By Ryan Burton and Mark DeSisto

After 17-years of waiting, Bernard Hopkins (51-5-1, 32KOs) won a twelve round lopsided decision over Roy Jones Jr. (54-7, 40KOs) at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The scores were 117-110, 117-110 and 118-109 for Hopkins. Jones won a twelve round decision over Hopkins in 1993. The live crowd booed often at the lack of action in the ring.

They came out in a tactical nature with each guy showing respect and then Hopkins quickly began to fire punches at Jones. They started fighting on the inside. Hopkins was jabbing to the body and trying to make it an inside fight. Jones with a wild combination that missed and Hopkins fired back.

A jab-fest in the early part of round two. Hopkins started quickly pounding Jones against the ropes. A lot of holding every time these guys came in close. Hopkins landed a good left and tried to go after Jones against the ropes. Jones tied him up. Hopkins came in with his head, causing a cut near the left eye of Jones.

The third was Jones moving forward with the jab. Hopkins cut off the ring and began to make it an inside fight. Jones continued to hold every time Hopkins came in close.

Hopkins being more active and throwing punches in the fourth. More holding by both fighters when they got close. Hopkins was scoring enough to win rounds. Hopkins dug to the body.

Jones could not get off with anything at the start of the fifth. They were fighting on the inside as Hopkins pressed Jones against the ropes. They started fighting on the ropes with Hopkins working over the body.

A chess match in the sixth round. They were jabbing and missing. Jones got off with a hook. Hopkins answered with several combinations and pressed Jones against the ropes. Hopkins fell down at the end of the sixth from a shot by Jones to the back of the head. Jones lost a point. Hopkins laid down on the mat with his hands over his head. The doctor had to check on Hopkins. When the fight restarted, the two of them went to war with both fighters throwing punches well after the bell. The ref needed security and the corners to assist him in stopping the two boxers from fighting after the bell.

Hopkins went after Jones with punches at the start of the seventh. Neither fighter did much of anything in the round. In the eight, Hopkins was trying to get to the body. Jones was missing counters. Hopkins went back the body before the ref split them up. Jones was landing uppercuts when Hopkins was on the inside. They traded punches to the back of the head. Hopkins went down again from the shot to the back of the head. Because both fighters threw punches to the back of the head, the ref did not take away any points. Once again the fight became a brawl when it restarted for a few seconds.

The ninth round had little to no action. During the tenth, a replay showed a shot by Jones that barely hit Hopkins low, but once again Hopkins dropped down to the mat and took several minutes to recover. Once the fight was restarted, they were trading punches on the inside. Both of them were trying to land punches from the distance but missing most of them.

Hopkins came out swinging in the eleventh. There was call for time when Jones was cut for the second time due to another headbutt from Hopkins. Not much action when the fight restarted. In the tweflth and final round, Hopkins landed a combination. Jones returned fire with a combinations when he backed Hopkins up. A lot of holding and very little punching to close out the final minute of the fight.

Undercard Results

The first bout of the evening was a super featherweight bout between prospect Yaundale Evans (6-0) and Juan Baltierrez (2-2-2). Evans advantage in hand speed was evident from the outset. Evans had his opponent trapped in the corner when Baltierrez spit his mouthpiece out to gain extra time to recover. It didn't really help him as Evans picked up the pace landing uppercuts to the head and landing left and right hooks to the body almost at will. 

The second round started off slow and Evans landed a vicious right hook to the temple that dropped his hopelessly overmatched opponent. Baltierrez tried to get up but referee Russell Mora correctly waived the fight off.  The time of the stoppage was the 2:08 mark of the second round.

Craig McEwan improved his record to 18-0 following his over Kris Andrews (15-9-2) in their middleweight fight. McEwan, a Scotland native started out with a strong jab but Andrews was able to land some power shots of his own. McEwan made an adjustment and started throwing his own power shots both to the head and body to easily win the round. The Freddie Roach trained McEwan had a good second round as well, landing combinations and displaying better defense than in the first round.

The third round was closer as both fighters slowed down a little bit. McEwan did just enough to win the round. Andrews attempted to go to the body more in the fourth round and found some success early on but again McEwan made some adjustments by side stepping his opponent to land his own combinations and win the round. McEwan came out in the fifth round abandoning his jab, looking only to land power shots.  He  bloodied Andrews nose in the process. The Scot had strong sixth and seventh rounds controlling the tempo but was still unable to drop his sturdy opponent. 

