Stallone Adds Some Clout to Calzaghe Match

Sylvester Stallone will help in the official launch of Joe Calzaghe's April 19 light-heavyweight showdown against the division's No1 Bernard Hopkins when the Rocky star hosts a press conference at Planet Hollywood to announce the fight at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Friday.

The fight details will be announced in London tomorrow morning, 24 hours later than first planned, when the promoter Frank Warren will be accompanied by Calzaghe at the central London branch of the Planet Hollywood chain.

Stallone, 61, has a financial interest in the restaurant, and his presence will ensure maximum publicity for an event to be promoted by Frank Warren's Sports Network and Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, with whom Hopkins is a partner. No venue for the Las Vegas fight has been announced.

Calzaghe, 35, will accompany Warren on a trip to the US, where he will come face-to-face with Hopkins for the first time since the 43-year-old told reporters that he "would never lose to a white boy". Calzaghe has countered saying he is happy to allow Hopkins to play the bad guy in the build-up to the contest but things would be different once they got in the ring.

Organisers must hope the press conference is not hijacked by questions to Stallone over his use of human growth hormones to maintain his physique. The star, who reprised the Rocky Balboa role last year, was convicted last year on charges of importing the drug into Australia where it is illegal. This week Stallone criticized an "archaic" public view of human growth hormone, telling a US television audience: "I only wish that it were true that you can just take something like that and you are in shape. You've got to put years and years and years of hard labor to get in shape."

Ricky Hatton hopes to return to the ring for the first time since losing to Floyd Mayweather by fighting in late May or early June, saying he owes it to his fans and family to continue his career. Hatton told Sky Sports News: "I still have the motivation to box. I've won four world titles and fought the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. I owe it to myself to make sure my last fight is not one where I've been beaten and knocked out."