By William Mackay: In an article from Tim Smith from the NyDailynews, Roy Jones Jr. (52-4, 38 KOs) stated that he’s not interested in a second fight with Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KOs), saying he won’t be fighting him, that he doesn’t care what people think. Apparently, Jones offered Hopkins a fight in 2001, just after Bernard had stopped Felix Trinidad in a 12th round KO, but Hopkins reportedly turned down an eight million dollar offer and instead looked elsewhere. According to Smith, Jones then gave up Hopkins, and told him that he wasn’t interested in fighting him.
Whether or not Jones is serious when he says that’s the real reason for him not wanting to face Hopkins now, some 15 years later, we’ll never know for sure. One thing we do know, though, is that Hopkins is still at the top of his game, and is still one of the premier fighters in the light heavyweight division, if not the best overall fighter at that weight class. Hopkins, 43, who recently trounced middleweight Kelly Pavlik in a 12-round unanimous decision victory last Saturday night, said that he’d like to fight either Joe Calzaghe or Jones, whoever emerges as the winner of their November 8th bout at New York’s Madison Square Garden. From the looks of it, it’s probably safe to say that it won’t be Jones who will end up winning the fight, because Calzaghe has too much speed and a much higher work rate than Jones, even though their ages are only three years apart.
It’s doubtful that Hopkins, who still very much would like to avenge his 12-round decision loss to Jones 15 years ago in 1993, would be interested in fighting Jones if he loses to Calzaghe, especially it’s a particularly bad loss like many boxing fans are currently predicting. Hopkins probably won’t have the option of fighting Calzaghe, either, because Joe came out yesterday in the media and said “I don’t do rematches,” meaning that he’s not interested in facing Hopkins, whom he defeated in April, again.
That would leave only light heavyweight Chad Dawson as a potential fight out there for Hopkins, which is not exactly the best match-up style wise for Hopkins given Dawson’s amazing hand speed, movement and good defensive ability. Unlike Pavlik, Dawson moves well, is a natural light heavyweight, and has much faster hands than Hopkins. This would probably be another loss for Hopkins, similar to his two prior defeats to Jermain Taylor, only worse because Dawson doesn’t fade like Taylor does in the second half of his fights.
As for Jones, he was impressed with Hopkins’ win over Pavlik but he also had a bit of reality to throw in with his praise, commenting on the fact that Pavlik had very little experience against quality fighters going into his fight with Hopkins. As for Jones, whether he loses or not to Calzaghe, he still has other options, providing that he looks at least a little competitive along the way. If he gets stopped or is badly beaten along the same lines that Pavlik was against Hopkins, then his stock will likely go way down and it might limit the type of fights he can pursue later on down the line.
At 39, Jones still has the power to hurt and possibly stop Calzaghe, but it seems unlikely given Joe’s strong chin and recent good performances against Hopkins and Mikkel Kessler. A knockout would seem to be Jones’ only chance at beating Calzaghe, because he won’t be able to outwork the Welsh fighter over the long haul, nor will he be able to pot shot him enough to earn a decision.