REAL TALK on Roy Jones-Bernard Hopkins II

Alright folks, we all know your favorite boxing columnist KING J always keeps it REAL. We also know he is a huge loud and proud biased Roy Jones Jr. fan till the end, but lets kick the 'REAL Talk' about this past Saturday’s Roy Jones Jr.-Bernard Hopkins rematch.

First off we can all agree this rematch came way too late to the point of where it did not need to even happen. Many columnists and fans flooded boxing websites and forums expressing their strong disinterest and even anger that this rematch took 17 years to finally happen when both legendary fighters were in their 40s and on the decline of their careers.

It is without doubt that Hopkins was still in far better condition both mentally and physically in his career despite being four years older than Roy.

This fight was not a question of who would win, but the real question was how far gone was Roy at this point? We all know a prime late 1990s/early 2000s Jones destroys all, but we also knew the 2010 version of Roy was only a fraction of his former prime self. But what percentage was Roy going to be of his former super man status come Saturday night?

I had the honor of talking with Roy Jones senior, Roy’s dad, who trained and molded Roy into the super man that he became in his prime. For many of us who followed Roy throughout his career, we always heard stories of how mean and hardcore Roy’s dad was in a very Joe Jackson (Michael Jackson’s father) 'beat your kids into super stars' manner.

We also heard how for a long part of Roy’s career he was estranged from his father due to personal beef that they held for several years.  But in all honesty I found Roy’s dad to be nothing but a kind swell guy.

He took the time to answer a few questions for me and even dropped what he was doing to pose for a photo as seen above.  I asked Roy senior what were his thoughts about the fight and I used the words 'REAL Talk.' He responded that he predicts his son will knock out Hopkins.

I then said I saw the weigh in video and felt Roy was getting into Hopkins' head by taunting him and dissing him with the Easter basket full of Viagra and other stereotypical grandpa items and felt it was odd that Hopkins did not even make an attempt to make a rebuttal. Roy senior then just smiled. I then told him I felt Roy had the mental edge going into this fight and he said he hopes he does,  physically he is 100 percent ready.

I then bumped into boxing expert Doug Fischer and asked him who he had for the fight and he said without hesitation, “Hopkins decision” (Which we all know now what was the inevitable result). He then asked me why I am a Jones fan. I then pointed at my Jordan logo on my hat and then he said alright.

Fischer ended up doing a great job on the commentary for the fight with the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard as well. I hope we can see both of them doing commentary on more big fights in the near future.

At the fight I bumped into former champion Fernando Vargas 26(22)-5 and asked him and his boys who they got for the fight, and they all had Hopkins.

During the fight I went from being nervous to being frustrated and pissed off. It was evident from the first few rounds that Jones was not there to stop Hopkins or even win rounds for he would not open up and let his hands go. Hopkins too would be hesitate to go for a stoppage and was satisfied with just out landing and outpointing the gun shy Jones.

It went from being boring to horrendous as most of Hopkins fights are painfully uneventful and excruciating to watch. Just as one can not imagine how this fight can get even more horrible, Hopkins then repeatedly exaggerates getting fouled by rabbit punches and groin punches (something he has been notorious for doing to his opponents his whole career and even guilty of doing to Jones in this fight).

Hopkins hits the canvas and takes a long drawn out breather to regain his composure and attempts to rack up as much penalty points as possible.

Finally after the second or third over dramatic crying, falling, fake fest by Hopkins I turned to the gentleman next to me who happened to be Ivaylo Gotzev and said, “God damn how does this guy have fans? Will he still have fans after this?”

Ivaylo Gotzev is the manager of several boxing stars including Ismayl Sillakh, 12(11)-0. who stopped Daniel Judah on the under card. Gotzev, just like me and the thousands of the fans at Mandalay Bay, felt the same way.

Gotzev even told me that he will blast Hopkins for doing this when he gets up at the podium to speak at the post fight conference. Gotzev did indeed blast Hopkins and got into a heated argument with Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer. You got to love Gotzev for keeping it real and backing up his word that he would blast Hopkins for that.

Finally by the end of the fight many of the limited 6,792 audience booed and expressed how they felt they were ripped off and it was a complete waste of time. If you walked around the Mandalay Bay lobby that night you saw a lot of people who were not happy customers. Thankfully those of us who were holding media credentials did not have to pay for this fight and at least we got a free meal out of it too.

At the post-fight conference both Jones and Hopkins were not in attendance for they were both sent to the hospital to treat their injuries. Hopkins apparently collapsed in the dressing room according to Richard Schaefer. Schaefer expressed that he felt he preferred Hopkins to retire instead of going after heavyweight champion David Haye. 

The post-fight conference could have been legendary had it lived up to the full potential that it had going for it. Imagine the legendary Roy Jones, Bernard Hopkins, and all time great Sugar Ray Leonard all in the same post-fight conference.

But, unfortunately the biggest name to come into the post-fight conference was 1990’s Rap legend turned reality star Flava Flav who too quickly exited the post-fight conference after allowing the media to take pictures with him.

What is next for both Hopkins and Jones? Well judging by how disappointing this fight was it would be in both of their best interests to retire. All legends should be remembered for their greatness and their prime years not this sorry excuse for a fight that took place this past weekend. This fight could have been great 15 years ago, 10 years ago, even five years ago.  

I’m going to erase this weekend from my memory and remember only the highlights just as I selectively remember a prime Sugar Ray Leonard handing the great Wilfred Benitez his first loss, Leonard giving the invincible Roberto Duran more than he can handle, Leonard stopping a prime Hearns, or even Leonard winning a split decision over the Marvelous Marvin Hagler. I'm not planning on remembering Leonard’s last fights against Terry Norris or Hector Camacho ever happened.