe.

The fight end 109-118 across all three judges scorecards.

Afterwards Calzaghe was questioned as to whether he would fancy fighting Chad Dawson, the current IBF Light heavyweight champion, who at aged 26 and an unbeaten southpaw himself would provide a true test for the Welshman.

“Joe has a lot to be proud of and I for one am very impressed. If Joe wants to have his grand farewell in Wales, I am ready to accommodate" Said Chad Dawson of the win.

“I’m ready to give Joe the opportunity to draw the curtain on his great career in front of his family and friends and 70,000 fans. It’s the best fight in the light-heavyweight division between two undefeated champions.”


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HOBOKEN, N.J. (October 16, 2008) – Integrated Sports will distribute the long awaited November 8th showdown between unbeaten International Boxing Federation middleweight champion “King” Arthur Abraham and top contender Raul “El Diamente” Marquez, in the United States and Canada, live from Germany.

Abraham-Marquez, originally scheduled October 4, was postponed due to Abraham’s sudden illness on the day of the fight and rescheduled for Nov. 8 at the same site, Jako Arena, in Bamberg, Germany.

Abraham-Marquez is promoted by Wilfried Sauerland, presented by Sauerland Event and its Managing Director, Christian Meyer, in association with Seminole Warriors Boxing. The broadcast is being distributed in the United States and Canada by Integrated Sports for live viewing at 3 PM/ET – 12 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, TVN, DISH Network,Viewer’s Choice Canada, and Bell ExpressVue, for a suggested retail price of only $24.95. iN Demand will show a replay the following day at 2 PM/ET – 11 AM/PT. Al Bernstein and Nick Charles will call the action.

Abraham (27-0, 22 KOs), rated No. 1 by The Ring and ESPN, is coming off of his first fight in the United States (Hollywood, F), stopping Edison Miranda (30-2) in the second round of their June 21st non-title fight in explosive fashion. Abraham, however, remains somewhat of a curiosity factor in North America in terms of being a serious threat for Kelly Pavlik in a potential unification bout.

“King” Arthur captured the IBF middleweight title nearly three years ago by way of a fifth-round knockout of Kingsley Ikeke (23-1). Seven successful title defenses have followed against

Miranda, Shannon Taylor, Kofi Jantuah, Sebastian Demers, Khoren Gevor, Wayne Elcock and Elvin Ayala.

The 37-year-old Marquez (41-3-1, 29 KOs), rated No. 2 by the IBF as well as No. 8 by The Ring and ESPN, earned his title shot against Abraham by defeating previously unbeaten No. 1 contender Giovanni Lorenzo (26-0) in their IBF title eliminator on the June 21st Abraham-Miranda
card. Marquez, fighting out of Houston, was a 1992 U.S. Olympian who was the IBF junior middleweight title-holder in 1997.

Despite taking off 1 ½ years to work as a broadcaster for HBO’s boxing telecasts in Spanish, Raul is more experienced in the ring than Abraham – 269 to 161 in rounds fought – having been in against world champions Jermain Taylor, Shane Mosley, Fernando Vargas and Yori Boy Campas.

The 10-round co-feature on the PPV show from Germany has former NABO champion Otis “Triple OG” Griffin (19-3-2, 7 KOs), of Sacramento, taking on Yugoslavian-born Enad Licina (14-1, 8 KOs), now living in Germany, for the vacant IBF Intercontinental cruiserweight belt. Additional undercard bouts to be part of the PPC card will soon be announced.

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Elsewhere back in England, Junior Witter made the weight ahead of his 10 round fight with Argentine Victor Hugo Castro.

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Roy Jones and Joe Calzaghe presented the media with an open workout ahead of their Madison Square Garden showdown this saturday.

To view the Joe Calzaghe video CLICK HERE

To view the Roy Jones video CLICK HERE

The all-action Nottingham slugger has been campaigning at super-flyweight and risks his British title against Bristol's Lee Haskins (17-2) at Robin Park Arena, Wigan on Friday November 7.

Bell, 23, moved up to super-flyweight because he was struggling to get work in the eight stone division.

Currently the EBU do not recognise the super-flyweight division meaning Andy's continental opportunities are extremely limited.

Promoter Frank Maloney has contacted the EBU head office in Rome explaining the dilemma and hopes his man can box the winner of next month's vacant title fight between Ivan Pozo and Christophe Rodrigues.

He said: "I dare say the EBU will recognise the super-flyweight division in the near future, but this is a problem for Andy right now.

"We are speaking with the EBU about the situation and I hope they understand his position. He is a natural flyweight, but had to step up.

