Jones vs. Hopkins, Klitschko vs. Valuev: Does anyone care to see these fights?

By Boxing News - 02/04/2010 - Comments

Image: Jones vs. Hopkins, Klitschko vs. Valuev: Does anyone care to see these fights?By Chris Williams: I for one could care less about the April 3rd fight between Bernard Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KO’s) and Roy Jones Jr. (50-6, 40 KO’s). I hear the fight is going to be on HBO pay-per-view, and I can only imagine the kind of numbers it will bring in as far as PPV buys goes. I don’t see how the fight will be successful financially unless HBO puts together one of their HBO 24/7 series to try and hype the fight to the casual boxing fan. Judging by the almost entire lack of interest I’ve been seeing on the internet about this fight, I don’t imagine it will do well at all with hardcore boxing fans.

That’s not that boxing fans wouldn’t want to see it. I think some people do. But I doubt they’ll want to pay to see a fight involving two non-champions, both over 40. I see it as an old timer’s fight and I don’t see the point in it. Jones was stopped in his last fight in December, and has been struggling mightily since 2004 when facing quality opposition. Hopkins might have to carry Jones for 12 rounds to keep him in the fight.

I can see a lot of angry fans if they have to pay big money to see this fight and then Hopkins walks out and knocks the 41-year-old Jones out in the 1st round. Fans are paying money to see these two old warriors fight and the letdown will be huge if Jones folds early again. Hopkins to have to be careful he doesn’t take Jones out too quickly.

I think fans will be okay with Hopkins scoring a late knockout in the 12th, but if he toys with Jones and destroys him early, I can see a lot of pissed off people. Hopkins is still fighting at a high level, maybe good enough to compete with the best light heavyweight in the division Chad Dawson.

It’s unfortunate that Hopkins isn’t using his talents to test himself against younger fighters instead of wasting time with Jones and guys like Enrique Ornelas. Jones recently said about his fight with Hopkins, “We’re giving boxing fans what they want to see.” Maybe Jones is right, but I just don’t know who those fans are, because from what I’m seeing, few really care to see Hopkins-Jones, and it will be really interesting to see how many will want to pay to see them fight on pay per view.

Another fight that I’m not too interested in seeing is Vitali Klitschko vs. Nikolay Valuev. There’s talk in the German news that Klitschko, 38, the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, is looking to fight Valuev in his next fight. I really don’t see the point in this fight. Valuev, 36, recently lost his WBA heavyweight title to David Haye last November, and looked horrible in losing.

Valuev didn’t just look bad in that fight, he appeared over the hill in a questionable win over 46-year-old Evander Holyfield in 2008. I don’t how many boxing fans would be interested in seeing Vitali beat up on the seven foot Valuev, but I can’t imagine too many. I think the fight will do well in Europe, because they like Valuev and Klitschko and will probably eat this fight up.

But I can’t see anyone in the U.S. wanting to see this fight. Klitschko will destroy Valuev without any problems. But with all the other young contenders in the division, why would Vitali waste time fighting Valuev? It’s not even sporting as far as I’m concerned.



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