By Chris Williams: It’s been ages since Bernard Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KO’s) and Roy Jones Jr. (54-6, 40 KO’s) last fought.

I can only imagine where the boxing fans are today who witnessed the fight between these two aging warriors seventeen long years ago in 1993. And I doubt if the fans who saw that original fight or new boxing could care about wanting to see them fight now after all these years now that their into their 40s.

For fans who do want to see the fight, it will be on pay-per-view on April 3rd at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout was made less relevant than it already was after the 41-year-old Jones, trying to squeeze in an extra payday before his fight with Hopkins, was destroyed by IBO cruiserweight champion Danny Green in a 1st round TKO loss on December 2nd in Australia.

Jones was quick to explain away the loss, blaming it on a variety of things. Hopkins, too, sided with Jones, saying that the bout was stopped too quickly by the referee. However, it’s scary to think what would have happened to Jones had Green been allowed to continue to pummel him for the remaining 58 seconds of the round after knocking him down with a right hand. As bad as Jones looked in getting stopped by Green, the last thing I want to see is Roy going out and fighting an even better fighter than Green in the form of the 45-year-old Hopkins.

That’s not to say that Hopkins was a better fighter than Jones during their prime years. Jones pretty much proved, at least to me, that he was the better fighter of the two in beating Hopkins with only one good hand 17-years-ago in May 1993. But if Hopkins and Jones wanted a rematch, they should have done it within a year or two after that fight instead of waiting all this time.

It’s no longer interesting for me considering how badly Jones has slipped as a fighter. Jones has lost five out of his last ten fights and his only wins have come against guys that were either shot or on the margins of the 1st tier. That’s disappointing given how truly great Jones was earlier in his career. I don’t mind seeing a great fighter fighting a little beyond their prime like Jones, but I do mind when they start getting knocked out and dominated by fighters that wouldn’t have laid a glove on him in his prime. I expect Hopkins to easily win this fight, but I can’t really give him much credit if he wins. I think Jones would have handled Hopkins with ease during most of his prime. Only now do I see an avenue where Hopkins can win because he’s held onto his skills better than Jones.