Roy Jones vs. Bernard Hopkins II: Does It Really Matter?

Back in 1993, Monica Seles was stabbed by an obsessed Steffi Graf fan, the 51-day standoff in Waco, Texas, was making national news headlines, and Roy Jones Jr. outpointed Bernard Hopkins in each boxer's first-ever bid for a world title.

It's safe to say that a lot has changed since that May night when the two fought for the vacant IBF middleweight title on the undercard of the Riddick Bowe and Jesse Ferguson heavyweight championship bout.

One thing that hasn't changed is that Bernard Hopkins has always wanted another crack at his conqueror.

Well, 17 years later, he finally gets it.

It will actually be a month and a half shy of 17 years when the two future Hall of Famers square off again on April 3, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

To be honest, fight fans were actually quite interested in seeing a rematch after Hopkins' spectacular 12th-round TKO of Puerto Rican superstar Felix Trinidad back in 2001. Both men were on the top of their game, and for that reason they could never agree on who would get the lion's share of the purse.

In the coming years their respective careers would take drastically different paths.

Bernard Hopkins went on to pound William Joppy's face to the point where he looked like the elephant man and then went on to finally reach superstardom with a win over the undersized Oscar De La Hoya.

Despite losing two close decisions to Jermain Taylor, bringing his amazing middleweight title reign to an end, Hopkins bounced back with wins in the light heavyweight division over Antonio Tarver and Ronald "Winky" Wright. 

Another close loss to the now-retired Welshman Joe Calzaghe was followed by a dominating performance over current middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik.

Roy Jones, on the other hand, suffered one of the most rapid declines the sport has known. His inconsistent performances have left the public wondering how much he has left in the tank.

The downfall for Jones began with his shocking and devastating knockout loss to Tarver in 2004, followed by an even more brutal loss to journeyman Glen Johnson, which left Jones motionless on the canvas for several minutes. Just when it couldn't get any worse for Jones, he dropped another fight to Tarver, this time via unanimous decision.

Jones followed up with wins over the lesser known Prince Badi Ajamu and Anthony Hanshaw, which set up a comfortable points win over Trinidad.

The three-fight win streak led to a fight with Calzaghe, and despite Jones scoring a knockdown of Calzaghe in the first round, the Welshman went on to win a lopsided decision.

Following the loss, Jones went on to score stoppage wins over Omar Sheika and Jeff Lacy.

Late last year both Hopkins and Jones agreed to terms for a bout, each adding a tune-up fight on the same day to create some buzz for their eventual showdown. Hopkins took on Enrique Ornelas and Jones fought Danny Green.

Hopkins got the job done.

Jones didn't.

It seemed that, after Jones was stopped in the first round by Green, the proposed bout with Hopkins was off.

Inexplicably, Hopkins maintained that there was still plenty of interest for them to fight.

At the time I wondered (and still am wondering)...Where is this interest, and who is it coming from?

Aside from Hopkins and Jones scoring a nice payday, what does this fight do for anyone?

Is the chance of Hopkins exacting revenge on Jones after 17 years enough? Are people merely content to watch a fight between two legends in the sport?

I'm not so sure.

I do know, however, that it speaks volumes that, despite HBO pay-per-view distributing this bout, they didn't find it intriguing enough to send out their regular announcing crew to call the action, nor will they replay the fight on HBO the following week, as is customary with most major fights.

Maybe because, in 2010, it just isn't a major fight.

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