The Roy Jones Of Today!
ROY JONES STILL ACTIVE FIGHTER
San Francisco, CA– Defeating WBA heavyweight title claimant Johnny “Louise” Ruiz via UD 12 in 2004 was probably the peak of the Roy Jones era. From that point forward, it’s been down hill, sometimes face down for Roy who paid dearly for an undeserved decision over Antonio Tarver. In the rematch, Tarver knocked Roy the blank out in two rounds. Then came the one-punch KO by Glen Johnson which was followed by another loss to Tarver. At this point and time, Jones could have retired and everybody who knows or cares about him would have agreed.
“GENTLEMAN JOE” NOT SUCH A GENTLEMAN
Instead he continued and in 2008 lost by wide scores to Joe Calzaghe. The Welshman retired after this fight at 45-0. Getting two wins over Omar Sheika and Jeff Lacy weren’t enough to restart the Roy Jones fan club, they being a bunch of writers that thought like Roy that he was a boxing God. Then came more three straight losses, a KO 1 by Danny Green, UD 12 loss to Bernard Hopkins, and a “sick” KO loss in his May 2011 fight against Denis Lebedev.
SMOGER ALLOWED UGLIEST OF ENDINGS!
When I say sick, if you saw the last punch a helpless Roy took, this when referee Steve Smoger refused to step in and Roy was hit standing up semi-concussed. Essentially, he was out on his feet until a clean punch was thrown while he was impersonating a boxing mime as he wasn’t speaking or moving. Frozen in midair and referee Smoger allowed Roy to take so clean a shot in a concussed mode already. It was so scary that I thought to myself, the residual effects of all this brain trauma, Roy needs to stick with his HBO work which is excellent.
THIS ISN’T PING PONG MY FRIENDS, PEOPLE GET HURT
Nobody great ever got out of this game without getting hurt. Not Muhammad Ali, Ray Leonard, Joe Louis, Oscar De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield, and certainly not Roy Jones. Having fought three stiffs since Lebedev, maybe Roy is the exception and won’t get pugilistic dementia, an ailment that affects boxers (punch drunk syndrome). Sometimes you see it early, sometimes late, sometimes never. Others like Jake LaMotta and Micky Ward and George Chuvalo, those three could take a licking and are still talking clearly today. But they are the exception and not the rule! Hey Roy, can you relate?
YEAH, SMOGER WAS ENJOYING THE FIGHT
Even had Smoger stepped in when he should have, Roy Jones still took a beating. He has been knocked out four times in the ring, at least once in the gym prior to the Olympics, thus Roy has been KO’d five times. I think if an NFL quarterback suffered five concussions he would likely be retired.
LEGACY RIDDLED WITH BULLETS NOW
Roy Jones Picture Worth 1,000 Words!
Instead of being one of the great fighters of the late 20th century, Roy Jones will be remembered for his KO losses and his staying around way too long. We may see some of this in a few years, maybe ten as these ass whippings are going to come back and haunt Roy Jones. He’s fought thrice since Lebedev, the last being in December 2013 in Russia, suffice to say that Roy Jones is gambling with his life by boxing at the age of 45, especially in light of the KO losses.
STORY OF THE ROY JONES PICTURE
The reason why I thought the Jones photograph is so “telling” is that it features a young Roy Jones looking over the shoulder at an old, almost elderly looking Roy Jones.
Pedro Fernandez