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Rewind to Oct. 30, where Roy Jones Jr and Bobby Gunn held a press conference in Philadelphia to announce their upcoming fight, originally scheduled to take place Dec. 4 at the National Guard Armory. It didn't take long for that date and venue to be scrapped and the fight to eventually land on Dec. 18 at the Sands Bethlehem. I write eventually because when the venue first changed the date was semi-originally Dec. 3. But no big deal, right? The fight was just pushed back 2 weeks and moved 50 miles northwest.
Wrong.
The fight was off and Bobby Gunn was one of the last to know. Fightnews first broke the news, seemingly recklessly at the time, on Nov. 20 that Roy Jones would instead fight on Dec. 21 in Moscow against *TBA. When BoxingScene reached out to Gunn shortly thereafter, Bobby's representation (Matt Yanofsky) denied everything.
Yet Fightnews retracted nothing and word on the street in Philadelphia was that the fight was indeed off. Move forward to Dec. 1 and I decide to address Gunn on twitter:
The next day I confirmed the rumors with matchmaker Don Elbaum, who told me over the phone that Glen Johnson was the likely replacement opponent. And as it turns out, he is:
Bobby suggested that I was some sort of a seer when I posted the official press release days later:
Click here if you actually want to see that release. Details on how to attend the event or watch it online are there. Nothing is free.
Such is life.
But no worries. I'll still be covering the event for BLH, just not from press row. Instead I'll be watching from my home computer, which is how I view most fights these days anyways. BLH will have live coverage on twitter, if you follow me. If not, wait for my results column...
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*Roy's opponent was later named to be Zine Eddine Benmakhlouf. James Toney, who had been training for a fight with Manuel Charr, tried to replace Benmakhlouf after Charr was sidelined due to injury. But I have no substantial information that Jones vs Toney II will become a reality.
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Ryan Bivins is a staff writer for BadLeftHook and an affiliate of GFL.TV, which is providing the online PPV of this event. You can contact Ryan on twitter (@sweetboxing) or through email (rgbivins@gmail.com).