In this weeks episode of The Old and the Restless... With the recent news that promoters Don King and Lou DiBella are looking to match Ricardo Mayorga with Jermain Taylor, former pound-for-pound king Roy Jones Jr. recently stated that he's no longer interested in a showdown with Jermain Taylor, or Ricardo Mayorga for that matter, and has moved on to continue his search for a dance partner. Still looking for an opponent with a marquee name, the man who once vowed to never fight outside of the United States now says he's willing to cross the Atlantic Ocean to find him.
According to a recent report at Boxingscene.com, apparently Jones will be making the trek from Pensacola all the way to Germany to watch former super middleweight champion Markus Beyer's clash against Murat Mahmudov on March 14th. Assuming all goes well, Beyer hopes to land a big-money fight with the former middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight champion. Beyer's promoter stated, "if we can make it and agree on deal, I will do all I can to make the fight in Gemany!"
In a recent interview, Jones admitted that he welcomed the idea of a fight with Beyer and is willing to face him Germany as long as the offer is right. He views the opportunity as a good tune-up to prepare himself for a future clash in Wales against super middleweight king Joe Calzaghe, assuming Calzaghe is successful against Bernard Hopkins on April 19th. Jones thinks that a clash with Beyer could happen as early as May and he'd like to follow that up with a showdown in July against Joe Calzaghe. If Calzaghe loses or for some reason is unable to take the fight, Jones is eyeing former super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler as his backup plan.
Better late than never, it's certainly nice to see Jones more willing to travel outside of his comfort zone. Of course, it's still not known if he'll be presented with an offer attractive enough to make him take the fight in Germany. If a deal can't be struck, might I suggest another option a little more closer to home...a fight with his good friend Winky Wright to decide supremacy in the good ol' state of Florida seems long overdue and could save quite a bit of money on airfare.
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