Joe Calzaghe broke his left hand last Saturday in his easy three-round stoppage of Peter Manfredo, Jr., but says he will only be out of the ring for about four weeks before returning to light training.
Currently, Calzaghe has a July date lined up, which he wanted to use to fight Jermain Taylor in America, but Taylor's May 19 bout against Cory Spinks makes that pretty much impossible.
Instead, negotiations for Calzaghe/Kessler continue, although they're still very far apart, as both sides have been unreceptive to the other. Kessler promoter Mogens Palle said they can't do the fight in July because of the tight schedules of HBO and the Danish broadcasting affiliate they use for Kessler's bouts, but that Kessler is willing to travel to Wales to take on Calzaghe this fall, in September or October.
With that, it has come down to money. Frank Warren has offered the Kessler camp $3 million plus Danish and German broadcasting rights, but Palle wants a 50-50 split. Frank Warren seems to think that because Calzaghe drew 35,000 in Wales for Manfredo, he should be considered the superior draw, and thus get more money. Of course, Calzaghe is the draw in Wales -- but if Manfredo can do 35,000, then a fight against Kessler should sell out with relative ease. Calzaghe is a hero there, and Kessler is the most legit opponent he could take on. The fight has been a hot topic since Calzaghe destroyed Lacy. People want it, and boxing could damn sure use it.
I do think that with Kessler's HBO debut still fresh and very impressive, Calzaghe/Kessler is bound to happen by early 2008. It makes no sense for either side to prevent the fight, except for the fact that someone has to lose and take the hit for doing so. But if it was a great fight, which it very well could be, does anyone's stock really drop? When the two best go head-to-head, everyone wins usually.
Site reminder: We'll be live on Saturday for the Pacquiao card, scoring all the fights that get aired. For $44.95, you probably aren't ordering, so we've got your back at Bad Left Hook. We may or may not cover Friday's Zab Judah fight on ESPN2, depending on whether or not we have anything better to do than watch Judah dispose of Ruben Galvan in preparation for Cotto. And look for an updated pound-for-pound top 10 sometime next week. Should be some interesting movement with most of the old list having fought since then, plus now that we know Bernard Hopkins is officially not retired, we'll see what kind of support the 42-year old Executioner gets.