Calzaghe confirms Hopkins fight

Joe Calzaghe will spark another British boxing invasion of Las Vegas when he takes on Bernard Hopkins on April 19 at the Thomas Mack Centre.

The undefeated Calzaghe is looking to start what could be his final year in the fight game with a victory over 43-year-old American Hopkins to prove that he can thrive outside his native Wales.

It will be a non-title light heavyweight bout but while no belt will be at stake Calzaghe is hoping for support on the scale of Ricky Hatton's encounter with Floyd Mayweather last year when an estimated 25,000 Britons trekked to the gambling city.

Confirmation that the fight will take place came at a press conference at London's Planet Hollywood attended by Calzaghe and promoter Frank Warren.

Some eager fans had jumped the gun, booking flights when it was reported in the Welsh press that the fight would take place a week earlier.

A win would propel 35-year-old Calzaghe, who unified the super-middleweight division with victory over Mikkel Kessler in 2007, into a possible career finale against Roy Jones Jnr or Jermain Taylor.

That would ensure Calzaghe's place in boxing's hall of fame, following on from a year in which he was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

He has already intimated that he would love his swansong to take place at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York where his Italian heritage would secure a rapturous reception.

For that to happen he would first have to take care of Hopkins, who has claimed he would "never lose to a white man".

But Calzaghe insisted: "I want to look back on my career and say I was one of the best."