I last watched the fight a year ago, but didn't count scores. The judges unanimously had it 116-112 to Roy.
I watched it back when I first started getting into boxing and still didn't know anything, but my impression was that Hopkins should have won and didn't get the credit for a lot of the stuff he was doing that night. This could be because at the time Hopkins reputation was on the rise and Jones' was on the wane, somewhere between 2002-2004 the Hopkins/Trinidad and Jones/Tarver fights, which would have colored how I viewed things. I'd have to re-watch it now to get a more mature reading on what happened. Sort of like how my opinion on who won Leonard vs Hagler has fluctuated over the years.
It could be scored from 8-4 to 8-0-4 to 12-0, depending on how favorable you are to Hopkins. Even in rounds that could go to Hopkins he didn't land more punches than Jones and didn't do any damage.
I've always seen this fight being very close. Maybe a round or two in Roy's favor I could even see it being called even.
9-3 Jones. Hopkins was ridiculously tentative in the first half of the fight (as was Jones to be fair) and threw a heap of weak jabs that fell a mile short and he scored at a paltry connect rate. He did a bit better late but I've tried to find 4 rounds for Bernard but can only give him 3 at best. He simply didn't get enough done. Jones landed the heavier shots and connected flush upstairs much more frequently and did dig to the body better than Hopkins. Roy dictated the pace of the fight and looked in control all fight. An easy fight to score, a difficult fight to watch and nothing remotely close or controversial about it.
Prime jones would beat anyone Bhop could make fresh cream sour with his ugly boxing, but on this night he got absolutely dominated by a much much better man
Bernard pressured him in the early going. Roy made the adjustments and actually worked the body. I think he hurt Bernard in the 2nd or 3rd with a great body shot. 9-3.
Sounds about right, pretty boring fight. Jones was very close to prime but he did still improve some after the fight. Hopkins would improve a great deal after this fight though. Both men at their absolute best? It would have been a good fight, a close fight. I'd lean toward Jones but I could see it going either way.
