FanHouse RoyJones

Former Olympic gold medalist, Andre Ward, calls upcoming rival, Mikkel Kessler, of Denmark, "absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt the most skilled" fighter that he will have faced over the course of his nearly five-year professional career.

"He's the champion. He's very tough. I take nothing away from Mikkel Kessler," said Ward, who will put his 20-0 record with 13 knockouts on the line in pursing Kessler's WBA 168-pound title on Nov. 21 before a partisan crowd at Oracle Arena in Oakland. "At the same time, this is what it's all about -- taking the challenge and rising to it. And I plan on doing that 11 days from now."

Their first-round clash is part of Showtime's Super Six Middleweight World Boxing Classic.

Perhaps Glen Johnson's best attempt at head-games during the buildup to Saturday night's 175-pound rematch with IBO titlist Chad Dawson is his refusal to admit defeat.

The facts are that Johnson was not only judged the loser of their first light heavyweight clash in April of 2008 by scores of 116-112 on all three cards, but that the decision was rendered before a partisan crowd in Miami -- not far from the native Jamaican's current home in Hollywood, Fla.

But Johnson's insistence that he was "robbed" clearly rankles Dawson's promoter, Gary Shaw, and if nothing else, has Dawson so chagrined that he has vowed to turn up the heat when they face off at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., near the champion's hometown of New Haven.

Former undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins will fight hard-punching Enrigue Ornelas on Dec. 2 at the Liacorous Center on the campus of Temple University in his hometown of Philadelphia.

The 12-round light heavyweight matchup for Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 knockouts) precedes an agreed-upon rematch with Florida's multi-champion Roy Jones (54-5, 40 KOs) that is slated for perhaps late January or early February, assuming Jones gets through his cruiserweight bout on the same night against Austrailia's Danny Green (27-3, 24 KOs).

Mark Taffet, Senior Vice President of HBO Sports Pay Per View, said Floyd Mayweather "clearly has proven his star status by generating the kinds of pay per view numbers that very few men in the history of the sport have ever generated."

FanHouse spoke to Taffet, the man in charge of HBO's Pay Per View, as he addressed Mayweather, the Nov. 14 megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, the cable giant's "hunger to go younger" initiative geared toward drawing America's youth to the sport of boxing, and how the organization determines which fights are deserving of pay television status during this exclusive interview.

After a long, long wait, Roy Jones vs. Bernard Hopkins 2 may finally be close. Multiple media outlets are reporting that Jones and Hopkins, the boxing greats who first fought each other in 1993, have finally agreed to fight again in 2010, after 17 years of bitter arguing over the terms of a potential rematch.

Ariel Helwani and I are back for another installment of our MMA podcast. This week we talk about whether Roy Jones should hang up the boxing gloves and give mixed martial arts a try, try to make sense of Jose Canseco fighting for Dream, discuss the matchmaking of Strikeforce, and consider how the mainstream media covers UFC President Dana White. Listen below.

Following Chad Dawson's 12-round destruction of Antonio Tarver last October, there wasn't much interest in seeing a rematch. However, in the wacky world of professional boxing things like fan interest and common sense don't always come into play. Tarver excercised his rematch clause and there was nothing Dawson could do to avoid the fight.

Plus, Dawson, one of boxing's brightest young stars, will gladly remind you that he never ducks anyone.

FanHouse spoke to Dawson about being forced to fight Tarver again this Saturday night in his HBO debut and his thoughts on Bernard Hopkins' refusal to fight him. The interview is after the jump.

UFC president Dana White recently stated that he has no interest in ever booking a Roy Jones Jr. vs. Anderson Silva mixed martial arts match. Apparently, Strikeforce wants no part of the former pound-for-pound boxing king, either.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker revealed on Wednesday's conference call to promote the May 15 Strikeforce Challengers event on Showtime, that Nick Diaz's manager called him hours prior to see if he would be interested in setting up a Nick Diaz vs. Jones MMA match. While Coker appeared to be lukewarm to the idea, his television partner, Showtime Sports SVP and GM, Ken Hershman, made it clear that he wants nothing to do with televising a Roy Jones Jr. MMA match

Will UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva ever box Roy Jones? I don't much like the idea, but it's clear that both fighters are intrigued by the possibility.

Will Roy Jones (right) ever meet UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the boxing ring? I don't much like the idea, but it's clear that both fighters are intrigued by the possibility.

Silva's manager, Ed Soares, said on a conference call this week to promote Silva's April 18 fight with Thales Leites at UFC 97 that while Silva is committed to mixed martial arts, he also dreams about giving boxing a try.