RJ - coming to a backwater near you

RJ - coming to a backwater near you

http://www.secondsout.com/headlines/...s=532&cs=20040

By Tim Smith: Roy Jones, Jr. appeared for his post fight press conference at Qwest Arena on Saturday night wearing a white terry cloth bathrobe. It looked like the kind that I wear when I step out of the shower. I'm not sure whether Jones had showered or was about to shower. But it was clear that he wasn't trying to stick around for a long time to answer questions about his fight with Prince Badi Ajamu or his future.

Jones lost a little credibility or maybe the one punch that Ajamu landed in the first round rattled his brains when he said he wanted to fight Bernard Hopkins. I know Jones trained for nine weeks, but was he in a cave. Hopkins announced that he was retiring from boxing and even held a retirement dinner.

After almost every question, Jones kept asking, "Anymore questions?'' in that tone where he is hoping that there are no more questions. But Jones is at a stage in his career that there will always be questions. Maybe more questions coming out of fights than going in.

Ajamu had no answers for Jones' overall speed, thus there was little that Ajamu could do to press the biggest questions that hovered over Jones heading into the fight: How were his reflexes and could he take a punch? Jones had told a group of reporters during a session in Memphis the morning of the Winky Wright-Jermain Taylor fight that there were things he was looking for his fight with Ajamu that would tell him whether he should continue his boxing career.

After the fight he revealed what those things were.

"I wanted to see if my reflexes were still there,'' he said. "I wanted to see if I could hold my left hand down by my side and still bring it up as fast as I wanted to. After I saw that everything was good, I pretty much did what I wanted to do.''

Jones showed a considerable amount of ring rust for half of the fight against Ajamu. About the sixth round he had warmed up and was able to control all of the action, doing what he has always done - beat up guys who can't match his physical skills.

Isn't that what Jones did for most of his career? So in effect nothing has changed.

When Jones was considered great, he was thought of that way because of his magnificent physical gifts, not because of the opponents he fought. Who can forget the Civil Service years when he fought a postal worker, a policeman and a school teacher? Was his career defining moment against James Toney, who lost 30 pounds in three weeks to get down to 168? Was it his victory against John Ruiz for the WBA heavyweight title match?

I would argue it was his KO loss to Antonio Tarver, because that will be the fight, the moment that everyone will remember from Jones' career. Jones has never had to get up off the deck to win a fight that he was losing. We don't even know if he can. That is why he'll never be thought of as great.

It was only when Jones went out on a limb to take a challenge and fought Tarver (the second time) and Glen Johnson, both consider the top light heavyweights at the time Jones fought them, that he came up short. The Jones who fought Ajamu on Saturday night can continue fighting a string of Ajamu's for the next five years. But is he willing to earn $500,000 per and fight in boxing outposts like Boise, Idaho?

Jones said he was going to sit back and wait for the offers to roll, and then he was going to sift through them and take the best one. He also hinted that he would call it quit and settle on 50 victories for his career.

One of the offers that he will be considering is from Joe Calzaghe, the 168-pound champ, for a match in October.

Jones said he didn't care whether he fought Calzaghe in the U.S. or in Britain. He said he didn't need another fight to get sharp before fighting Calzaghe.

"It all depends on how bad they want me to beat him,'' Jones said. "If they want me to knock him out then give me another fight. If you want me to just beat him I don't need another fight.''

Jones isn't ready to beat Calzaghe. He will have trouble getting down to 168 pounds, which is where Calzaghe wants to fight. Plus, Jones hasn't been out of the country for a fight since the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. And we all know how that turned out.

Jim Thomas, who is advising Jones these days, said the two fights that will likely draw Jones interest are Calzaghe and the winner of the Clinton Woods-Glen Johnson fight.

"The big question in fighting Calzaghe is whether Roy is willing to fight at 168 pounds, because that is what will be on the table. Calzaghe has those titles and he (Calzaghe) will want to fight for those,'' Thomas said. "So far that is what they're talking about. I don't know if they would be willing to do something at a catch weight.''

Alton Merkerson, Jones' trainer, wasn't bowled over by Jones' performance against Ajamu. He thought Jones could use some extra work to get back to where he once was. But he doesn't doubt that Jones can be the Jones of old.

"He doesn't need another fight. He just needs to train hard for nine weeks like he trained hard for nine weeks for this fight,'' Merkerson said. "He had gotten to the point where he wasn't working as hard as he needed to. It had gotten too easy for him. He was cutting corners. But he worked his tail off for this fight. And if he hadn't trained hard, those shots he took in the first round would have knocked him out. If he had trained hard for Jones and Glen Johnson, those shots wouldn't have had any effect.''

Jones is not the same man who was slapping around off duty police officers and school teachers eight years ago. But who is? He doesn't need to be. I don't see Jones going away anytime soon. He might not fight Calzaghe or anyone else in the upper echelons of boxing. But he can get by just fine doing what he has always done - fighting marginal opponents that offer little or no risk - as long as he can find a promoter dumb enough to give him half a mil to fight in some outpost before an empty house somewhere.

Apparently those promoters are listed in the Yellow Pages. And Jones seemed right at home in Boise, performing before an empty house.

Well it sounds like he doesn't want to fight Calzaghe.

I reckon he'll be hoping Woods beats Johnson ;)

Wow what a fair and unbias article! "Slappin round off duty cops and school teachers." Guess Toney, Mccallum, Hill, Hopkins, Ruiz, Vinny Paz, Woods, Hall, guess they all fall into that category. I wish Jones would retire now after a good win, but he can defeat Calzaghe at 175.

Also saying Jones never had to get off the canvas to win a fight he was losing ::** Any smart boxer knows that you are always losing the fight until you knockout the opponent or the final bell rings, otherwise you are going to lose ::**

Anyway if Calzaghe comes up to 175 the fight can happen but Calzaghe would never take that risk ::** And this guy saying Jones would never be considered a great...I'd like to see Hopkins or Calzaghe even win a heavyweight championship ::** doesn't matter if its a title, neither would survive at heavyweight regardless!!

CC for the read Wack,what do you guys think RJJ should do next? Does a win over the prince satisfy you enough to say RJJ is back?

No, Roy isn't backto his old self yet and won't be. He's bout 80% which is enuff to beat 90% of the other Light Heavies out there. Honestly I'd like to see Roy take on Tim Smith next, slap him around a little.