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Last week, Hennessy Sports won a WBC purse bid for the right to stage an eliminator between William Joppy and Jermain Taylor in England. However, promoter Mick Hennessy doesn't like the way events involving the fight are unfolding. "There has been some talk of Jermain Taylor fighting William Joppy. That would just be plain wrong," stated Hennessy. "If Taylor doesn’t want to go the championship route, his team should have pulled him out of the purse bid before it took place. In my eyes Taylor needs to stop picking his targets; he has spent too much time fighting blown-up light middleweights and needs a credible opponent now."
"I don’t feel Joppy is that. When he boxed Howard in 2001 he lost – despite Howard starting slowly – on everyone’s scorecards except the judges. He has only fought twice since; against a little known opponent in 2002 and then Hopkins in 2003, who beat him badly.
"Howard on the other hand has won eight times, scored six knockouts, reclaimed his European title, defended it three times and last time out dominated Jerry Elliott.
"Let me make it clear: despite what others have been saying, Eastman-Taylor is a final eliminator for the WBC middleweight title. That means the winner becomes the mandatory to Bernard Hopkins.
"The fact that Felix Trinidad has now been moved into the WBC’s number one position will not affect this. I was present at the meeting at the convention where Felix Trinidad was installed. I addressed the convention at the time. I explained that I was there personally to submit a purse bid for the final eliminator between their long-standing #1 Eastman and Taylor to establish the mandatory contender to Bernard Hopkins.
"I asked for reassurance that this contest would not be affected and that the purse bid would still take place, despite rumours to the contrary.
"In front of the convention, President Jose Sulaiman confirmed that as the contest had already been agreed, Trinidad’s ranking would have no bearing on the situation.
"That means that if either Howard Eastman or Jermain Taylor withdraws from this final eliminator, the other will automatically be made the official challenger to Bernard Hopkins. I have that in writing from the WBC."
"I don’t feel Joppy is that. When he boxed Howard in 2001 he lost – despite Howard starting slowly – on everyone’s scorecards except the judges. He has only fought twice since; against a little known opponent in 2002 and then Hopkins in 2003, who beat him badly.
"Howard on the other hand has won eight times, scored six knockouts, reclaimed his European title, defended it three times and last time out dominated Jerry Elliott.
"Let me make it clear: despite what others have been saying, Eastman-Taylor is a final eliminator for the WBC middleweight title. That means the winner becomes the mandatory to Bernard Hopkins.
"The fact that Felix Trinidad has now been moved into the WBC’s number one position will not affect this. I was present at the meeting at the convention where Felix Trinidad was installed. I addressed the convention at the time. I explained that I was there personally to submit a purse bid for the final eliminator between their long-standing #1 Eastman and Taylor to establish the mandatory contender to Bernard Hopkins.
"I asked for reassurance that this contest would not be affected and that the purse bid would still take place, despite rumours to the contrary.
"In front of the convention, President Jose Sulaiman confirmed that as the contest had already been agreed, Trinidad’s ranking would have no bearing on the situation.
"That means that if either Howard Eastman or Jermain Taylor withdraws from this final eliminator, the other will automatically be made the official challenger to Bernard Hopkins. I have that in writing from the WBC."
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