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Roy Jones Jr., the former number one pound-for-pound great, needs to contemplate on regaining his top status. Read carefully, this is not an immature thought. It is a plea to push a talented fighter into believing in himself and his craft to sweep though the boxing world once again. Why is it that the silent critics waited so patiently and long for the quick fall of Jones, to step up and say, “He is completely done?” Roy Jones Jr. is and will always be a competitor. Look at his outstanding past, clearly the winner of the 1988 Olympic gold, even though the judges awarded him the silver. A middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and world heavyweight champion, his path to claiming greatness was clear and solid.
Jones is the last man to defeat Bernard Hopkins via decision. At one point in time, he had seven light heavyweight belts, both major and minor sanctioning bodies. The flash of his powerful punching, swift defense and pure athletic abilities would keep a boxing fan in awe. Yes, at times, his fights seemed to land in the lap of boredom, mismatched opposition that did not truly test his overall boxing style. Could it be that Roy Jones Jr. was so talented, that his average opponents seemed poorly talented? Whatever the case, Jones progressed and continued his quest on ruling the pound-for-pound list.
Even his outside the ring, Jones was a revolutionary. He wanted to dictate and promote his own fights, which also factored into his mismatching. Looking at Roy Jones’s career in totality and the need to understand or mildly comprehend his fall from the pound-for- pound list made me ponder. What happened? Jones is a positive boxer, self-confident and a go-getter. All uplifting traits to have, but, at times, can push you into being an easy target for failure. A rapper, music executive making cameo’s in music videos are roles Jones engaged in while being a top pound-for-pound boxer at the same time. Jones would be on music video sets, making guest appearances, which is time consuming, because it takes one to three days to film a music video. Add that to Jones’ music making career and one has to wonder, “Where did Jones find the time to train?”
You have to fathom the pure athletic ability of Jones. He is still in top condition, maybe in better condition than the average fighter today. Indulging the fast life of being an elite boxer, and mingling in the music business, Jones would squeeze a fight in with Antonio Tarver. In a drop down in weight while relinquishing his WBA heavyweight belt, Jones did not seem to be the same fighter as his commanding middleweight and light heavyweight days. He was slow, had no snap in his punches and during the later rounds, he seemed to be tiring with fatigue.
Tarver might have had incomplete high hopes before the fight and might have been the only one to believe he would defeat Jones, but in the end, he came out the winner, mentally and in terms of self-esteem.
Despite losing the fight on the judges’ scorecards, Tarver mapped out his game plan to request a rematch. Second match around, Jones lasted two rounds and ended the fight on his back. A supposed tune-up match with the underrated Glen Johnson was even more depressing than the second Tarver fight. Jones was slow and not there mentally. To keep the pace concise, Jones went down in the ninth, a knockout that left Jones down on the mat for some time, prompting some concern about his health. It was refreshing to see him make it up off the mat.
Now, the headlines were even bolder, declaring Roy Jones Jr. to hang up the gloves. The question at hand would be, “Did Roy Jones back-to-back knockout losses consist of decreasing talent or a lack of concentration on the sport he was once addicted to?” Without using excuses, I would place my belief in the lack of concentration category. Roy Jones lost this drive after the John Ruiz heavyweight title fight. After winning the title, you could see his ambitious attitude going down. The man went to the top of the weight classes and walked away with a world title. What other accomplishments remained for the great Jones to conquer?
Really, was a drop in weight and leaving the heavyweight title to regain his light heavyweight titles a wise choice? Roy left his determination at the heavyweight division. He only looked at the heavyweight belt and not the heavyweight division in totality. Somewhere, a group of people defeated the idea of Jones winning the heavyweight title and Jones had to prove them wrong. He did just that, yet, after winning the heavyweight belt, what was next. A continuation of fighting other bigger heavyweights could be an option.
Another option, he could have entertained would be retiring, or taking a break to do music completely and during this time, lose the weight, the proper way, arduous training in a habitual manner and re-entering the light heavyweight division with a passion, like he did after the 1988 Olympics. I sense Roy Jones is doing this right now. As Felix “Tito” Trinidad is hanging up his proud boxing career, the chances of another former great stepping up is evident. The Antonio Tarver vs. Glen Johnson fight was a lot of punching with no effects and that fight should be more inspiration to push you into seeing the decline of Roy Jones was more of a self-induced defeat instead of him being outclassed.
We need Roy Jones Jr. with full concentration, a tough mentality and a strong determination on wanting his pound-for-pound crown back. Imagine the possibility of Roy Jones Jr. vs. Bernard Hopkins part two. What a fight that would be. Train hard Roy Jones Jr.; you will be back in the ring.
Shaun Rico LaWhorn can be reached at filmmaking_mentality@msn.com
