Desire for a Trilogy: Roy Jones Jr and Bernard Hopkins

Desire for a Trilogy: Roy Jones Jr and Bernard Hopkins

By Jack Davies

Starting on social media, as most feuds do these days, 54-year-old Bernard Hopkins says he is willing to fight Roy Jones Jr anywhere in Europe.

Currently tied at 1-1, nobody asked for this rematch. It is all to unfortunate that this year in boxing that we have seen a greater number of injuries and deaths and it is the case that a bout such as this would struggle to find sanctioning. Of course, if one was to get hurt there would be a lot of finger pointing towards whichever commission gives the bout the green light.

There seems to be a recent theme of older fighters coming back to the ring. Not only do we have ancient heavyweights such as Samuel Peters fighting on, but we have also seen many headlines about the strange case of Nigel Benn.

The former super-middleweight champion strayed away from the more regulated BBBofC to get his licence and although he denies being rejected by them, he has gained his licence from the British and Irish Boxing Association.

Hopkins (55-8-2) has not won a bout since 2014 and has not fought in three years. Of course, Hopkins is known to be the oldest-ever champion when he defended his light-heavyweight belt at the age of 49.

Some say that you begin to lose your speed and reflexes in old age. Hopkins was never particularly fast but relied on old-school boxing skills; a prime reason why he was able to fight into his late forties.

Whereas Jones often relied on his natural speed, athletics and athleticism. Jones’ last bout was only last year but it is clear from his recent performances that he is a shadow of his former self.

In an Instagram post, Hopkins said that:

“We’re 1-1. Let’s break the tie anywhere. Let’s do it anywhere in Europe, I want you to see this video Roy”.

In any case, no matter how much we admire fighters of past or present, most will still have a desire to go again. It is with this admiration within a sport that can be so brutal, that we must put common sense and respect towards fighters before our needs for entertainment.

In terms of speaking about two legends of the game such as B-HOP and RJJ, they have nothing left to prove to us.