Andrews was absorbing more punishment in the 8th and final round when referee Joe Cortez had seen enough halting the contest at the 2:11 mark. It appeared Andrews would have been able to finish the fight on his feet.  

In super middleweight action, James "Buddy" McGirt (22-2-1) used his reach advantage  to stop  John Mackey (11-5-2) at the 2:58 mark of the second round. The fight started off slow with a lot of jabs being thrown as the fighters felt each other out. The second round was action packed with both men throwing combinations. McGirt's reach advantage was the difference. Just before the round was over McGirt caught Mackey with a mean right hook to the head dropping him to the canvas. Mackey was unable to rise to his feet. 

Former amateur standout, Frankie Gomez of East Los Angeles made his pro debut versus Clavonne Howard (2-4). The junior welterweight prospect looked sharp in scoring a third round stoppage. Both fighters started out throwing wild punches but Gomez calmed down and started landing his combinations. He ate some leather but responded well. In the second Gomez started really rocking Howard sending his overmatched opponent into retreat mode.  The third round was more of the same until Joe Cortez saw enough and stopped the fight at the 2:45 mark.

Ray Narh won the USNBC super lightweight championship by destroying an overmatched Angel Hernandez (14-5). Narh dominated the first round and stepped up the gas in the second round. He knocked Hernandez down three times. The fight was called off after the third knock down at the 2:59 mark of the third round.

Light heavyweight prospect Ismayl Sillakh (12-0, 11KOs) stopped Daniel Judah (23-5-3, 10KOs) in two rounds of action. Sillakh very impressive. After making his power known in the first, Sillakh came out strong in the second. He battered Judah with some punches to send him down and then followed it up with a huge body shot to send Judah down for a second time. Judah got up with unsteady legs and the ref stopped the fight.

Former “Contender” star Sergio Mora got in a good workout in his comeback bout before stopping a courageous Calvin Green at 1:50 of the seventh round. East Los Angeles native Mora hadn’t fought since a lopsided loss to, ultra talented and now deceased, Vernon Forrest back in September of 2008.

The action was heated from the opening bell with Baytown, Texas resident Green opening up a cut on the inside of Mora’s eye with a left hook. Mora got in nice combos to finish and steal the opening round from the hard charging Green (21-5-1, 13KO).

The smaller Green came to fight and put Mora to the ropes to open the second round, doing some good work before tiring out and Mora taking his turn pounding Green against the ropes to finish the fan friendly round.

Green did his best to fight on the inside and keep the longer, faster Mora against the ropes but Mora started countering well off the ropes and finishing each round stronger, often putting Green to the ropes and teeing off to the body and head.

The “Latin Snake” poured it on in the 7th round, with Green momentarily turning his back to Mora, prompting referee Russell Mora to wisely step in and halt the bout. Former WBC light middleweight champion Mora improves to 22-1-1 (6KO), as he works his way back towards a title bout. 

In tonight's co-main event, Jason Litzau (27-2) upset Rocky Juarez (28-6) to retain his NABF super featherweight title.  He won a technical decision after the seventh round by scores of 68-65 and 67-66 twice. Juarez (a pay per view under card staple for what seems like an eternity) started out tentative as Litzau landed the first few punches of the fight.  Even though Litzau is five and a half inches taller than Juarez he actually has a half inch shorter reach.  Litzau did a little more than Juarez in an uneventful first round. 

Juarez, out of Houston Texas had a better second round landing his left hook and a few right jabs to win the round.  In the third round Litzau was more aggressive and controlled the action as he increased his punch output.  Juarez kicked it into gear to start the fourth round by attacking Litzau's body but Litzau seemed to consistently beat him to the punch in a close round.  The fifth started slower with Juarez attacking the body early in what was another close round in a very difficult fight to score. Juarez started turning the fight in his favor by landing right hooks to Litzau's head to start the sixth round but he failed to keep control of the round as Litzau dominated the second half of the round in another close round. 

The fight stayed on the inside in the seventh which should have been to Juarez' advantage. An accidental head butt caused a welt under Litzau's left eye early in the round but Litzau responded well launching combinations before Juarez landed a few heavy punches in the last thirty seconds of the round. After the bell to end the seventh, Litzau's corner said he couldn't continue because of the welt under his left eye that caused his eye to swell almost shut. After the fight Juarez felt that he shouldf have won via TKO as he believed the welt was caused by a punch and not a head butt.