Ex-champ Jones says he’s not finished yet

Bernard Hopkins talks about Saturday's light heavyweight fight against Roy Jones Jr. at Mandalay Bay -- a rematch 17 years in the making -- in terms of unfinished business.

But for Jones, it's more about being finished.

"This is about proving people wrong that I'm through," said Jones, who beat Hopkins by unanimous decision in a 1993 middleweight bout. "My beating him again ain't going to prove anything."

The reality is the 41-year-old Jones has a lot to prove.

He's coming off a first-round knockout loss to Danny Green in Australia on Dec. 2. Jones has lost five of his past 10 fights dating to 2004, when Antonio Tarver stopped him in the second round of their world light heavyweight title unification fight at Mandalay Bay.

Yet Jones (54-6, 40 knockouts), who has captured five world titles in four weight divisions (middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight), insists he's not through.

"After the (Green) fight, I asked (trainer Alton Merkerson), 'Do you think we should call it, or do you think we should keep going?' " Jones said. "And he said, 'I think you should keep going. You still got it. I don't see a problem with you right now. You have to tighten a few things, but you should continue to go.'

"People forget I got up in the Danny Green fight, and I was OK. I didn't have a problem with the punch he hit me with. My problem was his hand wraps were illegal and it should have been a no contest."

Despite Jones' insistence that he's fine, many fight fans don't appear to share his opinion. Only 5,000 tickets for the fight have been sold, but Richard Schaefer, chief executive officer of Golden Boy Promotions, said with walk-up sales Saturday he is expecting 7,500 tickets to be sold.

Jones weighed 174½ pounds Wednesday and said his training camp in Pensacola, Fla., went well.

"I feel the best I have felt in a long time," he said. "In past fights, I felt like I overtrained. I have a little more motivation. I worked on different parts of my game, and whatever he does, I'll be ready."

Jones and the 45-year-old Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KOs), who has won four of his past five fights, were supposed to meet in 2006 but couldn't agree on how to divvy up the money. This time, each fighter will earn an undisclosed percentage of the net revenues.

"The only reason he's fighting me now is because he feels like I'm done," Jones said. "He feels like I'm washed up. He feels like I'm old goods. He feels there's no way I can survive 12 rounds with him now. But he's wrong."

Jones, who took a year off in 2005 to work for HBO before returning to the ring, said he won't take any more impromptu breaks from boxing. He said he'll know when it's time to leave the ring for good, whether it's after Saturday's bout or five years from now.

"I want to do it until I can't anymore," Jones said. "Boxing is something I don't have to do; it's something I want to do. When I stopped, I had nothing to do. As long as I can still do it, why should I stop?"

■ NOTES -- Today's weigh-in is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Mandalay Bay and is open to the public. ... Hopkins is a minus-500 betting favorite at MGM Mirage's sports books with Jones at plus-350.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.