Weekend sport on TV
Joe Calzaghe fights Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas this weekend
Friday, 18, Apr 2008 02:05
Another busy weekend of sporting action awaits so inthenews.co.uk's Alistair Potter runs down the best of the action, including the Calzaghe-Hopkins fight, the start of the IPL and the Tyne-and-Wear derby.
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Friday
Indian Premier League begins:
Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kolkata Knight Riders
Setanta Sports 1, 15:20
So much has been written, spoken and debated about the Indian Premier League - the big-money, six-week Twenty20 tournament organised on the sub-continent - that it will be nice to get on with the games themselves.
The opening match is between Bangalore - the Royal Challengers - and Kolkata - the Knight Riders - at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium and the talent on show should be exciting enough for any cricket fan.
The hosts boast West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul and South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis among their number while the visitors will look to Australia captain Ricky Ponting and big-hitting Chris Gayle, a national team-mate of Chanderpaul's, to do the damage.
Race for the Football League: Burton Albion v Stevenage Borough
Setanta Sports 1, 19:30
Regular coverage of the Blue Square Premier, formerly the Football Conference, can be found on Setanta Sports most weeks, although for anyone other than fans of non-league teams this is probably an untapped sport-watching resource.
The quality of football is largely way, way behind the regular Premier League stuff you see more often - as is to be expected of the fifth tier of English football - but the passion is no less intense, perhaps even more so than in some of the mediocre games you get on TV a lot of the time.
And tonight's clash between Burton Albion and Stevenage Borough should be no less of a blood-and-thunder affair because it represents a real top-of-the-table battle as they aim to join champions Aldershot in the Football League next season.
Two well-known managers are in charge - Burton, under Nigel Clough, are third and Stevenage, under former England caretaker boss Peter Taylor, are fifth - and both are hoping to hold onto at least these positions until the end of the season as it would guarantee a playoff place.
Exeter City are the only team outside the top five that can oust one of these two, or fellow playoff rivals Cambridge United (fourth), from the top bracket of teams and only one point separates the Devon side in sixth from Burton three places above them.
The run-in should be a tense affair for all those involved, and the two teams on offer on Friday are among the best outside the Football League. So it might be worth checking in on what will be a keenly-anticipated game at the Pirelli Stadium - the result of which will have significant end-of-season implications for both sides.
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Saturday
Light-heavyweight fight: Joe Calzaghe v Bernard Hopkins
Setanta Sports 1, 20:00
After Ricky Hatton trotted off to Las Vegas to face Floyd Mayweather in their "Undefeated" fight last December, Joe Calzaghe was not to be outdone.
No sooner had the dust settled on the canvas than the 'Italian Dragon' was putting together an approach to the self-proclaimed "living legend" that is Bernard Hopkins to take him on in his own back yard.
This fight, arguably one of the biggest of Calzaghe's career, has been downplayed in a way, as it is not quite the blockbuster draw it would have been if the two men were younger and in their prime.
Calzaghe is 36, while Hopkins - undoubtedly one of the most talented pugilists of his generation - is now getting on at 43. He seems to have the same bug as the other greats of the sport (think Mohammed Ali, for instance) in that he just doesn't know when to quit. And this could be his biggest weapon against the fast hands and brutal combinations Calzaghe demonstrated against Mikkel Kessler last time out.
The Welshman's inexperience of the American arena has been talked about a lot in the build-up, as has the fact that he may not be as hungry (excuse the pun) because he is fighting at a higher weight than normal and has therefore not been as strict a diet lately.
Nevertheless, the bout will prove to be an intriguing clash between the down-and-dirty fighting style of Hopkins and the classical stand-up approach of the Briton.
He won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award last year. Can he now win this as well?
Calzaghe says he has one more fight left in him after Hopkins, and every last British boxing fan will be hoping and praying he can go into that still unbeaten. It will put him on course to join the small number of fighters to hang up their gloves without an L next to their name, and prove he is one of the UK's biggest-ever talents in the ring.
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Sunday
The Tyne-Wear derby: Newcastle United v Sunderland
Sky Sports 1, 13:00
A resurgent Newcastle United will take on Sunderland at St James' Park, knowing a win will mathematically ensure their Premier League safety for this season and simultaneously push their bitter local rivals slightly closer to the dreaded trapdoor.
Since earning a first win under Kevin Keegan, a 2-0 success over Fulham in the middle of March, the Magpies have gone from strength to strength. They are unbeaten since that game (and one additional match when counting their draw at Birmingham on the Monday before Fulham's visit) including a win at Tottenham and a draw at Portsmouth - both difficult places to go.
Sunderland have battled hard in the league this season, and look like being rewarded with a second year in the top flight under Roy Keane. Although they still have the threat of relegation hanging over them, it would take quite a slump in form - coupled with a remarkable turnaround from all five teams below them - to get jettisoned from the Premier League.
The season may also provide an additional reason to rejoice if you are a Black Cats fan - bottom club Derby County look on course to break Sunderland's record for the lowest points total of all time in the Premier League.
The Rams currently have 11 points from 34 games and will need at least four more points from their last four matches to even equal Sunderland's mark of 15 from the 2005/06 season. This doesn't look likely, though - Derby haven't won in 28 league games; they only have one win all season; and their last result was a 6-0 mauling, at home, against Aston Villa.