Bernard Hopkins has set his sights on a showdown with WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe after defeating Winky Wright in Las Vegas.
The 42-year-old retained his IBO light heavyweight title by a unanimous decision at the Mandalay Bay and then threw out a challenge to 168 pounds champion Calzaghe, who meets Mikkel Kessler in Wales on November 3rd to unify the division.
"I want Calzaghe," said Hopkins. "Tell him to come over here."
Hopkins, with a record of 48-4-1(32 KOs) has won his last two fights at this weight after inflicting a first defeat since December 1999 on Wright and winning a decision against Antonio Tarver in June 2006.
"It was a tough fight, a very close fight," Hopkins said. "Winky is tough, and he kept coming."
Judges Dave Moretti and Glenn Trowbridge scored the fight, 117-111, while judge Glenn Hamada had it 116-112 for the winner.
A headbutt by Hopkins in the third round left a significant cut over the left eye of Wright, whose wound began to bleed at a significant rate. And afterwards Wright accused his opponent of dirty tactics.
"I won," Wright said. "It was a dirty fight. He was headbutting all day. I have deep gashes from headbutts on top of my head.
"We came to fight and that's what we did. He fought well. I still want to fight the best. I thought I won the fight, but it was a close one. It was a headbutt, that's it."
The referee briefly stopped the match and warned Hopkins as Wright was treated by the ringside doctor. Hopkins, however, insisted the incident was an accident.
"He was coming towards me, and I was going under," he said. "It definitely was an accidental headbutt.
"Winky says I am a dirty fighter but this happens a lot when you fight southpaws."
"He knows that I respect him a lot," he added. "I had no ill intent. It was all good for both gentlemen, and boxing is back."
Hopkins, who was to earn three million US dollars for this bout, had 10 per cent of his purse withheld while the Las Vegas fight commission investigated and reviewed the incident.
On the undercard, Demetrius Hopkins - the nephew of Bernard Hopkins - improved to 27-0-1 with a first-round technical knockout of Enrique Berrio (11-3) from Colombia in a junior welterweight bout.