by David P. Greisman

Roy Jones Jr. is still seeking a fight with former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva — and that’s where his December bout with cruiserweight journeyman Bobby Gunn comes into play.

“I got to do a tune-up before Anderson Silva fights [Chris] Weidman again, because if Anderson Silva beats Weidman, he gonna wanna fight me. So I got to get the ring rust off. I can’t just go back in cold turkey,” Jones told reporters prior to the preliminary bouts to Mike Alvarado’s fight with Ruslan Provodnikov.

Jones hasn’t fought since June 2012, when he won a split decision over Pawel Glazewski in Poland. Prior to that, he won a unanimous decision over Max Alexander in November 2011, was knocked out by Denis Lebedev in May 2011, lost a rematch with Bernard Hopkins in April 2010, and was knocked out by Danny Green in December 2009.

He and Silva have been talking about fighting each other for some time, though that’s never come to fruition while Silva’s been competing in the UFC. Meanwhile, Gunn has been calling out Jones for a while.

Jones will turn 45 years old in January, and says (perhaps jokingly, but perhaps not) that he wants to fight until he’s 50 years old.

“Because I can,” he said. “And I’m cute enough to.”

Gunn is turning 40 this December and hasn’t fought since losing to James Toney in April 2012. He’s 21-5-1 with 18 knockotus and 1 no contest.

“Gunn is tough,” said Jones. “But it’s definitely a winnable fight.”

Pick up a copy of David’s new book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com