LAS VEGAS (AP) - Enzo Calzaghe held the copper-colored cane over his head like a trophy, grinning amid the camera flashes as the trainer tried to give his gift to Bernard Hopkins on Wednesday.

"I don’t take presents from my enemies," Hopkins said with a dead-eyed stare.

Yes, Hopkins is 43 years old, with gray hairs in his beard and a history longer than most fighters’ reach. His opponent on Saturday, Joe Calzaghe, is 36 - "no spring chicken, or turkey, either," says Hopkins - with nearly 11 years behind him as an unbeaten super middleweight champion.

But age is not a particularly important number to either fighter. It’s a challenge to overcome, a foe to be beaten, and no current fighter is doing it better than these two.

"They’re just two great athletes who do what it takes to stay at the highest level," said Freddie Roach, the most prominent member of Hopkins’ coterie of trainers. "You don’t get to this point in the sport and stay here this far into your life without making some sacrifices in your lifestyle like Bernard does, and I’m sure Joe is the same way. They’re both a great example to other close-to-middle-age guys out there, not just fighters."

Aside from the tension of Calzaghe’s long-awaited American debut, age has been the theme of the week’s proceedings leading up to the most anticipated boxing event of the spring. Calzaghe and his father/trainer halfheartedly bring up Hopkins’ advanced years as a counterweight to their loquacious opponent’s verbal sparring, but they’re aware Hopkins has more power than arthritis in his right hand.

Given both fighters’ stirring victories in their most recent performances, it would be difficult to suggest either is very far off his best form heading into a 175-pound (79-kilogram) bout six years in the making. Hopkins is coming off two stunning light heavyweight victories, and Calzaghe just added two 168-pound (76-kilogram) title belts to his own - hardly the preretirement putterings of old men.

"The times have changed, and 43 today is not what it was in the ‘70s and the ‘60s," Hopkins said. "You see it in every sport. They can make an issue of it if they want. They’ve been talking about it ever since they decided they wanted the fight, but they know the truth."

Hopkins claimed he watched Calzaghe’s last fight against Mikkel Kessler from the rocking chair given to him by Antonio Tarver in a similar pre-fight stunt before Hopkins’ upset victory in 2006. Calzaghe called out Hopkins after the bout.

"So I put my teeth in, I rocked back in the rocking chair, took a pop of that Geritol," and called his promoters to put it together, Hopkins said.