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Before anyone gets TOO excited, do remember that this has happened before. These two have agreed to fight and then the money becomes an issue and nothing happens.
But, Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reports that Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins have agreed in principle to a 2010 rematch, a quick follow-up on Jones discussing the fight just the other day. The deal is pretty simple. They're agreeing to a 50-50 split, unless there is a knockout. In that event, 60% goes to the winner, 40% to the loser. It's incentive for them to bring it and go for the finish.
Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer and Square Ring's John Wirt hammered out the deal. The fight depends on Jones winning his December 2 bout in Australia with Danny Green, a dangerous enough fighter to beat Jones for sure, and now an even more interesting fight.
Like I said the other day, I'm happy with it. I'd LOVE if they'd not try to sell this thing on pay-per-view, but they will. Both are egomaniacs -- no offense to either of them, they've earned their opinions of themselves -- and will want plenty of money to make this happen, and it's probably the biggest fight for either of them, too. But neither of them exactly sold like hotcakes in their last PPV outings, back-to-back in October and November of 2008. Hopkins did just 195,000 buys against Kelly Pavlik and has never been a major drawing card, and Jones did 225,000 the next month against Joe Calzaghe, less than half of what HBO and the fighters/promoters were projecting.
As a pay-per-view, this looks like the Seniors Tour fight some may criticize it for being. As a World Championship Boxing event, it's very inviting, a treat for fans of both men. But if the promoters and networks feel it out and believe this can make money on PPV, they'll go there, and I'll be there to buy it. Roy still has a very loyal fanbase that has never abandoned him, and B-Hop has his fans, too. We'll see how it all shakes out from here, and this fight is no guarantee yet, but it all looks good for now.