By Peter Wells: It has been 17 years since we saw these two fighters stepping into the ring with each other. The two old dogs of the sport have both been so close to each other, but there was never a rematch. But now it finally happens, and it couldn’t have happened at a worse time. Roy Jones Jr may be the younger fighting (41) by 4 years but he’s the closest to the end of the road.

To be honest he’s past the end of the road and is heading off the cliff. Hopkins (45) is the one after revenge, though if that’s his plan he still has Jermain Taylor and Joe Calzaghe to beat, his other defeat isn’t relevant.

Jones is coming off a huge defeat to Danny Green, but it was at Cruiserweight and maybe was stopped a little too early. In boxing though excuses aren’t relevant, and the sport doesn’t care if you didn’t get enough training or the judges robbed you. It’s a harsh sport that should be taken very seriously.

Hopkins hasn’t been very lively though since his outstanding one-sided victory over then unbeaten Kelly Pavlik. He didn’t step back into the ring until December last year. He won another one-sided fight against a poor Enrique Ornelas.

I doubt either fighter will get much credit for beating each other. Plus there will be only a small amount of people watching it., there’ll be more people watching it online than paying $49.95., and even more people just finding out the result the next day.

The fight shouldn’t be too hard to predict, actually I can only see it going one way. Bernard will be firm with his jab for the first few rounds; he won’t go looking for Jones. While Roy looks to impose some pressure on the executioner. Hopkins is a great counter puncher and will pick Jones off. Jones will try desperately to keep up with the Philly, but will ultimately have no rounds on the scorecards before he is pulled out at the end of the 10th. I hope Jones has sense then to hang up the gloves for good and not try to go out like a hero. Bernard could well stop Jones early, but the Executioner would rather punish Jones than spark him out in a few rounds.