For two rounds it appeared as if Jones might be able to turn back the clock as he dropped Calzaghe in the first and seemed to have the edge in hand speed ... but it was all downhill from there for the former pound-for-pound king. Calzaghe simply pursued and outworked Jones in round after round. A Calzaghe left opened up a nasty gash over Jones' left eye in the seventh and the cut was a problem for Jones the rest of the way. Calzaghe gained confidence as the bout wore on and seemed to be enjoying himself in the ring. In contrast, from the third round on, Jones never fought with any sense of urgency -even though he had to know he was way behind on the cards - and appeared to content with simply making it to the final bell.
All three judges scored the fight 118-109. In his prime, Jones rarely lost a round. On this night, he was only able to win a single round.
Punch Stats: Total Punches: Calzaghe - 344 of 985 (35%); Jones - 159 of 475 (33%). Total Jabs: Calzaghe - 120 of 362 (33%); Jones - 12 of 149 (8%). Total Power Punches: Calzaghe - 224 of 623 (36%), Jones - 147 of 326 (45%).
The fight could be the final one for both future Hall of Famers. Jones, who was non-committal about his future after the fight, absolutely should retire. He has little left in the tank and nothing at all left to prove. A rematch with Bernard Hopkins is a possibility but, at this point, would be meaningless. Calzaghe, on the other hand, has stated that he would retire after this bout. Don't believe it. While it may be tempting to leave on top, the temptation to keep fighting - and making the kind of money that eluded him for most of his career - will be greater. A unification bout with undefeated Chad Dawson may not be Calzaghe's first choice, but it's the only fight left that could add to his already stellar resume.
Celebrity spotting at big boxing events is always fun and last night was no exception. Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Bernard Hopkins, Gerry Cooney, Bob Costas, Omar Minaya, Brooke Shields, Gina Gershon, Buddy McGirt, LeRoy Neiman, David Telesco, Herb Williams and Chris Duhon were all in attendance (and yes, I know I'm using the term "celebrity" extremely loosely). Also announced (though I didn't see them myself) were Michael J. Fox, Ricky Gervais, Michael Douglas, Bob Hoskins, Antonio Tarver, Chad Dawson, Mikkel Kessler, Emile Griffith, Iran Barkley and Junior Jones. Who did you see at the fight that I'm missing?
The undercard, which included Zab Judah, Dominick Guinn, Emanuel Augustus and Dmitriy Salita, was - nevertheless - boring. Check out our complete boxing results to see what happened in these bouts plus Friday night's card in Chengdu, China which included Marco Antonio Barrera, Andrew Golota and Jameel McCline.
Note: HBO will replay the Calzaghe-Jones fight next Saturday night along with live coverage of Jermain Taylor vs. Jeff Lacy.
