By Eric Thomas: Bernard Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KO) appears to be trying to pump up interest in his fight against 41-year-old Roy Jones Jr. (54-6, 40 KO) by making it seem as if Jones is still a dangerous fighter rather than someone who was destroyed in the 1st round in his last fight in December. Hopkins says “Roy Jones is a desperate man. A desperate man is a dangerous man.”
I would be more inclined to believe this if Jones wasn’t destroyed in his last fight, and if it wasn’t Hopkins who was pointing this out. He has something to gain by people seeing this fight as a competitive match-up instead of a gross mismatch, which is what it appears to be. In his prime, Jones was more than a match for Hopkins, beating him with only good hand 17-years-ago in 1993.
A lot of things have changed since that time as Jones has slowed down, become more susceptible to getting knocked out and has been beaten six times. When Jones fought Hopkins in the past, Jones was unbeaten, perhaps the best fighter in the world. You can’t say that anymore. This is why ticket sales for their April 3rd rematch haven’t sold as briskly as Hopkins and Jones would like.
It’s not that Hopkins and Jones weren’t great fighters in their primes; it’s just that neither of them is fighting at that level anymore. Jones would likely be destroyed by a handful of the top light heavyweights in the division, whereas Hopkins would have his hands full against guys like Chad Dawson, Tavoris Cloud and Jean Pascal. Don’t hold your breath waiting for Hopkins to fight those guys, because it probably won’t happen. Hopkins is being very selective nowadays with whom he picks for opponents.
Hopkins is saying he’s going to send Jones into retirement on Saturday night. Jones admits that if he gets knocked out by Hopkins, he opt to hang up his gloves for good. That might not be a bad idea. Jones has been knocked out three times in the past six years, with two of them being bad knockouts against Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson.
If Hopkins can take Jones out, it would be a good thing for Jones to save himself from taking any more punishment by hanging up his gloves. Although Jones could probably hang around and continue to fight old relics from boxing’s past and B level fighters, but what would be the point? Jones would just be taking risks with his health and possibly ending up sorry for it later on down the road.
Jones likes to point out that Hopkins couldn’t beat him in his prime, and believes that has been eating away at Hopkins all these years. Hopkins doesn’t care that Jones is seemingly over-the-hill. Hopkins just wants revenge any way he can get it.
It’s hard to tell if Hopkins really means what he’s saying about this or if he just wants the money that this fight will generate. Hopkins stands to make a minimum of $3.5 million for this fight, and it could end up being even more if the bout does well in Pay-Per-View sales. The cost to watch the fight is $49.95. Not cheap for a card that presents mainly mismatches.
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