Joe Calzaghe looks likely to have the final bout of his career on September 20 against Roy Jones Jr after the American four-weight world champion told a website in the United States that a deal had been agreed. “Me and Calzaghe are going to be fighting this fall,” Jones, 39, told Boxingtalk.com. “They're holding September 20 or November 15 for us, but right now it's looking like September 20.” The bout is expected to be formally announced within the next fortnight.

The date was set aside for a rematch between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Oscar De La Hoya after their first bout had been the richest in history. But when Mayweather surprisingly announced his retirement three weeks ago and De La Hoya failed to find a replacement opponent, the date for a big pay-per-view show became available.

Although Calzaghe holds the WBC, WBA and WBO super-middleweight titles, the bout would probably be made at light-heavyweight for The Ring world title belt that Calzaghe won from Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas in April.

Calzaghe announced this week that he was parting from Frank Warren, his promoter of nearly 12 years, and that he would be pursuing a bout with Jones rather than takinge on Kelly Pavlik, the WBC and WBO middleweight champion.

Jones said the venue had not been decided but said that he had severed his own ties to Don King, which had threatened to hold up the bout until January. “I am free and he is free and this will be the first time in a very long time that two fighters sat down and ironed out all the details themselves,” Jones said. “We didn't want nobody like Golden Boy, or Frank Warren or Don King involved and we're fortunate enough to get this done our way. It's going to be his last fast.”

Jones was a world champion at light-heavyweight from 1997, the year Calzaghe won the WBO super-middleweight title, until 2004. In 2003 he became the first former world middleweight champion since the 19th century to have won a version of the world heavyweight title, when he beat John Ruiz for the WBA title.

His star has faded since, but he has won his past three bouts, most recently beating Felix Trinidad at Madison Square Garden, New York, in January.

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