By William Mackay: Bernard Hopkins refuses to be turned off towards a rematch with Roy Jones Jr., despite Jones being destroyed in a 1st round TKO on Wednesday night by Danny Green in Sydney, Australia. Hopkins defeated an over-matched middleweight contender Enrique Ornelas tonight in a 12 round unanimous decision in Philadelphia.

After the bout, Hopkins, when asked whether Jones’ loss to Green would be a problem for his rematch with Jones, said “Nothing, [as in, it would have effect ] because my whole thing is everybody knows what happens when you go over to Europe. [Hopkins is confusing Australia with Europe]. That’s why I would never go over there.” Hopkins also said that he felt that the referee stopped the bout too soon in the Jones-Green fight, saying “Roy Jones Jr. lost on his feet, not his back. It was a TKO and there was some punches thrown. I seen more of them miss than more of them hit.”

Hopkins appeared to be trying to make give excuses for the stoppage, obviously trying to save the bout with Jones. The problem is that boxing fans have seen the fight, and are likely going to believe their eyes and not excuses given by Hopkins. After all, it isn’t as if Hopkins doesn’t have something to gain by making Jones look good. Whatever the case, hopefully Hopkins comes to his senses and thinks hard about still wanting to fight Jones, because it’s highly doubtful that the boxing public will be clamoring to see this fight. I think it will do well in the home city of Hopkins and Jones, and it might do some average numbers on pay-per-view, but it’s probably not going to be a huge money making bout like it would have had Jones not been stopped by Green.

Hopkins also said “I”m going to be heavyweight champion” talking of next year. Hopkins is hoping to get a title shot against World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye. It would be a nice fight if Haye decides he wants to fight Hopkins. However, Haye seems to be more interested in fighting the Klitschko brothers instead, the two best heavyweights in the division. The payday against either of them would obviously dwarf the one that Haye would get against the light heavyweight Hopkins. Hopkins also looked very slow against Ornelas tonight, and that was at 175. If he were to gain another 25 to 40 pounds to fight Haye, I’d to see how slow Hopkins would be at that weight. Haye, who is very fast, would destroy Hopkins in one sided fight at heavyweight. Hopkins would be better off staying at light heavyweight and fighting Chad Dawson. I think he’d lose, but it would be a good fight against a good opponent.