MATTHEW MACKLIN and Andy Lee could touch gloves sometime next year according to the European champion who meets Rafa Sosa Pintos on Saturday night’s televised Sierra Fight Night at the National Stadium.

ANDY LEE would relish a title fight with European middleweight champion Matthew Macklin in Thomond Park next year.

Derry's John Duddy returns to Madison Square Garden for the first time tonight since seeing a world-title shot against Kelly Pavlik go up in flames after a terrible performance against Walid Smichet a year ago.

Boxing promoter Bob Arum has handed John Duddy a lifeline to a world title shot after putting the Irish contender on the Miguel Cotto-Michael Jennings undercard later this month.

FORGET the history-making heavies, the marvellous middles and the lightning lights – boxing’s traditional weight divisions are facing meltdown at the hands of a new phenomenon designed to meet the credit crunch head-on.

Joe Calzaghe admits the prospect of fighting Roy Jones Jr at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night has restored his hunger for the fight game.

JOE CALZAGHE has vowed to honour his retirement pledge and bow out unbeaten on Saturday night after defeating Roy Jones Jnr at Madison Square Garden.

Joe Calzaghe has put all thoughts of retirement on the backburner ahead of his fight against Roy Jones Jnr next month.

Bernard Hopkins clinched a dominant unanimous-decision victory over previously unbeaten Kelly Pavlik last night.

JOHN DUDDY flies into Miami this morning to begin a training camp for a fight he hopes will tee up a long-awaited world title shot.

Joe Calzaghe’s postponed showdown with Roy Jones Jr has been rescheduled for November 8 and will take place at New York’s prestigious Madison Square Garden.

Joe Calzaghe has been left "distraught" after a sprained wrist forced him to postpone September's eagerly-anticipated bout with Roy Jones Jr at Madison Square Garden.

JOE CALZAGHE looks set to face American legend Roy Jones Jr in November after a hand injury suffered by the Welshman scuppered plans to stage the bout in two months’ time.

Joe Calzaghe hopes to remain on good terms with Frank Warren despite announcing his split with the promoter yesterday.

JOE CALZAGHE will launch an ambitious bid to self-promote the final super-fight of his career against Roy Jones after announcing his split from long-term promoter Frank Warren yesterday.

Joe Calzaghe has announced he has split from Frank Warren, his promoter of 12 years, as he prepares to negotiate for what he says will be the final fight of his glittering career.

UNDEFEATED Irish middleweight prospect John Duddy will hope to claw his way back into world title contention when he returns to action against Charles Howe in Boston on June 28.

Joe Calzaghe has confirmed he will contest one more fight before hanging up his gloves and retiring from boxing after his victory over Bernard Hopkins.

Joe Calzaghe has been handed the offer of a lucrative Cardiff homecoming against four-weight world champion Roy Jones.

JOE CALZAGHE is ready to shine in the neon glow of the Las Vegas Strip tonight and score a victory which will elevate him to a pantheon inhabited by some of the very best to have laced on gloves.

JOE CALZAGHE is ready to shine in the neon glow of the Las Vegas Strip in the early hours of tomorrow morning and score a victory which will elevate him to a pantheon inhabited by some of the very best to have laced on gloves.

HALL of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward has promised Andy Lee will come back a better, stronger fighter after his shock first defeat as a professional last weekend.

IRISH middleweight Andy Lee has been assured his promotional deal with the Top Rank organisation remains intact following the first defeat of his professional career.

ANDY LEE is determined to ignore talk of a major promotional deal with Top Rank and concentrate on making an impression in the ring as he makes his US national television debut tonight.

THE damage John Duddy sustained to his left eye looks certain to rule out the June 7 world title fight with Kelly Pavlik and, while Bob Arum is already looking around for a replacement, Andy Lee insisted yesterday that he won’t be rushing his world title ambitions.

AS John Duddy still nurses the stitches above his eyes and applies a cold compress to what must undoubtedly be a severely bruised ego, he should offer thanks to the boxing gods that he still has a world middleweight title fight to aim for this year.

IRISH middleweight John Duddy’s hopes of a world title shot this summer have been dashed after he sustained bad cuts around his eyes against Walid Smichet.

Irish middleweight John Duddy’s hopes of a world title shot this summer have been dashed after he sustained bad cuts around his eyes against Walid Smichet.

JOHN DUDDY’S world title shot against undisputed middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik this summer is set to be rubber-stamped tonight at Madison Square Garden.

KELLY PAVLIK defeated Jermain Taylor for the second time in less than five months on Saturday night, coming on late to earn a unanimous decision in a 12-round bout at the MGM Grand.

KELLY PAVLIK has coped uneasily with the fame which has been foisted upon him since the Youngstown, Ohio hero dethroned Jermain Taylor to claim the world middleweight title last February.

ANDY LEE and John Duddy could touch gloves in a world title decider by November, according to Lee’s handler, Emanuel Steward.

Andy Lee's homecoming fight went without a glitch last night as he destroyed Argentina's Alejandro Falliga in five furious rounds at the University of Limerick Sports Arena.

ANDY LEE’S fight with Argentinean Alejandro Gustavo Falliga at the University of Limerick Arena tonight will be a rehearsal for a world title fight with Kelly Pavlik, according to trainer, Emanuel Steward.

Kelly Pavlik's first defence of his united WBC and WBO world middleweight titles is to come against Ireland's John Duddy on June 7.

BRIAN PETERS would love to stage a world title fight involving Andy Lee and John Duddy in Ireland.

AT FIRST glance, 2007 was the year that sport was beset by scandal, controversy and pain. Again.

THE legendary Emanuel Steward predicts Andy Lee will be world champion before the end of 2008.

AN historic world title fight involving two Irish boxers, John Duddy and Andy Lee, is now more “probability than possibility” according to the latter’s trainer, Emanuel Steward.

Legendary trainer Emanuel Steward boldly claimed that his top prospect Andy Lee will fight any middleweight in the world after he saw off John McKay to claim the Irish super middleweight title last night.

JOHN DUDDY may thank Jermain Taylor for exercising his rematch clause with Kelly Pavlik in the new year, with a world title shot for the Irish man four months later than expected proving well worth the wait.

Former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor is eyeing up a super-middleweight showdown with Joe Calzaghe, according to the American’s promoter.

JOHN DUDDY insisted that a world title fight next year was out of his hands, but it’s looming after his thrilling victory over the former European, British and Commonwealth middleweight champion, Howard Eastman, before a frenzied full house at The Kings Hall in Belfast on Saturday night.

THEY may have spent the last three months winding each other up, pouring scorn on their rival’s talents and rubbishing each other’s prospects for success in tonight’s WBC welterweight title fight but if there is one thing that both the Mayweather and Hatton camps agree on, it is that boxing is once again back in the big time.