By Tommy Hudson
Bernard Hopkins on Saturday faced his old foe Roy Jones Jr in the finally awaited rematch at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The 47 year old Bernard Hopkins dominated nearly every round in the fight and won via a unanimous decision with the judges scoring the fight 117-110, 117-110 and 118-109.
Hopkins then went on to say “People will think the punch in the back of my head made me a little crazy, but I want Haye,”.
Haye responded with a left hook to stop Hopkins entering the ring with the WBA heavyweight champion of the world. “I think he just wants a big pay day, to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world he can demand big money.”
The Londoner who beat John Ruiz in Manchester on the same night as Hopkins and Jones entered the ring together carried on to say. “Bernard Hopkins is one of my idols. Looking back at his fights over the last 20, 25 years, he’s always been a great fighter. “But now he’s 45 years of age, he fought another 40-year-old on the same night as me and it was a dire fight for everybody there in attendance.”
The non-title fight exploded into life in the sixth round after Hopkins took a blow to the back of the head.
Indeed, the action was in stark contrast to the display put on just hours earlier in Manchester as Haye dropped Ruiz twice in the first round and twice more later on to stop the durable American for only the second time in 55 fights.
However, as the Las Vegas contest reached its mid-point, the contest finally sparked into life as Jones spun out of a clinch and landed a short punch to the back of Hopkins’ head.
Hopkins dropped to his knees for several minutes but when the round resumed, he attacked Jones with a furious flurry of hooks and jabs and the two men continued to exchange punches as the bell rang, with security guards having to restore order.
The long-delayed rematch was now becoming to be a exciting, no holds barred match. Hopkins went down on two other occasions, albeit from another dirty rabbit punch and a low blow from Jones, while an accidental head butt in the 11th round opened a gash on Jones’ left eyelid.
“It was kind of rough,” said Hopkins, who improved his well respected record to 51 wins, five defeats and one draw. “Roy’s a veteran. He was tying me up. I was tying him up. It was a good fight.”
Former super-middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight title holder Jones, whose record slipped to 54 wins and seven defeats with his sixth loss in 11 fights, admitted he may now choose to call time on a glorious career. But, he will always be remembered as the legend he is Roy Jones Jr, one of the most decorated boxer’s of all time.
“I’ll go back and talk to my coaches and my dad and if we think I still have it, we’ll keep going, and if not, we’ll call it a day,” he said.
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