Hopkins Not Interested in Tarver Rematch

By Mark Vester

The holiday season will not bring former champ Antonio Tarver the best present of all - a rematch with Bernard Hopkins to gain a measure of revenge for a one-sided loss in June.

Recently, Tarver noted that because of all the recent success with the movie Rocky Balboa, where Tarver played heavyweight champion Mason Dixon, Hopkins would have to fight him.

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"I'm going to build my name back up and to the point where, you know, he's going to have to fight if he wants to continue to be in boxing," Tarver said of Hopkins. "This is going to be the mega fight for him. ... I mean especially coming off the cuff of 'Rocky Balboa."

But, that rematch will not happen. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaeffer, recently told Robert Morales of the Los Angeles Times that a Hopkins-Tarver rematch will not take place because Hopkins has no interest in facing Tarver. Hopkins is only interested in the big fights, and will not come out of retirement unless there is a career defining bout in front of him.

Hopkins wants fights with WBO super middleweight champ Joe Calzaghe, undisputed cruiserweight champ O'Neil Bell, WBC heavyweight champ Oleg Maskaev or a rematch with Roy Jones Jr.

"He is definitely going to come out of retirement if he can get a big fight," Schaefer said of Hopkins. "He dominated Tarver, and I think he wants to pursue new challenges.