He's a junior welterweight titlist. He has 1 out of 4 championship belts and he took on the worst champion to get it. Khan was knocked out in 52 seconds by a bum last year, so they fed him a schoolteacher and the ghost of Marco Antonio Barrera so that he could wriggle his way to a title shot against a guy who had only knocked out 2 out of his last 15 opponents. I have to say, that is some damn shrewd management.
Watching RJJ and B-hop fight is like watching Abe Vigoda trying to solve a Rubik's cube, No Thanks...
Yeah, i dont think he's THAT good. That was embarrassing....Although he did have a good showing at the olympics
He didn't "duck" Dariusz. Both guys were stubborn and seemed to only want the fight on their terms. Like most fans, I sure wish it would have happened and I think Roy could have been the bigger man and gone overseas for the fight but I think had Dariusz could have just as easily come to the U.S. I'll take RJJ in a unanimous decision if they had fought in the late 90's-early 2000's.
You should see Khan spar, he gets schooled constantly. He is extremely sloppy, although he cleaned it up a bit now with Roach training him. He has the speed, he just isn't very intelligent and doesn't have a whole lot of power for the division he is in. He can be a solid fighter, but if they put him up against any of the elite boxers, he will get murdered. He said he isn't interested in fighting Hatton, who is also in his weight class. I'm sure he knows he would probably get knocked out, Khan just doesn't have the chin to fight at welter.
Y'all know way more about Amir Khan's boxing credentials (and boxing, in general) than me. I hadn't even heard of him until recently...a friend of mine is apparently his cousin.
I'm thinkin' we'll see massive improvements after Roach is done with him....i'm excited to see what happens in his next fight.
You have to be careful with British fighters. They can have great records but when they are put on the world stage you find they are pub brawlers and nothing more. Its slightly similar to the Australian scene expect that the Poms like to talk up their fighters like they are gods where as in Australia we see what they can actually do against decent opponents. Just of RJJ, I was lucky enough to watch pretty much his entire pro career and there were so many times he fought the guy that was supposed to be the real challenge for him, and he smashed the vast majority of them with ease. You look at that fight the other night. Jones in 40.....and his hand speed against a decent enough fighter who has a reputation, it was unbelievable. I just dont like seeing people trying to talk down what he achieved in his career. When he was at his best, no one was even close to him. He was the best pound for pound fighter for about a decade. Hell he won a heavyweight title, and sure it wasnt against someone with a big name, but when you look at the picture of him facing off before that fight....its unbelievable that Jones was able to win.
I'll probably check this out. _____ Jones, Hopkins sign deal for 2010 bout Sixteen years after they first met, Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins will finally fight again. For years, they talked on and off about a rematch, but the negotiations always fell apart over how they would split the money. But with both men now past their 40th birthdays and no significant fights looming for either, they finally nailed down the elusive deal, signing an agreement Friday for a light heavyweight fight sometime in the first quarter of 2010, both sides told ESPN.com. It will be televised on HBO PPV. "Sixteen years ago they fought each other and went on and made history in their own way," said Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, Hopkins' promoter. "Each one is considered today as ring royalty. That's why I think when those two guys are going to fight it will be to determine who will be king of the ring. We went back and forth for so long, but we finally pulled it off. They both signed and they will fight. It will be a truly historic showdown. A lot of people didn't believe it would ever happen. But guess what? It's going to happen." However, the deal is contingent on Jones' first winning a Dec. 2 fight in Australia against Australian cruiserweight Danny Green, which has been planned for a couple of months. Also as part of their deal, Hopkins is allowed to take an interim fight before the end of the year. In an interview at Schaefer's downtown Los Angeles office, he said Hopkins, who hasn't fought since easily outpointing Kelly Pavlik 11 months ago, was inclined to fight a tune-up bout. Schaefer said he was working on a plan under which Hopkins would fight in his hometown of Philadelphia against an opponent to be determined on the same day as Jones' fight in Australia. Under the terms of the agreement, Jones (54-5, 40 KOs) and Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KOs) agreed to split the revenue 50-50, which had always been the sticking point. If there is a knockout or a TKO, the winner of the fight will get 60 percent and the loser 40 percent. "I don't like that at all," Jones, 40, said of the knockout provision. "I love it. I absolutely love it. Love it. That is all I can say. I'm definitely looking forward to this fight. The fans have wanted to see it for a long time. For the longest time, he wouldn't take it. Now he's taking it. I'm ecstatic. I can't wait." Jones said he thought about pulling out of the Green fight but won't because he had given his word and signed a contract. John Wirt, CEO of Jones' promotional company, said Jones was receiving a "multimillion dollar payday" for the fight with Green. "I'm in a very difficult situation," said Jones, who would be 41 for the Hopkins fight. "I respect Green. I know we signed and I thought maybe I should just pull out. But I can't deny Danny. This is one of the biggest fights in the history of his country. This is how it is. So I'll give him the biggest fight in his country and that will get me ready for Hopkins and the biggest fight in my country. I'd rather let the Green fight go, but I'm a man of my word. It wouldn't be fair to back out on him now. "It's time to take care of my business and then come back here and beat Bernard Hopkins." Before either man became a star, they met for a vacant middleweight title on May 22, 1993 with Jones winning a clear unanimous decision. Jones would go on to dominate the sport as the pound-for-pound king for about a decade and win titles in four divisions. Hopkins would later claim the middleweight title after Jones left the division and go on to make a division-record 20 defenses before moving up and claiming the light heavyweight championship. "I beat him with one hand the first time," Jones said of their first fight, in which he fought with a damaged right hand. "What am I worried about?" The sides have other smaller issues to work out, such as which fighter gets first billing, who walks to the ring first and who is announced first. Wirt said the sides agreed to settle all of the outstanding issues with a coin flip. "This is a straight up 50-50 deal," Wirt said. "We'll settle everything with a coin flip. We're going to have a commemorative coin made with Roy's face on one side and Bernard's on the other and use it to decide everything. We'd like to get that televised on ESPN. It would be fun." Schaefer and Wirt gave a lot of credit to HBO's Mark Taffet for bringing the sides together. Jones had been on board with a 50-50 deal. Getting Hopkins, who would be 45 for the fight, was more difficult, but they made a lot of progress during a meeting in Las Vegas last week among between Schaefer, Hopkins and Taffet. "There have been a lot of people who worked very hard, but a lot of credit goes to Mark, who shepherded this thing through and really helped make it happen," Wirt said. Schaefer said there is no site yet for the fight, but that he and Wirt would speak to venues in Las Vegas, New York and Atlantic City, N.J., although they preferred Las Vegas. link
Pointless fight but should be fun. I like hearing Roy trash talk. If Roy brings his A-game, he can win.
Hopkins let it happen the first time they fought when Roy beat him with one hand. Roy was ridiculous when he was young. Up until he Tarver 1, Roy was the most gifted boxer to ever put gloves on. Unfortunately, he peaked when he bulked up for Ruiz, and has never been quite the same. The added weight, age, and being knocked out took its toll on him.
That was younger Bhop... It won't happen now. I think Jones can pull it up if he doesn't get too careless. I never really liked Bhop so I hope Jones can atleast knock him down.
These guys still have enough in the tank to make this a fun fight to watch -- all the trash talk before the fight should be epic.
