Consensus Be Damned: Hopkins-Jones II a Must-See Fight By Lyle Fitzsimmons OK folks, I’ve heard all the commentary about this Saturday night. How they’re far too old to be relevant. How one’s seriously jeopardizing his legacy. How nobody will buy the premise of two men settling a 17-year-old score that could have been erased in half that. Forget “The Rivals.” It’d more accurately be promoted as “The Colossal Waste of Time,” sponsored by Geritol. And it’s come both from voices I respect and the requisite contrarian blowhards. Make no mistake, I hear it all. But I still don’t care. Because when Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. at last head toward a Mandalay Bay ring with designs on hitting each other with something besides insults, the event will have two very important attributes no other fight this century has been able to boast. Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr., to be exact. And if you’re of a certain age bracket like me, that’s all that really matters. Needless to say, I concede to the younger set that neither man is what he used to be. The Hopkins of today might struggle with the truly elite in his weight class – particularly one Chad Dawson. And the Jones of today has already been exposed as subordinate to several once beneath him – specifically Danny Green, Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver. But that hardly means their get-together is unworthy of attention. In fact, while neither remains the single worthiest commodity in any one division, both have proven nothing if not still superior to a significant percentage of the muck and mire heralded as contenders by various alphabet sanctioning bodies. Even at 43, Hopkins manhandled a consensus middleweight kingpin along the Jersey shore, then pitched a near shutout over a top 20 light heavy in an overdue return to Philly roots a year later. Meanwhile – since the end of a well-documented three-fight skid – a 40-ish Jones has managed five decisive victories, including a pair of stoppages, over a quintet who’d entered those frays with 140 wins, 98 knockouts and world titles in four weight classes. If Saturday’s names were Hobson and Sloan, that acumen would warrant at least middling consideration. And given their previous Canastota accomplishments… it becomes must-see TV. Hopkins stated the case for respect in a media conference call last week. “If Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan were playing a one-on-one and you're a basketball fan, you're going to show up,” he said. “Age cannot compete with accomplishments and names and what those individuals have done in the boxing game. The word respect is very important in this fight. “This is not some clown reality show where you have two wrestlers, two boxers, two old entertainers or two old singers squared off in some reality show. This is the real deal. This is the real deal and I'm pretty sure you're going to be watching, too.” Count me in, Bernard. -------------------------------------------------- :shit::shit::shit::shit::shit::shit::shit::shit: Pathetic groupie.
