My favorite show of all time is “24” (actually it is tied with The Simpsons). I have not missed an episode since Jack Bauer first stepped into CTU.
When news came down that they weren’t renewing the show for a 9th season, there was outrage and disbelief from loyal fans of the show. No one wanted the show to end, ever.
If you are a “24” fan you aren’t just a causal watcher; you are emotionally connected to the show. I felt their pain and, while I shared their grief, there was something very calming to me about the impending cancellation.
I will definitely miss Jack Bauer but the last thing I wanted to see was a sixty year old Jack trying to save the United States for a 15th time. With a conceptual show like “24” where you have to suspend your disbelief to a degree, once it gets to the point that you are wondering to yourself if Jack should be collecting social security, it means the show has been on for too long.
I much prefer “24” leaves a season too soon than a season too late.
This brings us to Roy Jones, Jr. and Bernard Hopkins who fought tonight with about 17 people in stands. Two living legends fighting in one of the worst fights I have ever seen.
I grew up watching Roy Jones, Jr. and Bernard Hopkins in their primes, so I appreciated the skills they used to have and what I saw tonight was an embarrassment to boxing, and that is saying a lot. It made the Joshua Clottey vs. Manny Pacquiao fight seem like Hagler vs. Hearns.
At one point I thought they must have planned the fight out like a WWE match. Weird ring entrances, rabbit punches, low blows, head butts, multiple delays, a ref with a really bad haircut, and at one point, even security had to get in the ring. Vince McMahon would have been pleased.
While Hopkins has had successes in his old age, Roy Jones, Jr. has never been the same since the “Blind Tarver left hook.”
It is sad that Jones, once the undisputed pound-for-pound champion, is just happy to go 12 rounds with anyone.
He was giddy that he didn’t get knocked out tonight even though he was virtually shut out on the scorecards. If you didn’t watch the fight and just watched the post-fight interviews you would have thought that Jones won. That is how ecstatic he was to even be on his feet after 12 rounds.
I worry about Jones’ long-term health if he keeps fighting. He is totally shot. There is absolutely nothing left and it is uncomfortable watching him fight. It is the equivalent of letting your 16 year old daughter go out with a 19 year old college boy with an apartment; you are just praying that nothing bad happens.
Someone needs to pull him aside and tell him it is over; he doesn’t have it anymore and he hasn’t had it for a long time.
Bernard Hopkins is 45 years old and he has defied father time for a long time, but you can’t outrun him forever. He has had amazing wins over Tarver, Wright, and Pavlik when many thought there was no way this old man could win, but even Hopkins has an expiration date on his skills.
If you can’t knockout Roy Jones at this stage of his career, that is a sign that it might be time for you to end your career.
As most of you know, I have the utmost respect for Hopkins, but it is time for him to retire with his legacy intact. There is nothing else to prove. I know he wants to fight David Haye for the Heavyweight championship, but that simply isn’t going to and shouldn’t happen. If anything, what has happened to Roy Jones, Jr. should encourage him to hang up his gloves once and for all even more.
There are ten hours left in the career of Jack Bauer. I am sad, but I am also proud that one of the best TV characters of all time is going out on a high note, and my lasting memories will be of him at his best.
My memories won’t be of him overacting on rabbit punches, holding on for dear life so as not to get knocked out, or four hundred tweets about how Tony Weeks’ box haircut was more interesting than the fight.
In the end, it doesn’t matter who won this fight because tonight boxing lost as a whole, and it was by brutal knockout.