The super middleweight division has been a dead man's zone for years.

It has been more than a decade, when Roy Jones Jr. decisioned James Toney at the MGM Grand Garden on Nov. 18, 1994, that there has been anything close to a major bout in the division.

Jeff Lacy, who holds the IBF championship, hoped he could change that by taking on WBO champion Joe Calzaghe in a battle of unbeatens. Showtime tentatively scheduled the bout for Nov. 5, either in Wales or London.

Lacy's promoter, Gary Shaw, has expected to receive a signed contract from Calzaghe's promoter, Frank Warren, "any day now" for the past three weeks. Last week, the Calzaghe camp said the contract would be forthcoming should Calzaghe defeat Evans Ashira on Saturday in Cardiff, Wales, and emerge from the bout uninjured.

He won a unanimous decision, but after the bout Calzaghe (40-0, 31 KOs) went to a local hospital to have his left hand X-rayed. He hurt it in the third round and fought most of the rest of the fight one-handed.

Lacy, who is 20-0 with 16 knockouts, isn't buying the injury excuse, though Warren said Calzaghe's hand "was ballooned up three times its normal size." Calzaghe has had frequent hand problems, but Warren said the latest injury is a new one.

Lacy, though, is not so sure.

"I will lose a lot of respect for Calzaghe, whom I've long thought was the man in this weight class, if he won't fight me," Lacy said. "If you look at the comments he's been making, there is a lot of negativity and he seems to be making excuses (in case we don't fight). It's up to him. I've had a lot of hurdles to go through to get this fight.

"Let's be honest: It's all about action now. I've called him out and I'm willing to go to him. Now what?"

Shaw was irate and suggested Calzaghe retire. Warren said the contract said if injury prevented the fight from happening on Nov. 5, the backup date was Feb. 4. Shaw called that "an outright lie" and said no other date is mentioned.

"Calzaghe should be ashamed of himself," Shaw said. "Fighting Evans Ashira, a small middleweight? Come on. If his hands were brittle, then he didn't need to take this fight and should have saved them for Jeff. He's probably out there looking for a lightweight to move up to 168. That's obviously the kind of guy he is."

Warren, though, said the fight is a big one for Calzaghe as well as Lacy and said Shaw is out of line criticizing Calzaghe. Warren said Calzaghe fought Ashira because he wanted a tune-up before meeting Lacy.

"Gary shouldn't spout off without knowing what he's saying," Warren said. "I've been writing him letters for a year trying to make the fight. That's the truth. Why would I not want that fight? But things happen. Ask (promoter) Don King, he was here. We still don't know how the hand is, but he fought most of the fight with one hand. Gary, of all people, should understand."

j DUCKING HIM -- Leavander Johnson won the IBF lightweight title in relative obscurity, stunning favored Stefano Zoff in Italy on June 17.

He stopped Zoff in the seventh round in his fourth shot at a lightweight world title.

He hoped to fight Erik Morales in his first defense, but Morales' promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, called the financial demands of Johnson's promoter, Lou DiBella, outrageous.

So Johnson instead will face Jesus Chavez, who is moving up from super featherweight to challenge Johnson on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden.

And Johnson said it is no secret why he's fighting Chavez instead of a bigger name like Morales.

"All of them jokers are ducking me because they saw my fight in Italy and they know I'm a dangerous fighter," said Johnson, who is 34-4-2 with 26 knockouts.

He lost a bid for the title on Nov. 22, 2003, when he was stopped in the 11th round by Javier Jaruegi. But the bout was stopped just two seconds into the round, which made Johnson suspicious.

At the two-second mark, he said, it's almost impossible for the fighters even to get to each other let alone land a blow strong enough to cause a bout to be stopped.

"I haven't been a protected fighter and I've had to fight my way through a lot of things that guys who have had that protection can't even understand," Johnson said.

j TOUGH FIGHTS -- Miguel Cotto, the WBO super lightweight champion, will defend his title against unbeaten Ricardo Torres on Sept. 24 in Atlantic City on the undercard of a heavyweight bout between Wladimir Klitschko and Las Vegan Samuel Peter.

Cotto was to have faced Gianluca Branco, but Branco pulled out because of injury.

Top Rank president Todd duBoef said Cotto (24-0, 20 KOs), wants to fight the biggest names in the 140-pound division.

By meeting the 28-0 Torres now, duBoef said, it allows Cotto to get his mandatory bout out of the way and chase the big names.

There are, however, obstacles.

"It's not easy to get guys to fight him," duBoef said. "We have no problem fighting (IBF champion) Ricky Hatton right now, but he doesn't want it. That's the problem."

Cotto might fight Las Vegan Floyd Mayweather Jr., who holds the WBC super lightweight title and is generally regarded as the top boxer in the world, sometime late in 2006, duBoef said.

j SET FOR MANDALAY -- An MGM Grand spokesman confirmed Saturday the rematch between undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor and former champion Bernard Hopkins will be Dec. 3 at Mandalay Bay.

Taylor scored a controversial split decision over Hopkins on July 18 at the MGM Grand.

j TIDBITS -- WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito will be in the primary undercard bout on the Nov. 12 card at the Thomas & Mack Center that features the WBC heavyweight title bout between Vitali Klitschko and Hasim Rahman, duBoef said. ... Former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion Virgil Hill has come out of retirement and will fight for the WBA cruiserweight belt on a Don King-promoted card against Valery Brudov on Sept. 30 in St. Louis. ... Clinton Woods retained the IBF light heavyweight title Saturday in England by scoring a unanimous decision over Julio Gonzalez. ... Mayweather will next fight on Nov. 19, likely against ex-super featherweight champion Joel Casamayor or ex-super lightweight champion Sharmba Mitchell.