James Toney and Bernard Hopkins were supposed to fight at 190lbs after Toney defeated Jirov. Hopkins backed out claiming Don King was trying to scam him outta money.
Toney will always be a greater fighter than Hopkins skill wise in my eyes.
"Hopkins backed out claiming Don King was trying to scam him outta money".........Probably explains the fact that Hopkins brought a successful lawsuit against Don King for exactly the same reasons....
Hopkins Feels Vindicated in Lawsuit against Don King
Written by News Article
Tuesday, 19 July 2005 19:00
Bernard Hopkins and Don King had litigation pending against each other, and those lawsuits have just been resolved by an arbitrator. The below statement is by Hopkins’ legal counsel.
Note......James Toney was also soundly beaten (in real terms) by Bernard Hopkins's then sparring partner Dave Tiberi (hardly world class)....Don't even mention Danny Batchelder (or the steroids)!
Don King vs. Bernard Hopkins...The Courtroom Transcripts
18 Hopkins for fights out of his weight class?
19 A. No. All he told me is he had to pay
20 him a lot of money.
21 Q. As I understand it then, you were not
22 doing this deal on a 50-50 basis with Mr. King
23 because Mr. King was going to keep all the
24 Showtime money?
25 A. No. He told -- he said that the money
2473
1 F. Warren-Cross
2 was going direct to Bernard Hopkins.
3 Q. His side of the table was keeping all
4 of the Showtime money?
5 A. That's correct, yes.
6 Q. You would estimate the site fees and
7 the foreign fees and your end was going to amount
8 to what? What was your best take on what your
9 end was going to be?
10 A. I believed if we could have got -- if
11 that fight had happened, we would have put it on
12 in a place called Cardiff in Wales. I think we
13 would have around 30 to 40,000 people there, so
14 we probably would have taken 2 million pounds on
15 the gate, maybe more. I don't know what the
16 dollar rate was at the time.
17 There was British TV at that time, I
18 believe a pay-per-view show, Sky TV were the
19 broadcasters I worked with in the U.K. That
20 would have gone out in prime time because
21 Showtime did say that they would take it on a
22 delayed basis like they had done
$3m vs £2m AT 2002 RATES!!!!!.....TOO BAD......TYPICAL FRANK WARREN......HOPKINS WAS MORE THAN HAPPY TO FIGHT IN WALES......CALZAGHE COULD KEEP ALL THE TV MONEY + GATE RECEIPTS........BOTH WARREN + THAT COWARD JOE CALZAGHE NEVER HAD ANY INTENTION OF MAKING THE FIGHT HAPPEN......JOE CALZAGHE WAS A BUM....ONLY FACED HAS-BEENS
PUERTO RICO HERALD
Trinidad Unmoved By Hopkins' Taunts
By Gabrielle Paese
"Tell Papa Trinidad to make the fight happen," Hopkins told the crowd of about 5,000. "I'm going to give him an opportunity to redeem himself whenever he wants but it's gotta be soon."
Don King, sounding as desperate as Hopkins, joined in the plea.
"Papa we need you. Papa please give Tito one last chance. Do it for Puerto Rico. Bernard has signed, let Tito sign too. We don't have to look for Bernard he's right here. Everything is ready for you guys."
Trinidad Sr., however, reiterated again that it will never happen.
While his son was absent, Trinidad Sr. was in the corner of his boxer, Alberto DeJesus Trinidad, who TKOd Catano's Rafael Sierra in the undercard.
"Tito's not coming out of retirement. That's not going to happen, no matter how much money he offers," said Trinidad Sr.
"The rematch is not going to happen," Trinidad Sr. told Hopkins after the fights. "You proved you're the super champion and the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. We wish you the best. We'll never look back. We have to be firm and not let Puerto Rico down."
The fight, by the way, took a backseat to the Don King-Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. drama going on on the sidelines (Hopkins was also at the fight to beg Roy Jones Jr. to fight him).
According to both King and Hopkins, the two worked out an agreement for Hopkins' next fight, no small accomplishment considering Hopkins spurned a $10.5 million three-fight Showtime offer made earlier this year that would have sent him into the ring to fight Morrade Hakkar, Joe Calzaghe and Harry Simon.
"He's desperate for a fight and he needs to fight me because he messed up his deal with Showtime," Jones Jr. said in the dressing room prior to Saturday's main event.
AGREED
HOPKINS WAS CHASING A SUPERFIGHT WITH ROY JONES IN 2002, AND LATER DE LA HOYA IN 2003.....WHY SHOULD HE FIGHT 3 BUMS IN HAKKAR (MANDATORY), HARRY SIMON + JOE CALZAGHE FOR JUST $10.5m.......HE WOULD LIKELY TOP $30m FOR JONES + DE LA HOYA IN '02-03.
Haha Joe Coward Slappy??? lol The guy who hid in Wales grinding out scorecard victories against taxi drivers, pretending he had a "fear of flying", while he waited for Hop and RJJ to be collecting social security! lol 43yo Bhop > 36yo Calzaghe