Motor-Mouthed Miranda Still Talking A Big Fight During his playing days, Ilie Nastase, the Romanian tennis star of the 1970s, owned a world-class mouth, and at one time held the ATP record for most fines incurred by one player. • “Ilie speaks seven languages,” his wife once said. “Why does he always have to curse in English?” •  Edison Miranda’s interpreters could probably do him a big favor by deliberately mistranslating some of his more inflammatory remarks. • His own matchmaker, Jim Borzell, who’s known the talented Colombian since his arrival in the United States three years ago, describes Pantera as “a true puzzle.” •  “He’s the nicest guy in the world, but before a fight he can be a complete twit, the way he shoots off his mouth,” said the veteran matchmaker. •  You’d have thought Miranda might have learned his lesson 13 months ago in Memphis… —George Kimball, sports.espn.go.com

Time To Cash In: Calzaghe Calls Out Jones For Autumn Clash  The career of Joe Calzaghe, pugilism’s prince of Wales, has at times resembled the haunted life of Hamlet, Shakespeare’s prince of Denmark. • Their circumstances and motivations were very different, of course, but the burning question faced by both — to be or not to be — had a similar ring. • Hamlet had to learn to live with all that had transpired in the rotten state of Denmark before he was able to act upon his vengeful thoughts. • Calzaghe had to come through what British sportswriter Hugh McIlvanney referred to as a “strangely conservative program of fights [which] had obscured historic talent” before the blood on his stage belonged to men like Jeff Lacy, Mikkel Kessler and Bernard Hopkins. • Cast in the role of Claudius this autumn will be Roy Jones… —Brian Doogan, sports.espn.go.com

Mayweather’s Retirement Right Move For Boxing Perhaps your stance is that he retired at the right time — on top, with his faculties still intact and bank account stuffed to the gills. • Or maybe you’re among those disappointed that he leaves the game without defending his linear crown against the world’s best welterweights. • Or maybe, you don’t believe that he’s done for good, that the right fight — and more specifically, the right price to go along with it — will lure him back into the ring. • Regardless of your stance, there’s no denying that Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s sudden retirement announcement comes at a perfect time for the welterweight division and boxing as a whole… —Jake Donovan, msn.foxsports.com

(Mayweather Photograph by Photorazzi)

>> Check out the ‘Fight Party!’ pics from Hopkins vs Calzaghe, Planet Hollywood, LV (4/19/08.) Enjoy!

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Jones And Pavlik Top Calzaghe Hit-List Joe Calzaghe has insisted he wants one more fight…but who is good enough to give his glittering career the finale it deserves? • Realistically, it comes to a straight shoot-out between the multi-weight legend Roy Jones Jr and America’s rising star, Kelly Pavlik. — Blair Wood, icwales.icnetwork.co.uk

(Photo by John Gichigi/Getty Images)

Entourage Economics As welterweight boxing champion Floyd Mayweather showered fans with fistfuls of $100 bills two weeks ago at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, seven men, some in sunglasses, shadowed his every move. But this wasn’t the stereotypical athlete posse, best known for freeloading and waking up at noon. • Mr. Mayweather’s right-hand man, Leonard Ellerbe, is chief executive of a $140 million company, Mayweather Promotions, and starts his days at 5:15 a.m. Underperforming security guards, personal assistants and coordinators can be fired for offenses like ogling women or falling out of shape. “It’s no different than working for Xerox,” Mr. Ellerbe says. —HANNAH KARP, online.wsj.com 

Hopkins: I’m A Legend Bernard Hopkins believes he will deserve a special place in the annals of sporting history for his achievements in the ring. • The 43-year-old dominated the middleweight division before his back-to-back defeats to Jermain Taylor - only for Hopkins to bounce back and destroy Antonio Tarver in the light-heavyweight division. —Source: www.skysports.com

Joe Calzaghe Ready For Las Vegas Bout With Hopkins LAS VEGAS- Joe Calzaghe said he would show America what he was made of when he makes his Las Vegas debut on Saturday against light-heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins. • “It’s the icing on the cake,” the 36-year-old undisputed world super-middleweight champion told reporters… — Kieran Mulvaney (www.reuters.com)

(Ellerbe: Photos by John Locher; Hopkins/Calzaghe: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy Promotions.)

[Poll] Is Floyd Mayweather Ducking Miguel Cotto? —TommyGunn, www.boxingforum.com/boxing-forum-general-discussion (131 replies) • Can anyone STAND Floyd? —Explosivo, fightbeat.com/forums (96 replies) • [Poll] Who hits Harder ??? Hopkins or Calzaghe —ds91, www.saddoboxing.com/boxingforum (34 replies)

Madison Square Garden Hosts A Tribute to Boxing legend Primo Carnera With The World Premiere Of Renzo Martinelli’s “Carnera — The Walking Mountain” April 22nd 2008: for the first time in his career, Renzo Martinelli, possibly the finest contemporary Italian movie director, is bringing one of his productions abroad. His latest movie, “Carnera — The Walking Mountain” will be presented at a world premiere at the Madison Square Garden in New York, just days before its official release in Italy (April 30th 2008). —CityGuide News, cityguideny.com

How Dangerous Is Boxing For The Brain? ScienceDaily— Boxing is possibly less dangerous for the brain than previously feared – at least for amateurs. However, conclusive statements on the level of danger are not yet possible. Whether professional boxers such as Muhammad Ali contracted their later brain conditions – in his case Parkinson’s disease at the age of 40 – from boxing, remains unclear. The all-clear cannot be given until more extensive studies of both amateur and professional boxers tell us more about the risks for the brain from boxing. —(Source: ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com)

No National Anthems for Calzaghe-Hopkins? It appears that the chorus of boos that accompanied the U.S. national anthem during the Hatton-Mayweather fight in December has caused a stipulation to be added to the Calzaghe-Hopkins bout that will eliminate the singing of the national anthems. Talk about repercussions right? I was in attendance for that fight and I must say, it got pretty ugly in there so I can understand the logic. —Ramon Aranda, www.411mania.com