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Joe Calzaghe said that he will announce whether or not he will retire in 2009. Joe Calzaghe is one of the best pound for pound the best fighters in the world. All the top boxers near his weight class have been calling him out to fight him. For example, the veteran boxer Glen Johnson personally wrote Joe Calzaghe a letter asking for him to fight him. The fighters that he could possibly face include Carl Froch, Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson and Jermain Taylor.

First, Bernard Hopkins is the best possible opponent that Calzaghe could fight to start off the New Year. Both boxers are at the latter stages of their careers. Calzaghe won the first boxing match by a razor close split decision. There were plenty of people including one of the judges that thought Bernard Hopkins won the fight. A rematch between them would finally decide which boxer is better. But, sadly it’s probably not going to happen because Calzaghe is still angry with Hopkins. Calzaghe still has immense dislike of Hopkins because of some of the things he said leading up to the first match. Calzaghe said "He's a complete idiot. I don't want to give him a rematch They way he fought in Las Vegas was cowardly because he held all night and pretended to be hit by low blows. He tried to steal the fight."(eastsideboxing.com)

Another interesting boxing match would be Calzaghe vs Chad Dawson.  Dawson is the best light heavyweight in the world not named Joe Calzaghe. Dawson is a young hungry fighter. He as well has good speed and athleticism. Chad Dawson wants to fight Calzaghe and he would even go to Wales for the match. However, Calzaghe doesn't seem very interested in fighting Dawson. Calzaghe dismissed him by saying "Why? Who is Chad Dawson? The guy has won the world title and he can't attract flies, he can't fill up his own neighborhood. Why fight him? He's a good fighter but what does that mean?"(guardian.co.uk)

Likewise, Carl Froch is a young undefeated super middleweight boxer that fights out of Nottingham, England. This fight would be big in Europe. Calzaghe and Froch have already had a war of words between each other.  Specifically, Calzaghe dismissed Froch as an opponent by saying "he did not know who Froch, the new WBC super-middleweight champion, was — but he has done some research in the meantime."Yeah, I Googled him," he said. "I've seen him but the guy doesn't mean anything. The guy don't mean shit. The guy he fought the other day Jean Pascal, he didn't look any good. And the Americans won't pay one penny for him; they're not interested in him. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."(guardian.co.uk) Now Froch is sick of waiting on Calzaghe and he is looking for other possible opponents.

However, Calzaghe keeps saying that he only will fight boxers that have a big name and that can generate a big money fight. To illustrate, Calzaghe said "If the money is right I will fight. If somebody comes to the table with really big money I'd be stupid to turn it down." (boxingscene.com). Jermain Taylor is better known then Carl Froch and Chad Dawson. Therefore, it would be a boxing match fight that could draw interest in America and overseas. In addition, Calzaghe still seems more interested in taking fights that don't involve huge risk. Taylor is beatable.

 Accordingly, Calzaghe wants a fight that can generate buzz and make good money then Jermain Taylor is the best opponent for him to face. Thus, I think that Calzaghe won't retire and that he will fight at least one more fight. His win over Roy Jones came way too easy for him. Calzaghe knows that he has at least one more good performance left in him. That one last great performance may be versus Jermain Taylor.

via www.boxnews.com.ua

Works Cited

<http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=17825&more=1>

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/dec/10/boxing-calzaghe-retirement>

<http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=17163>