Awesome Calzaghe sets sights on Hopkins superfight

The 35-year-old Welshman is desperate to end his career by securing a clash with the American middleweight great after emphatically polishing off the best the 12-stone division has to offer.

Calzaghe showed extraordinary versatility after working out his upright opponent during five torrid opening rounds to skate away to record his 21st WBO title defence and add Kessler's WBA and WBC belts to his collection.

It was the kind of performance which showcased Calzaghe's status as one of the finest fighters of this and any other era, and whose only negative impact could be the fear it may have installed in Hopkins' mind.

Calzaghe's long-term promoter Frank Warren declared: 'Joe will go to the States. He will fight Mr Hopkins in his home town. He will go to Philadelphia to fight him. He will fight him anywhere to get this on.'

Warren was almost lost for words in describing the majesty of Calzaghe's performance.

One sensed it was more than simple post-fight bluster when he described his fighter's victory as 'my best night in boxing'.

'Bernard Hopkins is a great fighter and a great athlete,' added Warren.

'But go back and think of the great fighters, the Ray Leonards, the Tommy Hearns',the Marvin Haglers. They fought everybody. They didn't duck.

'If Bernard Hopkins is the warrior he says he is then make the fight, make that fight with Joe Calzaghe.'

Just as he had against another undefeated fighter, Jeff Lacy, last year, Calzaghe saved his best performance for the night he was most up against it, recording deserved 117-111, 116-112 (twice) verdicts on the judges' cards.

Kessler had come to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with a 39-fight unbeaten record, intending to prove to the 50,000 Calzaghe fans in attendance this was the night for the passing of the torch to the younger generation.

Instead, it was Calzaghe who turned on the style in the later rounds, moving to his left and working behind a stiff jab to negate the Dane's relatively one-dimensional approach and win in style.

Kessler had no complaints. Calzaghe was overjoyed.

'I'm really proud of my achievements,' he said. 'I'm 36 in March and I've always said that I've never avoided anybody.

'Given the opportunity to fight the best, I will show them what I'm about. You saw what I could do with Lacy and you've just seen what I could do with Mikkel Kessler.

'To win four championship belts and be named as The Ring champion and be champion for 10 years is absolutely amazing. And it may take a while for it all to sink in.'

Scotching rumours of hand injuries in training, Kessler had come to fight.

After five rounds in the cavernous stadium, there was a realistic chance the Dane might have wrested Calzaghe's title.

Kessler had shaded much of the early action behind his crisp left jab, and enjoyed success from a trademark jolting right hand in the fourth round as the Welshman continued to try to work out his opponent.

But, by the halfway stage, Calzaghe had clearly established the winning method against a fighter who, like Lacy before him, did not possess the adaptability to counter Calzaghe's winning style.

Peppering Kessler with jabs of his own whilst circling out of range of his right hand, Calzaghe turned the tide and flung home hurtful hooks from both wings in a strong round eight.

Kessler was still enjoying some success as late as the ninth, but Calzaghe stayed on his toes, belying his relatively advancing age, and finished with a flourish to win a fight which was never anything less than engaging.

'I didn't realise how good he was,' shrugged a magnanimous Kessler afterwards.

'Maybe I should have punched more instead of trying to rely on my power.'

For Calzaghe, it was emphatic vindication of his status as an all-time great. Having done the hard work, he is likely to relinquish his titles to chase a lucrative bout with Hopkins. Nobody would bet against him now.

Calzaghe's stablemate Enzo Maccarinelli was also looking ahead to even bigger things after he successfully defended his WBO cruiserweight title with a fourth-round breeze over Algerian Mohamed Azzaoui.

Like Kessler, Azzaoui came into the fight boasting an unbeaten record but there the similarities ended as the clearly over-matched challenger struggled to cope with Maccarinelli's early advances.

When the champion landed a vicious left-handed kidney punch early in the fourth, Azzaoui crumpled to the canvas, and showed little inclination to continue after rising at the count of eight.

Maccarinelli will now switch his attention to long-time rival David Haye, who challenges Jean-Marc Mormeck for the undisputed cruiserweight crown in Paris next weekend.

Maccarinelli intends to be ringside to throw down a challenge to the winner, whom he believes will be Haye, in a bid to set up the domestic thriller which was scuppered by financial wrangles last year.

Maccarinelli said: 'I'm going to go there to call out the winner. I hope David wins and I think he will, either by early stoppage or on points. It's the kind of fight everybody wants to see.'

Promoter Warren remains a little more unconvinced.

'If Mormeck wins, it's definitely a fight that can be made,' he said.

'But if Haye wins, it's a bit more problematic because he's turned down a fight with Enzo once before.'