It was supposed to be a tune-up for an anticipated rematch, but Roy Jones Jr.'s visit to Australia to fight Danny Green on Wednesday ended up as something else entirely: a stunning knockout loss.
Amid questions that Jones' storied career may be finished came word that his pending agreement to fight Bernard Hopkins in March is finished.
"The loss negates that contract, yes," said Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Hopkins' promoter, Golden Boy Promotions.
The Jones fight will air tonight on Versus as a doubleheader with Hopkins' supposed tune-up against Enrique Ornelas. It will be Hopkins' first bout since his sensational upset of Kelly Pavlik in October 2008.
Jones beat Hopkins by unanimous decision in 1993, and much trash talking has ensued between the now elder statesmen.
Schaefer said he'll still consider Jones as a possible future opponent for Hopkins -- given the name recognition, that has merit -- but given the one-sided outcome Wednesday he said he'll also consider heavyweight champion David Haye, super-middleweight champion Lucian Bute and cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek.
"I want Bernard to take care of business tonight and see if Jones is still a viable candidate or not," said Schaefer, who somewhat allowed Jones an alibi for the loss.
"I don't know what happened to him in that fight. He got hit by a punch toward the back of the head, maybe a rabbit punch, or, since they were in Australia, maybe we should be calling it a kangaroo punch. But that shot took him out of the fight, the fight was pretty much over right then."
Jones' publicist, Mercedes Ganon, e-mailed to say Jones told her, "No way they should've stopped the fight, [I] had [myself] all back together and ready to go."
-- Lance Pugmire
Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com
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