Jones to waste no time returning to ring George W. Moore III gmoore@pnj.com Nothing's official yet, but it seems the Gulf Coast might have another opportunity to see Pensacola's Roy Jones Jr. step into the ring in person. Promoter Murad Muhammad said Tuesday that Jones will fight either Nov. 3, Nov. 10 or Nov. 17. The most likely location will be back at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, although New Orleans also is a possibility. "We're definitely fighting in November," Muhammad said by telephone. "We have a couple of dates that we are pondering over, and (Jones) has agreed on the dates. What we're trying to do is make sure the arena is available in Biloxi." Muhammad said the No. 1 choice is to fight Hungarian Zsolt Erdei, the WBO light heavyweight champion, with the IP Casino again serving as host. Jones (51-4, 38 knockouts) defeated Anthony Hanshaw by unanimous decision to win the IBC light heavyweight championship on July 14 in Biloxi. Glen Johnson, who knocked Jones out in the ninth round of their Sept. 2004 bout, is the second choice. Both Johnson and Jones have said they want a rematch. Then there's the looming mega-bout with Felix Trinidad, who has said he will come out of retirement to fight Jones. "(A rematch with Johnson is) one of my most important moves," said Jones, a former world champion in four weight classes. "I'd rather fight for the title (against Erdei), but it don't matter to me. I want Trinidad, but he don't want me right now." Getting Erdei to fight in the U.S. could be a challenge. The undefeated champion has boxed outside Europe only twice in his career and those bouts were in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. "Most of them (European champions), don't want to come over here," said Jones' adviser, McGee Wright. "They want to fight over there, so it's kind of hard. "When they do come over here and fight somebody, they always fight a lesser guy. They pick and choose who they want to fight when they come over here." But the possibility of a live network telecast could lure Erdei (27-0, 17) stateside. Muhammad said ABC might broadcast the bout on Nov. 10, the same night "Sugar" Shane Mosley is rumored to be fighting WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden. That fight would be on pay-per-view. "To go up against Mosley-Cotto on pay-per-view would be foolish," Muhammad said. "We don't want to do that. We don't want to go up against that unless we have a live telecast (on ABC)." There could be snags for the other proposed dates as well. On Nov. 3, super middleweights Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler are scheduled to fight for the WBC, WBA and WBO championships in Wales. HBO is rumored to be broadcasting that bout live in the U.S. during the day, then replaying it during prime time. And a Nov. 17 bout would compete against a scheduled ultimate fighting event, which likely will draw huge pay-per-view numbers. Wright said that a Nov. 3 bout against Johnson (46-11-2, 31) could be the most likely scenario. The problem is the Coliseum is booked because of a Mississippi Sea Wolves ECHL hockey game. That means New Orleans could get the bout if the city's arena is available on the desired dates.. "More than likely, the leading candidate is Glen Johnson," Wright said. "There's other people out there, but that's who he wants to fight. "We're in the process of getting everything together, trying to take care of the contracts." There is one more option that would change everything. Trinidad has said he is coming out of retirement to face Jones. But the former welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight champion has said he doesn't want to fight until January. Jones doesn't want to wait that long, which is why he already has begun training. He sparred for 10 rounds Monday and worked out Tuesday as well. But if Trinidad decided to fight in November ... "If that came through, all that (Erdei and Johnson) is history," Muhammad said. "If you look all over the board, all the experts are saying there's nothing out there that makes sense for Trinidad but Roy Jones Jr. "That fight makes more sense than anything, but is it going to happen? I don't know." What is known is Jones is ready to fight again, a stark contrast to his two previous bouts. His victory against Hanshaw came almost a year after his win against Prince Badi Ajamu. That bout in Idaho was nine months after his second loss to Antonio Tarver. "I just want to keep fighting, stay in shape and keep the punches coming," he said.
Erdei gets paid well enough where he is at. I don't see him getting lured to the states. That fight isn't very realistic IMO.
I doubt it happens, but... anyone else see the irony in Jones fighting for the WBO strap so long after DM has lost it, against a fighter based in Europe that they're trying to lure to the US? But, like I said, I doubt that proposed fight would happen, so it's probably another barely recognized name, for a little more cash on the Jones "hey look, I'm still fighting, talk about me!" tour...
