JOE Calzaghe has shrugged off the fact he will be fighting a Bernard Hopkins well past his prime if a fight between the two boxing greats gets the go-ahead next year.
The undefeated Calzaghe wants to cap his incredible career with two bouts before retiring at the end of 2008.
The super-middleweight king, who unified the division by adding the WBA and WBC titles to his own WBO belt in the early hours of Sunday morning, is looking to step up a division to light-heavyweight.
The 35-year-old Welshman desperately wants one of his opponents to be American star Hopkins, who is 43 in January.
Who cares if he's a tough enough opponent?'' Calzaghe said.
He's 42 but the guy is like a freak with regards to age. He's very professional, he doesn't drink and lives the proper life and he's in great condition still.
He's proved himself to be the number one in the division. I want to go up to 175lbs and fight the best.'' Calzaghe cemented his place as one of the top pound-forpound fighters in the world with arguably his finest performance.
He beat Denmark's Mikkel Kessler in a unanimous points verdict at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and immediately called out Hopkins, who had himself challenged Calzaghe after the American's last fight in July.
However, Hopkins is a notoriously tough negotiator and Calzaghe will be hoping the bigmoney backing of the Home Box Office pay-per-view network can help him seal the deal.
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