"The problem in this fight is Bernard, I believe, did not want to fight Roy, fearful that he was going to lose to Roy. When he saw that Roy got knocked out in the 1st round, then he mustered up the guts to say, 'Okay, let's fight!' That bothers me because I was there for the negotiations when he [Hopkins] was offered $10 million and they could have made $20 to $30 million when it was all said and done, but he would not take the fightÂ…We tried to put a fight on with Bernard Hopkins two or three times and it did not happen. I believe, and this is my humble opinion, that Bernard was fearful of Roy Jones Jr. He could not beat Roy Jones Jr. Now that Roy got knocked out, all of a sudden, Bernard is gung ho to fight Roy Jones Jr.," stated promoter Murad Muhammad, who revealed behind-the-scenes details about past attempts to make the rematch between Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins. You don't want to miss what he had to say about potential fights that Roy Jones Jr. had lined up with Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and specifically Mike Tyson, who actually accepted a $25 million offer. Check it out!
PC: You were handling Roy Jones when he captured the heavyweight title. I understand at one point he was very serious about fighting Lewis, Holyfield or Tyson. How close where those fights to being a reality?
MM: When he won the heavyweight championship of the world, he was the king of the mountain. Once we won the heavyweight title, he was the man. It was the ultimate goal. He told me, "Let's go get Lennox Lewis." Lennox Lewis accepted $25 million to fight Roy Jones Jr., but he had one obstacle in front of him and that was HBO had to put him in there against Klitschko. Keep in mind, Klitschko was supposed to fight the kid from Canada [Kirk Johnson]. The kid from Canada pulled out, so HBO was stuck with egg on their face and they needed someone to fulfill that position. Well, Lennox Lewis said, "No man, I'm not going to fight him for that kind of money when next year, ya'll are going to have to pay me a great deal of money. I'll fight him next year." But when I put $25 million on the table, he said, "Let's fight Klitschko now!" Now HBO should have sent me a letter or a check or anything else because I saved them. And Lennox Lewis went in there and he won the fight, but he was embarrassed at how he won the fight. He didn't do as good as he wanted to do, so he retired. So that fight went out of the window.
Then we went and got Evander Holyfield. We offered Evander Holyfield $9 million. His lawyer at the time said that Don King owed him $2 million and they argued over why Don King should pay him $2 million. He [Don King] allowed me to offer him $9 million because he didn't have to. I said, "Well, Don is right. He don't have to let me give you $9 million when he's got an exclusive contract. You can't charge the man $2 million when he's allowing you to make $9 million, which you can not make without me." The lawyer thought Don should pay $2 million [on top of the $9 million offer], so I went up to $10 million. I said, "Look, here is $10 million. Let Don go for the million and this fight is on." He said, "Nah, Holyfield won't do that!" I said, "That don't make any sense." So Don goes out and calls Holyfield everything you can think of. He said, "I tell you what! I will go back and present this to Holyfield." So I saw him [Holyfield's lawyer] in the bathroom and I said, "First of all counselor, I appreciate that you are negotiating in good faith, because one thing about African Americans, for some reason, a Caucasian don't have their welfare in mind. HBO needs this fight. Who says he's not going to win? It's up to the will of God whether he wins this fight or not. He beats Roy Jones Jr. and not only does he make $10 million, but he makes another $25 million for a rematch. So that's a great deal of money, especially if you telling me that Holyfield needs the money. However, don't go back and tell your boxer [Holyfield] everything that Don King said because if you do that, I know us as a people. Holyfield's going to tell everybody to go to Hell." Well, because I later promoted Holyfield, he told me that's just what happened. The lawyer never told him that there was $10 million on the table; he just said that Don called him all kinds of names, so he [Holyfield] said, "The hell with Don King." He went on and fought the next fight and lost, so things happen when you leave your welfare in the hands of mercenaries. So we lost Holyfield.
Then one day, just before Thanksgiving, Roy said, "Let's go get Mike Tyson." I said, "You sure?" He said, "Yes. I want Mike! I can beat Mike Tyson. Let's go get Mike Tyson." So I called Mike and Mike met me in New Jersey at 1 o'clock in the morning. I flew all the way in from Florida to see Mike. I offered Mike $25 million to fight Roy Jones Jr. He accepted it. He called Roy on the phone and told Roy Jones Jr. that he's willing to fight, let's do this, but he asked Roy for one thing. He said, "If I lose the fight, you give me a rematch. If we do 3 fights man, I guarantee we'll never have to work again in this sport." He told him, "Roy, I'm gonna dog you. Don't take it personal. I'm not crazy. I'm going to dog you because it's going to sell a lot of tickets. I love you today and I will love you when it's over with. The fight is on." Some kind of way, Mike Tyson needed to get out of the deal that he was in. He said he wanted to file bankruptcy. I said, "Mike, if you're going to file bankruptcy, you should file Chapter 7." He said, "No because I'm going to lose my automobiles." He was worried about automobiles. I said, "Listen, you file Chapter 7, the kind of money you're getting ready to make, you can buy any kind of automobile you want out there." Someone convinced him to file Chapter 11, where all of his money had to go into an escrow account and be governed by Shelly Finkel; they were going to hold it right there. That's what ruined the fight.
PC: So Roy had all 3 giants lined up?
MM: Roy had all 3 lined up, so he got kind of discouraged and he told me he wanted to go back down and fight for the light heavyweight title. I said, "Champ, do not do that," and we will leave it there.
PC: With Roy Jones fighting on and choosing not to hang them up, you know Roy very well, do you give him a chance against Bernard Hopkins on April 3?
MM: Roy is not going to walk away. He's gotta prove it to himself that it's over. I believe Roy Jones Jr. believes that he can win and it wouldn't shock me if he did. The problem in this fight is Bernard, I believe, did not want to fight Roy, fearful that he was going to lose to Roy. When he saw that Roy got knocked out in the 1st round, then he mustered up the guts to say, "Okay, let's fight!" That bothers me because I was there for the negotiations when he [Hopkins] was offered $10 million and they could have made $20 to $30 million when it was all said and done, but he would not take the fight. I put Roy on the phone with Bernard and Bernard said, "Okay, I will take the fight, but whose gonna pay Don King?" Roy and I said, "We're not going to pay Don King." I said, "Why would we pay your promoter?" He said, "Because he has a contract on me and I ain't paying him." I said, "Well, I don't know what you're going to do. Man, you don't want to fight. You're just whistling Dixie man. You're either going to fight or you're not going to fight. You signed a contract with Don King, so you gotta pay Don King." He goes, "Well I'm not paying Don King." So he blew that fight. We tried to put a fight on with Bernard Hopkins two or three times and it did not happen. I believe, and this is my humble opinion, that Bernard was fearful of Roy Jones Jr. He could not beat Roy Jones Jr. Now that Roy got knocked out, all of a sudden, Bernard is gung ho to fight Roy Jones Jr. An old trainer by the name of Cus D'Amato told me at my dinner table in Atlantic City, "The worst fighter to fight is an old pro that has one more fight left in him." This is when Mike Tyson was an amateur. Bill Cayton, Jim Jacobs, Cus D'Amato, Mike Tyson, along with the gentleman that took over Big Fights; my God he's going to shoot meÂ…I can't remember his name, but he acts just like Jim Jacobs. He is one of the best young men that I ever knew in the business. That's when Cus D'Amato told me, "One of the worst fighters you can fight is an old veteran with one fight left in him." So my prediction is Roy has one more fight left in him and he beats Bernard. If it's time for him to retire, he will lose against Bernard. That's my humble opinion.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]