Why do you think Hopkins/RJJ never happened?

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I think it happened. :nut

 

Oh my god, I love that interview. I watch it about once a month.

"To me it sounds like a couple cats that don't know what the hayellllll they talkin' bout."

 

Other. HBO messed up the deal when Hopkins and RJJ were undisputed champions. They were offered 10 million to split between the two of them. 5 million a piece sounds like a lot - but when you consider that RJJ made 10 million fighting Ruiz while Hopkins went on to make 10 million fighting Oscar De La Hoya - then you can begin to appreciate how criminally miniscule this offer from HBO truly was for the two undisputed champions.

 

In retrospect you are absolutely right, but fundamentally even though Hopkins was on top of the world there would ALWAYS be 2 factors Roy could hang his hat on:
1. He ALREADY BEAT Hopkins; and
2. They would have been fighting for Roy's LHW belts, even though they were BOTH undisputed.

 

Because Hopkins, in spite of all the crazy talk, didn't really want any part of RJJ again.

He demanded all kinds of deal breakers like an equal split and a catch weight (170 i believe), at a time when he had almost ZERO leverage (had already lost to RJJ, still wasn't really marketable, RJJ P4P status, etc.)

You'll note the minute RJJ was out of the LHW division, Hopkins EASILY carried that 175 against Tarver.

Point blank, Hopkins wasn't trying to see RJJ again.

 

I actually believe Hopkins wanted the fight, but he also knew it might be a cash-out situation. I don't think he fancied his chances.

At that point, he couldn't have known he'd ever get a fight against De La Hoya, which propelled him to new stardom. From his perspective, it's probably best that the Jones rematch never happened. Even if he'd won, he'd have had to gain and then lose weight to get back to 160, and who knows how that will affect an athlete in his late 30s.

 

Are you sure about this? I remember Roy saying to the camera while next to Lampley "Hopkins, there is six million dollars on the table, if you don't take it, you're a punk!" In this case Roy would have to be getting 8+ right?