What a bunch of bull. Not everything he said, but about waiting til things were clear in the light heavyweight division. Oh he waited til it was clear alright, clear of Dawson holding a belt. Clear of someone who he couldn't exploit to get a title. I like B-Hop too, he's a legend, a future Hall of famer, a tremendous boxer, but I still feel he sidestepped Dawson.
Agree. It sounds ****** now that Pascal holds a victory over Dawson....but that's just a detail to me. Dawson will win every rd in the rematch or knock him out imo.
Further, in regards to Hopkins fighting Roy Jones, it was complicated but had to do with Golden Boy and HBO. Originally Hopkins wanted Adamek which would set up Hopkins vs Dawson but things got messed up because of Greenburg shifting around dates with Shane Mosley
From Thomas Hauser:
That scheduling decision put Greenburg at odds with Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who says that Ross had promised him December 5th for a Shane Mosley fight. Regardless, Schaefer agreed to shift gears and promote Mosley vs. Joshua Clottey on December 26th. Contracts were negotiated and put in final form. Then, before they could be signed, Greenburg said that Mosley’s next fight should be moved to January 30, 2010 (which HBO had previously promised to Golden Boy for Bernard Hopkins).
Hopkins was displeased when advised of the development.His assumption had been that he would fight Tomasz Adamek on January 30th to commemorate his forty-fifth birthday (January 15th). Main Events (Adamek’s promoter) and Adamek had already reached an agreement with Golden Boy for the fight with HBO’s knowledge and assent. The final piece of the puzzle was the amount to be paid to Hopkins.
The shuffling and re-shuffling led Schaefer to declare, “I am very disappointed, angry, and upset about the lack of respect that has been shown [by HBO] to Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins, and I am not going to tolerate that any longer. To string people along is the wrong way.”
That earned a riposte from a rival promoter, who declared, “Right now, for ten seconds, Ross and Kery [Davis] are treating Golden Boy like they treat everyone else, and Richard is throwing a ****-fit. Welcome to the club.”
Then, on September 25th, a deal was signed for Hopkins to fight Roy Jones Jr on HBO-PPV during the first quarter of 2010.
Jones-Hopkins II placates Golden Boy and solves HBO’s Bernard Hopkins problem. It also makes short-term economic sense for HBO Sports if the network didn’t guarantee an unrealistic number of pay-per-view buys. Further down the road, HBO hopes that the bout will set up a fight between the winner and Chad Dawson.
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