He had already beat Hopkins then, they were talking about him fighting a Hopkins who had improved a lot since their first meeting. Roy would have won that fight in 99, but he wouldnt make it
Ah yes blame that on Hopkins .Hopkins was infomous for ducking Jones also ducked Calzaghe when Showtime offered him a multi fight deal .. But again he beat a who's who of fighters yet people want to say he fought cab drivers and cops ..
Roy just wouldnt answer the question when asked who he would like to fight. Roy just acted like a frightend child when question. It might have been that S Collins intimidated Jones, but I think it was that Merchant revealed how D Michalczewski was willing (even as the man of the division and real champ) to travel to America, to make the fight
Yeah we all saw how serious DM was about coming to the US ..His official press release was " I can't find my passport " And yeah Jones was scared yet he beat the man that beat Collins in Reggie Johnson !
Collins was very unlucky not to get the dec against Johnson - I wouldn't go as far as to say he was robbed, but he did clearly deserve the dec in most views. Johnson was as slick as a greaseball back then and a shadow of himself 7-8 years later when he fought Jones. Infact, it's well-known that Johnson used to get the better of Jones every time they sparred in '92-'93. Johnson also looked to have beat Toney. A controversial dec.
Remember Collins was coming off his appearance in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels as an intimidating bouncer it was around this time that film was hitting the US I think? [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0EBzBsrstk[/ame]
Actually he said 'there were a couple of fights left' meaning on the card that night, he just wanted to address the audience. However, approaching his 30th birthday, he did suggest that he wouldn't be boxing much longer.
steve collins did everything to get that fight, he even drove to roy jones house, and roy still didn't want to know.