Hopkins is no jailhouse rock - Calzaghe

JOE Calzaghe has poured scorn on Bernard Hopkins’ conviction that his 56-month stretch in a Pennsylvania penitentiary will give him the edge in tomorrow night’s Las Vegas super-fight.

Hopkins is never short of words when it comes to discussing the time he spent inside from the age of 17 and maintains the experience gave him the hunger to go on to reign for over a decade as world middleweight champion.

But Calzaghe, who experienced a relatively serene upbringing in the Welsh countryside, mocked his opponent’s mentality following a low-key head-to-head press conference at the Planet Hollywood resort.

Calzaghe said: “Hopkins says he had to go to prison to make himself hard. That means he’s weak.

“Me? I was born hard.

“Hopkins has been to prison. Big deal, give him a medal. I was knocking out sparring partners who had been to prison when I was a 14-year-old kid.

“I’m beginning to think they must teach people to talk so much rubbish out here when they are at school. They talk so much of it. I don’t care about his reputation.

“On Saturday I am going to make a grown man cry.”

Hopkins certainly experienced adversity in the early part of his life when he spent his final teenage years locked up and had to resist the numerous temptations that were on offer.

“I’ve had the excuses and the temptations,” said Hopkins. “People think what I’m doing at the age of 43 is magic. You know what it is?

“It’s the discipline I got in that hellhole when I was 17.

“I stayed away from the drugs and the unhealthy food. I survived on discipline.

“When you get in the ring with a guy like that, you know it’s different.”