In what can only be summed up as a sad and rather unfortunate monetarily-influenced fiasco, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr will proceed to meet each other in the proposed rematch that has been 17 long awaited years in the making. Hopkins vs. Jones II is set for April 17 and will take place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV. The event will be televised on PPV. A little over a month ago, an old looking Jones was embarrassed and stopped in the first round of his fight against Danny Green in Australia.
Hopkins, in hometown of Philadelphia, scored a unanimous decision over Enrique Ornelas. So why is this rematch still happening? Boxingchronicles finds it obsurd that Hopkins would still go through with the Jones rematch. Hopkins claims that Jones is the only man in his long career who has ever truly defeated him, so obviously he's looking to avenge that defeat - 17 years later. What Hopkins fails to comprehend is that the version of Jones he will be facing on April 17 is far cry from the young and gifted pugilist who outclassed him in 1993. On the contrary, Jones is a merely a shell, of the shell, of his former self.
Following 45-year-old George Foreman's 10th round knockout of Michael Moorer in 1994 to win the heavyweight championship in what was a historical achievement, how ridiculous would Foreman have been to challenge Muhammad Ali to a rematch of their 1974 Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight title classic in which Ali knocked Foreman out eight rounds??? Exactly, that's what I thought too.
This commentator firmly believes that Hopkins vs. Jones II is absolutely unnecessary at this point. Jones would be well advised to retire, as those around him should be greatly concerned about the man's mental health and physical safety. Hopkins should definitely be targeting prime, elite-level competitors such as Paul Williams, Chad Dawson, or cruiserweight champion Tomaz Adamek. Hopkins has absolutely nothing to gain (other than millions of dollars) and everything to lose by fighting Jones at this stage of his career. Should Jones manage to defeat Hopkins on April 17, it would absolutely spell devastation for The Executioner's legacy.
Fighthype's Andre Zurbrug accurately noted that fighters have lost tune-up bouts in the past, prior to contractually binded superfights that were set to take place. Zab Judah and Floyd Mayweather had an agreement to face each other in 2006, but Judah lost his welterweight championship by unanimous decision to unheralded journeyman Carlos Baldomir in January of 2006. Judah went on to meet Mayweather in April of that year, losing a unanimous decision to the undefeated multi-division champion. Prior to his rematch with Manny Pacquiao, Erik Morales was completely outboxed by spoiler Zahir Raheem enroute to a unanimous decision loss. Morales still fought Pacquiao in his next fight and the Pacman stopped El Terrible in 10 rounds.
However, there is a distinguishable difference between those situations and the circumstances surrounding Hopkins vs. Jones II: the losers did not get knocked out in their tune-ups! They sure as hell didn't get knocked out in one round! Boxingchronicles.com wishes both fighters a successful promotion and a great fight, but a meaningless fight like this could ONLY EXCEED EXPECTATIONS.
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