"I get on well with the EBU and I hope that commonsense will prevail in this matter."

Maloney realises that Bell (11-3) cannot look too far ahead and warned the boxer to expect a tough time from southpaw Haskins.

He added: "It wasn't too long ago that Haskins was being spoken of as a future world champion by his handlers.

"He is an awkward southpaw and there have even been comparisons with Naseem Hamed. This is a pick 'em fight."

Other stars on the Sky Sports televised show include Mark Moran who defends his English super-bantamweight title, Mark Thompson, Tony Quigley, Thomas McDonagh and Akaash Bhatia. Tickets can be purchased by calling 0871 226 1508 or by logging on to www.frankmaloney.com

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"It's been great out here, I'm not distracted with anything outside of boxing and all I do is train and learn," said Khan. "I'm working on so much stuff with Freddie that I'm going home more mentally tired than physically tired.

"Although the loss to Prescott was a big blow, it was perhaps the best thing that could have happened to me because it made me realise I had to change things and I've made the right move to Freddie.

"I'm really looking forward to my comeback fight and showing everyone that I am back and have even more determination to reach the top."

Former Irish light-welterweight champion Oisín Fagan has been selected as Amir Khan's next opponent.

The Dubliner now lives in Oklahoma and has a record of 22-5 (13 KOs) since turning professional in 2003, will fight Khan in London's Excel Arena on December 6. He recently fought Paul Spadafora to a split decision and will provide Amir with a tough assignment.

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Hi everybody this is Ricky.

Well I have landed in Vegas and the weather is hot. Big change from the rain of Manchester. I settled into my house and the team made all the arrangements for training and sparring.

I am staying off the strip as the air conditioning doesn't agree with me in the hotels. I have a chef coming in everyday and he prepares the meals for the team. His name is Rick so he is Rick the chef. Not to be confused with Ricky Fatton the boxer. In this instance Ricky Fatton is long gone and my weight is good in fact I am probably ahead of myself and in terrific condition.

I always take a couple of days to adapt to the change in climate so I take it easy and just do a light run when I get here. So over the weekend I did a little shopping in the mall to kill time. I got a new puzzle (That's an outfit for the after fight party) and I got 5 pair of jeans. I love it here as I can get 33" waist jeans. You don't get that in Manchester.

I did the NUTS TV show over the weekend and my old mate Wayne McCullough came over to co host the show, it was nice to see him with his wife Cheryl and daughter Wynona (check spelling) Wayne has been here 15 years now and he loves it. I think I could get used to it the more I come over. It’s nice to get away from the strip and see the real Las Vegas.

Our Matthew arrived Sunday and it was nice to see a familiar face. He will hopefully be sorting his opponent in the next couple of days.

Monday morning saw the first day of proper training in Vegas. I was up at 5.30am and we went up to Mount Charleston to run. I started with a four mile run just to acclimatise myself as the air is thinner in the mountains. It was nice that Floyd and lee were both there with me whilst I did the run. Even though they were in the car driving alongside me...

After the run it was back home for a kip before the gym. I am sparring at private gym in Las Vegas and I brought in a guy called Timothy Coleman for sparring. He is a very strong guy and I had a good spar with him. Tim has sparred with Oscar De La Hoya and Paulie Malignaggi in the past. I was please with my first spar considering I had been up early and done a four mile run beforehand.

I spoke with Floyd and lee and they are both happy with the way my training has gone so far. It’s been good learning new things. I think over the last couple of years I hadn't worked on new things. So I am really enjoying this training camp. It’s true to say that I am in great shape and things couldn't be better.

Update - Thursday

As the days move on the training is getting harder. After running at the bottom of mount Charleston on Monday today I started to do some running on the steep hill road. Floyd had me buy some proper boots for running, old school. The wind is bitter and you need a hat and gloves the air is so thin it’s a killer to breath.

It’s amazing to think that we are in the desert. Sparring went well again today with timothy Coleman. He is a very tough kid from Baltimore.

Once I finish training its straight down to Starbucks for an Americano.

I have been keeping up with the football scores and noticed city drew the other day. When I can I like to watch soccer on the TV. Evenings are spent watching DVD's in my room. Mostly comedies.

I had planned to release my own song in time for Christmas but with all the training I couldn't find the time so I have decided to leave it until the new year. I read I was 14-1 for a number one single at Christmas after Take that and Rick Astley. I bet Rick is chuffed I pulled out; still he never was one to give up.

All images copyright and courtesy of Paul Speak of Team Hatton

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