Bernard Hopkins on Roy Jones: 'I Want to Punish Him, Then Knock Him Out'

Roy Jones called his future rival a "b-word" four times but, to hear his opponent tell it, he may as well have said it 10 times.

What made things worse is that Jones called his nemesis "big head," three times, and, "bastard," once -- long before calling him by his actual name, which also happens to begin with a "B," as in, "Bernard Hopkins."

"He called me [big head] quite a few times," said Hopkins, who was called his proper name by Jones only once. "I am going to kick his a**."

The scene took place at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan during the first of a two-day promotional tour for the light heavyweight (175 pounds) rematch on April 3 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas between Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 knockouts) and Jones (50-4-6, 40 KOs), the latter of whom won their first meeting by unanimous decision for the vacant IBF middleweight (160 pounds) title on May 22, 1993.

Hopkins, 45, and the 41-year-old Jones will resume their tour Wednesday in Los Angeles, but Hopkins offered some choice words for Jones as well as a prediction for their clash in this exclusive Q&A on Tuesday evening.

FanHouse: Did Roy called you 'big head' the whole time?

Bernard Hopkins: Roy spoke first, and he called me that a few times, yes. Well, several times.

FH: By the quotes sent out, I saw that you were direct in your response, but I was surprised at how cordial you were. What do you make of how he was talking to you and what he was saying?

Hopkins: Well, first of all, if anyone's got a big head, it's Roy Jones Jr. when it comes to having a really out of control ego. But at the same time, it's like this. What am I going to do? I'm sitting there, in a historic setting, where you have two, future Hall of Famers.

Being here, we're talking about how we're going to make up for lost time. My thing is, I was in control and in order, but there were some sharp things that were said that made people laugh, stare, have questions. So my thing is, Roy Jones can call me 'big head,' he can call me this or that.

But I figure that I'm going to be a little more big-headed after I win this fight. But it may not be a fight where people give me the credit that I deserve. But I'm used to that. I'm used to having certain things that have happened in my career that should have been bigger and blown up bigger than what they have been now.

I'm hoping that people are looking at it like, 'It's more of what Bernard Hopkins has to lose,' more than, 'What does Roy Jones have to lose?' Will it be a repeat or will it be revenge? And I think that that's the title that people should remember.

There's also a 60 percent incentive. There's a 50-50 split for the fight, but I made it clear that someone's going to have to get knocked out to be able to get rewarded that 60 percent to that 40 percent. I must confess, that I haven't had a knockout since I fought my partner Oscar De La Hoya [in the ninth-round in Sept. 2004.]

Now, I want to get rewarded. There should be a stipulation that people should say anyway, 'Well, if I knock you out, I should be eligible 60 percent of the split, and I think that that's something that's going to have both of us fighting harder.

FH: Who proposed that knockout incentive, you or Roy?

Hopkins: We proposed it on the Golden Boy side once we needed to get the negotiations started and off and running, which took 17 years, off and on. I told Mark Taffet, I said, 'Look, tell Roy that 60 percent should go not to the guy that wins the fight, but to the guy that knocks the other guy out, scores a TKO, or makes the other guy quit.

They looked at me like I had three heads. Not in the way that I was crazy, but like they were thinking, 'It's the Antonio Tarver thing all over again.' Antonio Tarver said that he was going to knock me out, and that he would put up $250,000.

I stopped the press conference. And I said, 'Make sure Richard [Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions CEO], that you put that into the contract. So, that there became something I remembered, because I keep things in my mind for later on so that I can use them. So I came up with that idea, and I heard that Roy Jones (pictured at right) got really angry about that.

Because he was like, 'I've been knocked out twice, and why would I say that?' But that wasn't the point, the point is, 'Can I do it?' And he was pissed, but he had to bite. But you know what? Roy Jones knows that if he beats Bernard Hopkins, and beats him by knockout, he knows that I've never been knocked out.

I don't know what that's worth to people, but I'll tell you, it will blow some life back into his thinking and into his career. To me, I know that I can't let that happen. My legacy is on the line for this fight.

FH: Did you add that knockout percentage because you thought that he was going to run and try to make it a track meet?

Hopkins: I considered that, absolutely. Or, to the point where Roy Jones would come and just fight not to get knocked out. That he would fight to survive or to be competitive, but fight not to get knocked out. That was very important to me.

No matter how tough he talks, Roy Jones is human. And Roy Jones has been knocked out one or two times, and once that happens, you're a little gun shy, and I don't care what nobody says. It's in your head. That's just the nature of boxing.

Some guys can bounce back from that, some guys, you and I've witnessed in this game called boxing, don't bounce back. That incentive is there for a lot of reasons, but mostly, as a mental strategy for me to have Roy to bite the bullet and fight to get knocked out or fight to get a knockout.

FH: Bernard, is there anybody in your career that brings out what Roy Jones brings out of you, and do you have to knock him out in the first round, or do you have the need to punish him like you did, say, Felix Trinidad?

Hopkins: You asked two questions and I have two answers. I want to punish him first and then knock him out. It's going to be different than the Tito Trinidad fight because Tito still had his bearings around that time and Tito was undefeated.

Tito never understood the word 'loss,' let alone, experienced [it]. With Roy Jones Jr., it's a lot different. To me, I'm going to have to come and get Roy Jones Jr. Yes, I'm going to have to get hit with a couple of hooks myself. Roy still has flashes of his former self. And guess what? He's going to try to use it.

But today, the difference is that it's something that I know that he's banking on. He says, 'I'm so fast -- my speed, my speed, my speed!' Well, I'm like, 'Okay Roy, you can't just beat Bernard Hopkins with speed, nowadays, you can't just beat Bernard Hopkins with speed.'

I'm too much of a complete fighter. Roy Jones never had to be a complete fighter when he was coming up because he was that special. He was fast, and he was very unorthodox. He could hit you with a left, hook, jump, and, like he used to do, go from one side of the ring to the other and smack you.

And by the time you realized that you had been smacked, he's already reset and out of danger. And that's what made him special. But now, you're going to have to have the basics, Roy, that you never needed in the past. And that's where you're going to become a victim of mine. That's where you're going to be executed.

FH: Is there anything that you want to say to your fans in closing?

Hopkins: For anybody that's missing this ... then google it up on the internet. It's going to be Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier III, Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns II. Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. II is going to be that type of historic event.

That's the type of experience, that's the type of pride that's going to go into the ring on April 3, HBO pay-per-view at the Mandalay Bay. Please watch.