The Neutral Corner

Roy Jones Jr. issued a statement through boxing publicity boss Ed Keenan after Joe Calzaghe injured his hand and had to postpone their September 20 fight at Madison Square Garden.

Here is what Roy had to say:

“It sounds to me as though Joe has a normal and usual injury. He had shown some concern recently about his hand not being ready. I still wanted to move forward with the September date, since HBO had already laid out the red carpet for a pay-per-view success when we took the De La Hoya-Mayweather date. But I don’t want him to be no less that his best – so if this is what it takes for that, then so be it.”

Jones and Calzaghe may ultimately meet now in November:

“I have been informed by my people at Square Ring that the fight will most likely be rescheduled for November 8, 2008 on HBO Pay-Per-View at Madison Square Garden. I am glad we are close to being able to put together a new date for the fight within 24 hours of learning of Joe’s injury. I am thankful that the people at HBO and Madison Square Garden were able to open things up for us.”

Jones' twist is to fight for two world titles in the same night:

“I had originally proposed something kind of different for this fight. And that is that Joe and I would first weigh-in for the fight at 168 and fight for Joe’s Super Middleweight titles. Then we would step off the scales, drink some water and weigh-in again at more than 168 so that we could also fight for Joe’s Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight title. I only recall this happening once before, in the Leonard/Lalonde fight and I think it would really add something unique to the promotion. Joe initially expressed concern about his ability to make 168 by September 19, but now that we have another 7 weeks, I hope that he will go for it and that the WBA, WBO and the WBC will sanction it.”

On November 7, 1988, twenty years and one day ago from the new proposed fight date, Sugar Ray Leonard and Donny Lalonde fought for the vacant WBC Super Middleweight title and the WBC Light Heavyweight title. Leonard was knocked down early in the fight, but then stopped Lalonde at 2:30 of round 9.

-- CASSIDY