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Roy Jones Jr. versus the IRS
Let's get the obvious out of the way: Y'all musta forgot to pay your taxes.
Jones (54-7, 40 KO) reportedly owes the IRS $3.5 million, which might help to explain why he recently and somewhat suddenly signed up for a very risky fight in Russia against Denis Lebedev in May. Jones had a rough 2010 in the ring from a financial standpoint, as he made almost no money whatsoever from his April fight with Bernard Hopkins, and a later date with Danny Santiago, which he admitted wasn't going to make much, was called off.
At 42, Jones has limited in-ring earning power left, but he also returned full-time to the HBO boxing team this year, which should help soften the blows over time. The fight with Lebedev should get him a decent chunk of change, too, a nice cash injection.
Litzau-Broner in June
Two fighters coming off of their most notable career wins are going to meet in June, according to Richard Schaefer. BoxingScene.com's Lem Satterfield reports that Schaefer says a deal is all but done to match Jason Litzau and Adrien Broner.
Broner (20-0, 16 KO) moved down to super featherweight in March to defeat Daniel Ponce de Leon via disputed decision in his HBO debut. On HBO in December, Litzau (28-2, 21 KO) upset Celestino Caballero. Both Broner and Litzau scored those wins over guys who had been campaigning at featherweight, but both are quality Ws, and the fight has some appeal. It's tough to figure it as a main event on HBO, but Golden Boy is promoting Lucas Matthysse against Devon Alexander on June 25.
Ray Austin Lives!
Despite the fact that Ray Austin (28-5-4, 14 KO) is 40 years old and was knocked out in two rounds by Wladimir Klitschko in his one alphabet title shot back in 2007, the Cleveland native just keeps getting in line for title shots. BoxingScene.com/Netboxe reports that Austin could face Bermane Stiverne (20-1-1, 19 KO) in a WBC eliminator. Stiverne is a largely-unknown 32-year old based in Canada, originally from Haiti. If it does go down, it would be the third straight fight for Austin serving as a WBC eliminator.