Joe Calzaghe today ruled out a rematch against Bernard Hopkins following the veteran's stunning victory over Kelly Pavlik at the weekend. Hopkins, 43, rolled back the years to hand the world middleweight champion his first ever defeat in a lop-sided points victory in Atlantic City on Saturday.
After the fight, talk turned to Hopkins facing Calzaghe in a rematch of their close contest in Las Vegas earlier this year which saw the Newbridge southpaw claim a split decision win.
At a training session ahead of his fight against Roy Jones Jnr at Madison Square Garden on November 8th, Calzaghe rejected any chance of him fighting Hopkins again.
"He is thinking of the money," said Calzaghe when told Hopkins was prepared to face him on British soil. "At the end of the day, I didn't fight my best and he lost and I did that in Las Vegas. What chance has he got over here?"
He added: "That fight is not getting me excited. I won the first fight and it wasn't a great fight to watch. Sometimes styles make fights and there are styles that gel. Our styles did not gel and I don't think a second fight would be more exciting.
"It would probably be more boring. I've beaten him and I wouldn't want to go over old ground."
Calzaghe did however admit he enjoyed the outcome of the Hopkins-Pavlik fight if only because it puts paid to the continual talk of him supposedly avoiding Pavlik as he approaches the end of his career.
"I didn't feel pressure (to fight Pavlik)," he said. "Regardless of what happened, he is limited. It was nice to be proved right. It wasn't just a beating (against Hopkins), it was a 12-round humiliation.
"Pavlik was the so-called baddest guy in America and he (Hopkins) made him look like a little boy. Pavlik is just a one-dimensional robot who couldn't even throw a double jab."