Jones, Hopkins Clear Path

Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins moved closer Saturday night to a possible world title showdown.

Jones knocked out Glen Kelly in the seventh round in front of 8,000 at Miami to retain his World Boxing Council, World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation titles in the 175-pound division.

Hopkins stopped Carl Daniels in the 10th round in front of a sellout crowd of 8,243 at Reading, Pa., to retain the undisputed middleweight championship.

“I want Roy Jones,” Hopkins said.

“He better box me or he’s going to be a hypocrite.”

Jones and Hopkins might face each other yet.They would have to meet somewhere between 160 pounds and 175 pounds.

Jones has demanded more money than Hopkins and Hopkins wants the money split evenly.

Jones beat Hopkins in 1993 for the then-vacant IBF middleweight title.

On Saturday, both fighters easily took care of their business at hand.

Jones, backed against the ropes in the seventh round, put both hands behind his back, faked with both his shoulders and unleashed a lightning-quick right that sent Kelly to the canvas for good.

“It’s hard to explain stuff like that,” said Jones, chuckling. “When you’re a born fighter, you’re just a born fighter. There’s all kind of stuff I got here that never comes out because I don’t ever hardly need it.”

Jones (46-1 with 37 knockouts) stunned Kelly (28-1-1) several times in the second round. He got to the challenger with a quick right-left combination to the head, and seconds later buckled Kelly’s knees with a roundhouse right and two quick lefts to the head.

Jones floored Kelly with 2:17 elapsed in the third round with a left uppercut that snapped back the challenger’s head.

He dropped Kelly again in the sixth round with a vicious left to the body that left Kelly gasping for air. Jones landed two other crushing body shots in the round.

Kelly, who seemed to be retreating throughout the fight, said before the bout that his only chance was to pound Jones and get inside to neutralize his speed.

But Jones kept his distance and was able to use his speed to measure his shots.

He connected on 53% of his power shots and Kelly landed 20%.

“He’s tricky,” Kelly said. “I’ve got no excuse. He’s just too good.”

Kelly was another in a line of average opponents for Jones, who has rarely been challenged since turning pro after the 1988 Olympics.

Kelly, who is half-Australian Aborigine and works full-time as a garbage collector in Sydney, was fighting for the third time in the United States.

For Hopkins (41-2-1, 30 KOs), it was his 15th consecutive defense of at least a piece of the middleweight title, breaking the middleweight record of 14 set by Carlos Monzon.

Hopkins was the IBF and WBC champion when he defeated previously unbeaten Felix Trinidad four months ago to become the undisputed middleweight champion. He has held at least one title since 1995.

Hopkins spun Daniels around with a body shot early in the ninth round that sent him staggering into his corner.

Hopkins then landed a flurry of punches, including one behind Daniels’ right ear, to take control of the fight.

He put Daniels away with two rights late in the 10th, and Daniels told his corner to stop the match before the 11th.

“He was just too strong,” Daniels said.

“He hit me behind the ear and it dazed me. I couldn’t get it back together. At the end of the 10th, I was still dazed, I was done.”

Hopkins would have won every round on each of the judge’s scorecards, but one judge scored the 10th round a tie.