12.01.07 – By Karen Belford: Hello, East Side People, it’s good to be back. I haven’t written in a while but I hope to get back in the swing of things, if my school and work schedule permits. Lately, I was intrigued with the news that Roy Jones Jr. is reportedly in the process of fighting Bernard Hopkins, once again. In the beginning, I thought this was such terrific news because I thought their first fight was so stirring, but after I thought about it for awhile, the image of those two fighting again put me off completely.. I find it dull already, for it’s been 14 years since they last fought and if they had really wanted a rematch, they should have already done it by now, wouldn’t you think?
Too much time has gone by since May 22, 1993, the period of their first fight, and at this point it reeks of desperation to keep the fame alive.
Not that Jones needs it, because he doesn’t. He’s still young at 38 years old and has a lot of other options besides fighting Hopkins, who is now 42 years old. That’s pretty old for a fighter, I think and it wouldn’t be appealing. The number is perhaps even more displeasing than anything since it’s something will be brought up often before the fight and, it would be a real turn off for fans, who would see this as a kind of an old timer’s fight. You know what I mean? I think this is similar to mythical bout with an aged Larry Holmes vs. George Foreman.
I’m not knocking Jones for one second, no. He’s still very talented, no matter what people think about him. He may have been knocked out a couple of times in the past few years, but that was because he was starving himself to make weight for the 2nd Tarver fight. He still wasn’t recovered when he fought Johnson which is why Jones lost that fight. He showed everyone that he’s still great in his last fight against Prince Badi Ajamu in July 2006, a fight in which he schooled Prince so badly and made him look like amateur. I was really happy for him for I knew he was still the same Roy as before even if his reputation had taken a painful hit. He just needed time to get his body back to where he was before all of the yo-yo dieting.
I really hope Jones will change his mind and not fight Hopkins because it’s such a waste of time for him to do this. Let Hopkins wait around and fight Maskaev. That would be a good fight for Hopkins, don’t you think? He could cement his legacy against Maskaev and look good in doing it. It’s easily a winnable fight for Hopkins at this point. He’s be outweighed by a frightful amount of weight by Maskaev, but he’s so much the better boxer that he’d likely have the Russian fighter twisted in knots trying to hit him.
I think Hopkins is in big trouble and he’ll get hurt and embarrassed by Roy’s blinding punches. Hopkins beat Tarver, but that’s not the same as fighting Jones who had his number years ago when they fought in 1993.
I think the fans won’t want to see this fight either. Like me, they want to see Roy go against some really talented fighters like Joe Calzaghe, Mikkel Kessler, Tomaz Adamek, Shannon Briggs, Nicolay Valuev, Audley Harrison, and Chris Byrd. Those are the fighters Jones should have his mind set on fighting. The fans would much more prefer to see Jones fighting those fighters, and it would be much more appealing to watch instead of seeing Jones go back over old ground when he doesn’t have a need to.
Jones won the first fight and that should be the end of the matter. As I’ve mentioned before, I strongly hold the opinion that Jones could beat all of them above mentioned fighters if he gets his weight at their level and doesn’t do it in a binge-type manner. He’s just a much more talented boxer and his speed and ring savvy sets him apart from the rest. I’m still angry with him for giving up his heavyweight title after beating John Ruiz in March, 2003. It’s was so silly for him to just give up the belt when he had the talent to hold onto it for a long time. By now, I Jones could have defended it many times in the past three years and probably beaten the so-called best heavyweights in the division along the way. It’s still not too late for him. That’s why I want Roy to change his mind about wasting his time with a fight with Hopkins. Let’s hope he does for our sake.
If you have any comments or questions, you can contact me at my e-mail karenbelford1@yahoo.com