A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Yonkers heavyweight Tom Hardwick (5-0, 2 KOs) to share a card with the legendary Bernard Hopkins fell through when his undercard fight on Hopkins’s rematch with Chad Dawson at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night was called off.

Hardwick announced the news on his Facebook account on Saturday saying, “My fight has been cancelled in Atlantic City, sorry peeps.”

The Irish Voice caught up with Hardwick on Monday to find out what happened.

“It fell through because of a small difference between the promoters (Golden Boy Promotions) and my manager (Walter Kane),” he said.

Hardwick stressed that there was no falling out or ill-feeling involved, and he went on to say that it was just one of those things where the numbers didn’t make enough sense for the fight to proceed.

“It is a pity because I had nearly a full camp done. However, it has been a good first year for me as a professional because I have had five fights in 10 months,” he said.

“I was a fair bit disappointed not to have fought on the same card as Hopkins, a future hall of famer,” he said, adding that his manager, Kane, also represents Chad Dawson. If Dawson can win next weekend, Hardwick might feature in future Dawson undercards.

Hardwick, who has augmented his boxing training at the New York Sports Lab in recent weeks with cardio and ball-skill training with the Cork GAA football team in New York, was last in action on the Matthew Macklin/Sergio Martinez undercard on St. Patrick’s night.

He did reveal that there was one possible iron in the fire for an early summer fight.

“Joe Louis’ son was in touch with me about a bout for a WBU title with a guy from New Jersey who has a record of 6-1. That could be maybe in June or July, but nothing is confirmed,” he said.

In the meantime, Hardwick will take a few weeks off to recharge before getting back to work on what he hopes will be a busy second half of the year.

In other news, middleweight Andy Lee (28-1, 20 KOs) took a little time off from his training camp for his June 16 fight against WBC champion Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, to work in fellow Kronk Gym fighter Ronald Hearns’ corner on Friday night in Biloxi, Mississippi.  Hearns was fighting Cuban Erislandy Lara but had a torrid night that ended when he was TKO’d after 94 seconds of the first round.

Lee and Chavez held a press conference at the Sun Bowl yesterday on Tuesday of this week, just prior to press time, to discuss their fight in June.  More to come on that press conference and Lee’s preparations in next week’s issue.

Meanwhile, Macklin (28-4, 19 KOs) has been talking on Twitter about his plans for the rest of 2012.

Macklin tweeted several times that he expects to fight the winner of a fight between IBF champion Daniel Geale and WBO champion Dmitry Pirog later in the year, and he has been involved in a Twitter war with fellow middleweight contender Martin Murray.

In a sometimes ugly battle, the two have been involved in some spirited and frank Twitter exchanges.

In his tweets, Macklin has reiterated that he wants to stay active as a fighter, as the break between his fights with Felix Sturm and Sergio Martinez was too much.

“9months from Sturm to Martinez...too long! I wana (sic) stay busy b4 Geale/Pirog end of yr.” he said.

The Birmingham-born Irishman has stated that he would like to fight again in September.