– Promoter Frank Warren said Friday he has all but finalized a deal for Joe Calzaghe to fight Bernard Hopkins in a battle of Ring champions on April 19 in Las Vegas.
Warren said he is finalizing arrangements at the unnamed venue, and said the official announcement would be on Tuesday.
The much-anticipated bout will pit the unbeaten Calzaghe, who has held a super middleweight title belt for more than 10 years and currently holds the WBA, WBO, WBC and Ring belts, against Hopkins, the long-time middleweight champion who is now Ring's light heavyweight champion.
The bout, which Warren said will be on HBO, will be Calzaghe's first in the U.S. and only his third outside the U.K.
"This is a fight that Joe has wanted for a very long time," Warren said. "He's wanted to fight a big name in the States for a long time now, but he just missed out. Things always seemed to fall apart late in the game. But Joe is very excited because this is the fight he's really been after."
Calzaghe is 44-0 with 32 knockouts. He won the WBO super middleweight title on Oct. 11, 1997, by defeating Chris Eubank and has held it ever since. He has made 21 consecutive defenses.
That is one more than the 20 defenses Hopkins made of the middleweight belt he held after defeating Segundo Mercado on April 29, 1995. Hopkins lost the belt when he dropped a controversial split decision to Jermain Taylor on July 16, 2005, in Las Vegas. After losing to Taylor in a rematch, Hopkins moved up to light heavyweight in what he said would be his final fight and scored a dominating victory over the heavily favored Antonio Tarver.
Hopkins then decided to keep fighting and scored a unanimous decision victory over Winky Wright on July 21 at Mandalay Bay.
Warren guaranteed that Calzaghe would have a large British contingent following him to the U.S. and said his office has already purchased 6,000 tickets.
Calzaghe Guns for Hopkins in 2008
After being voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year and unifying the super-middleweight division, Joe Calzaghe's year could get even better as hopes rise that he can finally nail down a fight against Bernard Hopkins.
Frank Warren and Golden Boy Promotions, Hopkins handlers, are in on-going talks about staging the fight in 2008.
It would give Calzaghe the opportunity to avenge Ricky Hatton's defeat at the weekend - against Floyd Mayweather - in a second great battle between Britain and America.
And if he defeated Hopkins, it would confirm his legacy as one of the greatest fighters of all time.
Calzaghe was in Las Vegas over the weekend to support Hatton, and became involved in a slanging match with the former middleweight king and current light-heavyweight number one at the MGM Grand.
But if Warren has his way, Calzaghe and Hopkins will get it on for real next year.
"Both boxers want the fight, I want the fight, the fans want the fight and HBO want the fight, so there's no reason for it not to happen." Said Warren.
"Joe is flying back this week and I'll be sitting down with him to discuss things, and we'll move on from there."
Calzaghe added: "Coming face to face with Hopkins over the weekend made me want the fight even more. He can talk a good fight but he can't beat me.
"I'll go to America and take the fight, no problem at all. Bernard's a great fighter, but he's not as good as me.
"2007 has been a fantastic year for me, what with beating Kessler and then winning the BBC award on Sunday night.
"I've got my fingers crossed that 2008 will be even better, with a fight against Hopkins, and a win that will finally show everyone in America that I deserve all the praise I get."