Battle of the Superpowers: Joe Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones Jr
Published November 5, 2008 by Martin Bean
As always, the build up to this weekend’s ‘Battle of the Superpowers’ has featured the usual press conferences and public workouts designed to capture every last PPV buy possible.
Publicity always increases ten fold in the week of the fight and in the national newspapers today, Joe Calzaghe was quoted as saying that the American’s have been ignorant of his talent—this may be true to some degree but might not be the wisest thing to say, especially in the week that a new and historic President has been elected, leaving the American nation feeling as proud as it has done for some time. Such a comment can only serve to make the American people want to stick together and unite to support Jones—the last thing Calzaghe needs 3,000 miles from Wales this Saturday night.
Roy Jones Jr. on the other hand has got on with business in a more subtle manner this week. In a public workout, Jones appeared very much ‘in the zone’ ahead of this contest. Headphones on, Jones looked focused and sharp. On the pads his hand speed, whilst a little slower than five years ago, was still blurring at times—watching him unload triple left hooks effortlessly on the pads was still a joy to behold, even at the age of 39.
The 24/7 series run by HBO for this contest has already been screened in the States; during the three episodes the public get to know Jones and Calzaghe better as well as their more humble beginnings —Setanta have snapped up the rights to screen this series in the UK. It seems these infomercials are now here to stay for the big fights—whilst they are great for the general public, as boxing fans, we already know the background stories so they don’t add too much value for us.
With just a couple of days to go until the big night, I am excited. Madison Square Garden on November 8th is going to be fascinating. The atmosphere will be electric and us Brits will be nervously cheering Calzaghe on. Yet somewhere inside me (as a boxing fan rather than a Brit) wouldn’t it be an amazing way for Jones to cement his legacy by pulling off a shock win in this bout?
We’ll just have to wait and see… you can rest assured that Boxing Capital will keep you informed every step of the way.
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