Enzo Calzaghe loves to talk

Source: Setanta

"Simply because I don't feel (Kelly Pavlik) deserves a shot yet at the big-time. On the back of one performance against a subdued, light fighter. There's a vast, vast difference between Gary and Joe Calzaghe. Gary would be the first to say that. It's chalk and cheese."

Can all of this get any more transparent, at this point? There are a few possibilities.

1. Enzo Calzaghe is bonkers, and actually thinks that a 39-year old Roy Jones, Jr., that hasn't beaten anyone in FIVE YEARS is really a tougher test of his son's skills and precious undefeated record, than is current middleweight world champion Kelly Pavlik.

2. The Calzaghes are scared of Pavlik. I don't think this is true, for the record.

3. They're all -- both camps -- angling to make this a big "blood" fight sometime in 2009, and throwing as many notable quotables out there as possible.

I lean toward the third one, myself.

The Calzaghe-Jones fight is being reported by a lot of the UK outlets as being fairly certain for September 20, with HBO offering that date after it was abandoned by Oscar and Floyd.

I know some folks are talking it up like Jones has a shot. Calzaghe just beat Bernard Hopkins, and even if you thought Hopkins deserved the decision as he wheezed his way down the stretch, you will admit it was a very close fight between two world-class champions.

Jones hasn't beaten anyone in half a decade. Tito Trinidad pumped up to 170 pounds with years out of the ring doesn't count as anyone -- sorry. Can Enzo Calzaghe honestly say he thinks that Jones is currently one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the game? Better than Pavlik? TODAY? In today's modern world?

They've said it themselves: they're fighting the best fighter of the 1990s. We're almost done with the 2000s.

But I really do think that if both guys stay unbeaten, Calzaghe-Pavlik should happen in 2009. Pavlik will have to fight Arthur Abraham before then, most likely, which will only serve to raise his profile globally.

For now, let 'em talk, I guess. And talk. And talk and talk and talk...