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Boxing

Warren closes on Hopkins fight

11/12/2007

Promoter Frank Warren is confident that he has almost secured Joe Calzaghe a shot at American veteran light-heavyweight Bernard Hopkins.

"The Executioner" represents a money-spinning clash for Calzaghe who turned up the heat on the 43-year-old by confronting him at last weekend's fight between Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather.

The Newbridge southpaw has an imposing 42-fight unbeaten record but Hopkins would be his first test against one of America's finest with the contest also taking him across the Atlantic for the first time.

"I'm 99 per cent certain it will happen," Warren told BBC Radio Five Live.

"We are very close to closing the deal and I hope within a week we will have it done. I'll be sitting down with Joe this week to discuss things. Both boxers want the fight."

The bout is likely to be staged at New York's Yankee Stadium next April with Warren tabling a purse bid of around £4 million to Hopkins' representatives Golden Boy Promotions.

Tension is already high between the two fighters after Hopkins remarked that he would "never lose to a white boy" as the pair stood eye-to-eye in Las Vegas.

"There is no need for racial slurs and to say those derogatory things is diabolical. He should know better and his comments show a lack of class," said Warren.