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Hopkins vows not to lose to 'white boy'

Bernard Hopkins, left, and Joe Calzaghe, far right, each make throat-slitting gestures during their meeting in Las Vegas on Friday. PHOTO: AP

Bernard Hopkins, vowing never to lose to a "white boy," and unbeaten Welshman Joe Calzaghe traded verbal jabs on Friday in their first face-to-face meeting ahead of a potential showdown next year.

Hopkins, who said Yankee Stadium is interested in hosting the bout, and Calzaghe, hoping to add the biggest name yet to his list of victims, vowed they would fight even as both camps were in talks to arrange contract details.

"I will never let a white boy beat me. Never," Hopkins said, dismissing cries of racism. "Call it whatever you want. I'll never let a white boy beat me. Never."

"You will lose," Calzaghe answered. "It's going to be so sweet when I beat your ass."

The explosive exchange came on the eve of undefeated Englishman Ricky Hatton's welterweight title bout against unbeaten US champion Floyd Mayweather.

Minutes before they met, Hopkins revealed his camp offered the Welshman a 50-50 split from the proposed light-heavyweight fight after Calzaghe's side rejected a 60-40 divide favoring the American.

"Wow, that's awesome, definitely," Calzaghe said. "I'll even let him have his ego and give him 51-49."

Hopkins, who turns 43 next month, is 48-4 with one draw and 32 knockouts.

Calzaghe, a 35-year-old southpaw, improved to 44-0 with 32 knockouts last month by beating Denmark's Mikkel Kessler in Cardiff to unify two major super middleweight crowns.

"Kessler? Who is Kessler?" Hopkins said. "I know I'm going to beat you. You must be punch drunk."

"Bring it on," Calzaghe said. "I will execute `The Executioner.'"

As Calzaghe was finishing a series of radio interviews, Hopkins walked over and stood face-to-face for the first time with the European.

"Of course I'm going to take the fight," Calzaghe said.

"I'm going to take that zero from you," Hopkins countered. "I'm a legend."

"I'm going to beat you wherever you want to fight," Calzaghe replied.

"I'm going to get you," Hopkins said. "I'm going to wreck your face."

"I've been fighting for 25 years. I [still] have this face for a reason," Calzaghe said.

Calzaghe, who claimed he would fight only twice more, said he dearly wants to fight Hopkins after the exchange.

"I can't wait to send him out," Calzaghe said. "He will lose to me. I throw 1,000 punches a round. He throws 12. He's just talk. He doesn't stand a chance. I'm going to whip his ass."

There has been talk of staging the fight in Britain, but Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, expects a US venue, citing Hopkins' multi million-dollar US pay-per-view popularity and timing issues.

Hopkins claimed Calzaghe fears leaving his European comfort zone for a US venue.

"He's milking them in Europe fighting fighters he knows he can beat, fattening his bank account. If he wants to keep sticking them up, that's fine," Hopkins said. "Joe needs an American name on his resume."

Hopkins wants to see an Independence Day theme with himself seen as fighting off a British invasion the way the American colonies did in the 1700s.

"We have to put a stop to your invasion. You want to put us under the queen's regime," Hopkins said. "I'm the black Paul Revere saying `The British are coming again.'"
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