Brace yourselves.
Retired Hall of Famers Roy Jones Jr., 50, and Bernard Hopkins, 54, have been trading words again recently. And it looks as if both are at least willing to fight once more. Jones and Hopkins first met in the ring during a pretty boring 1993 fight that Jones would win by unanimous decision.
The two wouldn’t fight again until 2010, when they were both well past their primes (although Hopkins managed to continue an improbable run well after that) in a fight that might’ve been even worse than their first. Hopkins would easily win that rematch on the cards as he was just so much better preserved than Jones at that point, which left the two contemporaries 1-1 against each other.
Now, about 10 years later, the two still want to settle things in the ring once and for all, which Hopkins calling out Jones for a rubber match.
“Whether he’s Rooster Man or RJ, I’m gonna pluck his feathers...We can settle the rubber match — which would be the third, right. I think it’s a great idea that was brought to me from some high powerful people in Russia, legitimate people, as my team researched [them].
“If Roy’s serious and he can meet me halfway to where he’s at now [weight wise], I don’t even care where he’s at, but I care to meet me halfway. That means if I gotta go up, I go up, halfway. If he gotta come down, lets meet in half of the block and we can go do what we gotta do. And we will settle the score by the rubber match...
“See Roy’s having nightmares of my redemption, of me redeeming myself 10 years-plus ago. He really didn’t like that...”
When then asked if he’d want a third fight with Jones to be a full 12-rounds or an exhibition, Hopkins said:
“Whatever it is that I can get my hands on his body and prove that I am the same fighter that wanted that fight years ago and got it, and can really go away with that, but the rubber match will really like seal the deal.”
Publicly Jones has accepted Hopkins challenge, but we’ll have to see if the business behind the scenes will actually get done to make this a reality.
I, for one, hope not.