Bernard Hopkins has labeled Roy Jones Jr a “dangerous and desperate” man as they prepare to renew their rivalry in Las Vegas on Saturday some 17 years and thousands of jabs after the boxers first faced each other.
When the pair first clashed, Bill Clinton was US president, George W. Bush was co-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team and Barack Obama was a lawyer in Chicago.
It was way back in May 1993 when they contested the vacant IBF middleweight title at RFK Stadium in Washington.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Jones won a unanimous decision in what was the first world title bout for both fighters and then went on to win belts at super-middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight.
Those glory days have passed, and 41-year-old Jones has lost five of his last 10 fights, three by knockout, including being stopped in the first round by unheralded Australian Danny Green in his most recent contest in December.
“Roy Jones is a desperate man. A desperate man is a dangerous man,” 45-year-old Hopkins told reporters.
Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KOs) captured the middleweight belt in 1995 by stopping Ecuador’s Segundo Mercado, and made a record 20 successful defenses of that crown before losing two close decisions to fellow American Jermain Taylor in 2005.
He said his rationale for the rematch is simply to reverse what he considers the only clear defeat of his career.
“It’s personal,” he said. “It’s definitely personal. I helped start his legacy and I’m going to end it.”
Each of the fighters are blaming the other for the amount of time between the two contests.
“He didn’t want to fight me again because after 1993 I got better and he didn’t,” Hopkins said.
Jones, in a telephone interview, countered: “He didn’t want to fight me again until he felt like I was at the end of my career, and I had deteriorated and slowed down a bit.
“He wasn’t going to fight me until he thought I was done,” Jones said. “Now he feels like I’m done, so he’ll fight me now.”
Hopkins’ last two fights have brought points wins against Enrique Ornelas and Kelly Pavlik but Jones was confident the veteran’s desire for revenge would remain unfulfilled.
“He don’t like me, and I’m glad he don’t like me,” said Jones (54-6, 40 KOs). “He hates that he couldn’t beat Roy Jones in his prime, in his heyday, and he hates Roy Jones for that, he hates that I overshadowed him in his prime, and he has not liked me from that day forward. But that’s too bad.
“After Saturday, he’s gonna hate me twice as much as he does now,” Jones said.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
RSS