Roy Jones-Graciano Rocchigiani Has Issues Landing TV Network

By Luke Furman

According to reports in Germany, 52-year-old Graciano Rocchigiani (41-6-1, 19 KOs) wants to get back into the ring and face 47-year-old Roy Jones Jr. (63-9, 46 KO) in a battle of former champions.

There have been discussions to stage the bout, but they are facing a major problem - none of the television networks in Germany are interested in picking up the contest.

Some networks have expressed their fears of the danger involved in such a fight, that one of them might get seriously hurt or killed in the contest. Jones is interested in the fight, if a television network is secured.

Rocchigiani fought for the last time in 2003. In his career he captured the IBF and WBC super middleweigh titles.

This fight ws discussed in the past and had a ton of controversy due the actions of the World Boxing Council.

In March 1998, Rocchigiani captured the vacant WBC light-heavyweight title by defeating Michael Nunn by split decision in Berlin, but was demoted to "interim champion" three months later after the WBC inexplicably claimed its references in promotions and contracts to the Rocchigiani-Nunn fight as a championship bout, and to Rocchigiani as the champion in its rankings, had been "typographical errors".

A match with WBC title holder Roy Jones was scheduled for November 1999 after Rocchigianni filed a lawsuit against Jones' promotional companies M&M Sports and Square Ring Promotions Inc due to Jones' reluctance to box Rocchigianni. However, the match was canceled by Jones' promoter Murad Muhammad after Rocchigiani missed a press conference. After initially threatening to strip Jones of his title if he didn't arrange another match with Rocchigiani, the WBC stripped Rocchigiani outright and removed him from their rankings due to inactivity, which prompted Rocchigiani to file a lawsuit against the WBC.

In 2003 Rocchigiani won his lawsuit against the WBC, in which he was awarded a $31 million judgment for damages over the loss of his light heavyweight title. The court ruling also retroactively declared him champion from when he beat Nunn. When the WBC announced its intentions to dissolve, he settled for an undisclosed sum.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.