Bernard Hopkins gained revenge for his defeat at the hands of Roy Jones Jr. 17 years ago by comprehensively outpointing his fellow future hall-of-famer in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Bernard Hopkins gained revenge for his defeat at the hands of Roy Jones Jr. 17 years ago by comprehensively outpointing his fellow future hall-of-famer in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
In a disappointing fight which was marred by cheap shots and low blows, Hopkins comfortably coped with everything his rival had to offer and got the nod on all three judges' scorecard (1188-109, 117-110, 117-110).
The Executioner ended up on the canvas three times over the course of the 12 rounds. However, on the first two occasions, in the sixth and the eighth, the referee, Tony Weeks, ruled that B-Hop had been felled by rabbit punches. In the third instance, Weeks admonished Jones for an alleged low blow.
There was some doubt, though, over whether Hopkins was ever in as much pain as he made out each time he went down.
However, the Philadelphia native insisted otherwise afterwards, claiming his "legs went" after the first 'knockdown'.
"Then it was hard and I started seeing spots. I was seeing spots from the sixth round on," he said.
Jones, though, had an altogether different take on things, arguing that Hopkins cynically exploited the first foul.
"When he went down, it wasn't even a hard punch," he fumed. "He was trying to take a rest."