It's not normal for a fighter who gets stopped in the first round to be rewarded with a pay-per-view headliner in his very next fight. That being said, there's never been anything normal about the career of Roy Jones Jr. In what will likely turn out to be another meaningless pay-per-view event, Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins have both signed contracts to face each other on April 17th at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's a fight that is nearly 17 years overdue; a fight that was originally agreed to late last year, but Jones first had to get by a previously scheduled fight with cruiserweight Danny Green. Unfortunately for Jones, Green had other plans and stopped the 40-year-old legend in just 122 seconds. Despite the loss, it looks like Hopkins is still eager to exact revenge against the man, who he feels, is the only one to ever truly beat him inside the ring.
Obviously this won't be the first time that a fighter coming off of a loss is rewarded with a big payday as a pay-per-view headliner. Immediately after dropping a 12-round unanimous decision to Carlos Baldomir, former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah was given a crack at Floyd Mayweather on HBO PPV just three months later. In fact, on March 13th, Joshua Clottey will earn the biggest payday of his career when he faces Manny Pacquiao on pay-per-view, despite coming off a loss to Miguel Cotto, who Pacquiao just defeated. However, on April 17th, when Roy Jones Jr. steps into the ring for a rematch with Bernard Hopkins, it just might be the first time that a fighter was stopped in the first round only to return in the main event of a PPV in his next fight. If anyone can come up with another example, please let me know in the comments below.