Well, I guess the boxing gods figured one upset was good enough for today. After Danny Green plugged Roy Jones Jr. in the 1st round down in Australia, back stateside Bernard Hopkins took a well earned unanimous decision over Enrique Ornelas. Nothing really spectacular to speak of in this fight, probably because even at the age of 44, Hopkins was just on a different level than his much younger adversary. The opening rounds were typical Hopkins rounds as he started a bit slow, but around the 4th, he began to time Ornelas started dominating. There were flashes from Ornelas, but for every big shot he landed, Hopkins was landing 5 or 6 of his own. By the time the 12th round started, Ornelas was in desperation mode which nearly got him finished himself. Had there been another 10 to 15 seconds in fight, the ref very well may have stopped it.
However, as entertaining as the fight was, the best part of the broadcast happened before Hopkins even entered the ring. While Hopkins stood in the entrance tunnel, minus his trademark executioner mask (potentially to erase doubts about his knowledge of gay culture), the in-ring announcer proceeded to indulge in one of the most bizarre fighter introductions ever. Until a video surfaces (which will be swiftly posted here), I'll do my best to paint the ridiculous scene. After an unusual statement of "we can all take a page out his book (???)", the announcer, who looked suspiciously like the late Kung Fu star David Carradine, proceeded to give a Cliff Notes version of Hopkins' boxing career story. The kicker of the whole thing was the idiotic statement "if Frank Sinatra were standing here, he'd be singing My Way" in reference (I think) to Hopkins doing things his way his entire career. Wish I could confirm that, but it was so far beyond stupid I really have no idea what to make of it. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate for the Kill Bill stunt double to say "If Frank Sinatra WAS ALIVE and standing here, he'd be singing I'll Be Around because Hopkins will be boxing until we have to wheel him to the ring" or some other nonsensical diatribe. Realistically, what I just wrote makes a lot more sense than what was actually said.
Anyway, I digress back to actual boxing talk. With only half of the Hopkins-RJJ rematch participants fulfilling their obligations, now the future for both boxers is up in the air. Roy Jones Jr. commented that he may retire after being stopped by Danny Green, and that might be the best option if the Hopkins fight is out of the picture now. If for some reason HBO decides to proceed with the rematch, all power to RJJ if he wants to go for it. It's not like he was systematically destroyed for 36 minutes because his mechanics and reflexes don't allow him to keep up with anyone now. He got cocky (shocking), let his left hand hang too low, and got caught with a punch behind the ear which he never recovered from. There is something to be said for how he seemed resigned to hang on the ropes and wait out a stoppage, but Hopkins isn't the type of fighter who will come out and just put it on Roy Jones Jr.
As for Hopkins, there's a bunch of good match ups for him other than RJJ. For some reason, Hopkins has floated the idea of moving way up in weight to fight the newly crowned WBA heavyweight champion David Haye. The obvious question would be "why", followed closely by "how". At this point in his career, would Hopkins even have the physical capabilities to simply make cruiserweight, let alone heavyweight, and not get absolutely launched in to orbit by the 29 year old Haye? This is probably a pipe dream from Hopkins; a more likely opponent would be "Bad" Chad Dawson sometime in the first quarter of 2010. Dawson is coming off a lopsided unanimous decision win over Glen Johnson to claim the vacant WBO light-heavyweight title. This wouldn't be the ratings monster RJJ-Hopkins would be, but it would be the better fight if Hopkins still wants to keep defying father time by challenging younger fighters.
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