Cymru pride!

Judging from the Welsh flags being carried by fight fans, flapping in the breeze, and tied to local statuary on the Strip Saturday night, it can be safely assumed that somewhere in the neighborhood of 85-98 percent of the country of Wales was in Las Vegas for the Joe Calzaghe/Bernard Hopkins fight. Seriously. We don’t think there was anyone left in the country to keep an eye on the sheep.

Wales natives Tom Jones and Catherine Zeta-Jones were ringside to cheer on countryman Calzaghe along with Bruce Willis (Welsh), Sylvester Stallone (Welsh) and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Austro-Welsh), among others. Following the fight, Calzaghe was joined by that fivesome along with Simon Cowell, Mark McGrath, Jim Belushi, Max Martini and Chuck Zito for dinner at Planet Hollywood Resort’s Strip House.

Following dinner, everyone made their way to Prive for the official afterparty, where Michael J. Fox, Robert Patrick, Michael Buffer, Jeremy Piven, Joey Fatone and Zab Judah joined the festivities. Whitney Houston and boyfriend Ray J (nice move, slick, trading Kim Kardashian for Whitney) arrived around 3 a.m. before Houston made her entire entourage escort her back to her room around 3:30. The all returned to the club shortly after, with mom tucked safely in bed.

Judah spent the day Saturday at MGM Grand’s Wet Republic, along with Mike Tyson and Steve Francis of the Houston Rockets and Mike Miller of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Welshmen Ioan Gruffudd and Matthew Rhys, meanwhile celebrated their countryman’s win at Body English at Hard Rock Hotel along with rapper Bun B. On Sunday at the Hard Rock, Eddie Van Halen and BB King were doing a photo shoot for Rolling Stone. Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page weren’t allowed to attend, as in the case of an emergency, at least two guitar legends were required to be off-site in much the same way at least one prominent member of the government isn’t allowed to attend the State of the Union address.

By Jason Scavone

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