Bernard Hopkins says Roy Jones Jr is a 'desperate man' as the two ageing veterans try and settle an old score in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Jones defeated Hopkins to win the IBF middleweight title way back in 1993, and despite the bad blood between the two the rematch has taken 17 years to put together.
Many now say the time has passed and the two should not be fighting, especially Jones after he lost five of his last ten fights including a shock first-round stoppage by little-known Australian Danny Green.
41-year-old Jones looks like he is in a rapid decline, whereas Hopkins, despite being 45, has won his last two fights on points against Enrique Ornelas and Kelly Pavlik.
'The Executioner' is still desperate to avenge his 1993 defeat in Washington at all costs, and he has labelled his opponent as a desperate man after his recent defeats.Desperate
"Roy Jones is a desperate man. A desperate man is a dangerous man," said Hopkins. "It's personal. It's definitely personal. I helped start his legacy and I'm going to end it.
"He's one up on me. It's a personal vendetta. I've got something legitimate to me personally in this fight."
Both men have blamed each other for the numerous failed attempts at a rematch, and Jones says that Hopkins has only now agreed to the fight as he thinks he is way past his best after recent defeats.
"He feels like I'm done. I'm washed up. I'm old goods," said Jones. "That's the only reason he's taking the fight now.
"I'm going to give him my secret punch, guaranteed to stop him. He's going to sleep by knockout. There's nothing he can do to win."
Rivalry
Hopkins, who believes he can challenge David Haye for the world heavyweight title, countered: "He didn't want to fight me again because after 1993 I got better and he didn't."
Jones has said he won their first fight with a unanimous points decisions despite having a hand injury, so is confident of the same result.
"I remember I beat him with one hand," said Jones. "My right hand was injured and I had to overcome that. I didn't have a right hand in that fight against him. So why should it be so hard now that I got two hands?
"He don't like me, and I'm glad he don't like me. He hates 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."
Source: skysports.com
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