Apr 16, 2009 at 12:20 pm ET
In additional Diaz news, GracieFighter.com is also reporting that the Strikeforce winner has called out boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. (53-5 Boxing) to meet in a boxing contest.
Jones Jr. has been in extended discussions with current UFC middleweight champion and UFC 97 main event competitor Anderson Silva about a future boxing bout, but UFC President Dana White has nixed that possibility for the time being. Diaz's camp feels they may be in a better position to arrange the contest.
The original report from GracieFighter.com is included below.
Superstar boxer Roy Jones Jr. has expressed interest in facing UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva, after Silva had let his intentions be known that he wished to face Jones in a boxing contest. Promoter Bob Arum was eager to promote such a bout to let the world see that "those MMA guys can't throw a straight punch".
Unfortunately it seems the impedus to set up such a fight is dead in the water, since the UFC is no hurry to see their Champion compete in a venue not being promoted by them.
Enter Nick Diaz. With Strikeforce's more flexible attitudes towards fighting and the Strikeforce-Showtime alliance, the barriers to such a fight could very well be coming down. Our camp has already contacted Top Rank Boxing to let them know we would be 100% in favor of such a matchup. Now the ball is in their court.
The 40-year-old Jones Jr. last fought in a hybrid boxing/MMA card that promoted by his own company, Square Ring Promotions. Jones Jr. earned a fifth-round TKO over an overmatched Omar Sheika.
In addition to frequent sparring with undefeated Olympic Gold Medalist Andre Ward, Diaz has boxed once as a professional, earning a four-round unanimous-decision win over fellow rookie Alfonso Rocha in an April 2005 bout contested at 167 pounds.
Jones Jr. has typically fought around 175 pounds for the past 12 years.
http://mmajunkie.com/news/14593/rep...ially-more-than-40k-calling-out-jones-jr-.mma
In additional Diaz news, GracieFighter.com is also reporting that the Strikeforce winner has called out boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. (53-5 Boxing) to meet in a boxing contest.
Jones Jr. has been in extended discussions with current UFC middleweight champion and UFC 97 main event competitor Anderson Silva about a future boxing bout, but UFC President Dana White has nixed that possibility for the time being. Diaz's camp feels they may be in a better position to arrange the contest.
The original report from GracieFighter.com is included below.
Superstar boxer Roy Jones Jr. has expressed interest in facing UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva, after Silva had let his intentions be known that he wished to face Jones in a boxing contest. Promoter Bob Arum was eager to promote such a bout to let the world see that "those MMA guys can't throw a straight punch".
Unfortunately it seems the impedus to set up such a fight is dead in the water, since the UFC is no hurry to see their Champion compete in a venue not being promoted by them.
Enter Nick Diaz. With Strikeforce's more flexible attitudes towards fighting and the Strikeforce-Showtime alliance, the barriers to such a fight could very well be coming down. Our camp has already contacted Top Rank Boxing to let them know we would be 100% in favor of such a matchup. Now the ball is in their court.
The 40-year-old Jones Jr. last fought in a hybrid boxing/MMA card that promoted by his own company, Square Ring Promotions. Jones Jr. earned a fifth-round TKO over an overmatched Omar Sheika.
In addition to frequent sparring with undefeated Olympic Gold Medalist Andre Ward, Diaz has boxed once as a professional, earning a four-round unanimous-decision win over fellow rookie Alfonso Rocha in an April 2005 bout contested at 167 pounds.
Jones Jr. has typically fought around 175 pounds for the past 12 years.
http://mmajunkie.com/news/14593/rep...ially-more-than-40k-calling-out-jones-jr-.mma