On April 19, 2008, Bernard Hopkins, 43, made his second defence of The Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight Title against Joe Calzaghe at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Calzaghe, 36, was making his American and light-heavyweight debut, but went into the fight – billed as ‘The Battle of the Planet’ – undefeated in all of his 44 professional bouts, including 32 knockouts.
Consequently, Calzaghe started 3/1 favourite but, after just a minute of the opening round, found himself on the seat of his pants, for only the third time in his career, after Hopkins landed a short right hand. He rose quickly, but had suffered a cut on the bridge of his nose, which worsened during round two as Hopkins continued to enjoy success with his right hand. Indeed, Hopkins was the faster, more aggressive fighter for the first four rounds, as Calzaghe thought twice about throwing punches in the number, and ferocity, that had hitherto been his trademark.
However, Calzaghe gradually recovered his composure, regained his confidence and raised his work rate, such that he started to put pressure on Hopkins and went on to command the second half of the fight. In the tenth round, an increasingly desperate Hopkins milked an apparent low blow for all it was worth, causing the referee to delay the fight for several minutes while he recovered. However, his antics were to no avail, with Calzaghe continuing to dominate until the final bell and eventually winning by a contentious split decision, 116-111, 115-112, 113-114.