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We all know he is nothing like he used to be, is it mental? wouldnt make sense cuz he hasnt looked right since the he moved up to heavyweight, is it that, did that fuck his body up completely, did he just get old, or is it all in his head, cuz in almost every fight he has lost, in that fight he had a round or two where he showed he can out class these guys, and then would just stop, i used to be a huge fan, still am, i am just confused
he got old, the huge jumps in weight caught up with him, then he was KO'd and well IMO he never really came to grips with it
same thing is gonna happen to floyd some day...
Roy was and is one of my favorite fighters ever.
In his prime he was arguably the greatest boxer of all time.
But a I think a few things happened to Roy:
1. He was knocked out by Tarver in the rematch. This hurt him mentally and made him very gun shy about throwing punches and getting countered, as he was KO'd by a counter punch. Roy has become very GUN SHY.
2. He got old. Certiainly the jumping up in weight then coming back down accelerated the aging process for Roy and took a lot out of him.
3. After seeing Roy Jones get KO'd, it greatly ENCOURAGED other fighters. Men that would have normally been very intimidated by Roy, began to think they could beat him. He lost his aura of invincibility.
4. Kinda goes along with gettin old, but Roy has lost a great amount of his speed, particularly his foot speed. His legs are not what they used to be.
Alll these comibine to the really lackluster and disapointing career that Roy has had every since the Tarver rematch.
After watching the rematch with Hopkins I think Roy has lost the confidence to throw his punches.
His feints are there which create the openings but he hesitates and dont throw the punches like he used to, its a confidence thing that deminshes when you get Kod like he has.
He is FREAKING 38 years old. That is what happens to people. Specially boxers whose styles are based on their athleticism(Jones, Ali) as opposed to fighters whose styles are based on skill(Hopkins, Holmes).
yeah i think he just got past his prime. maybe the move up to and back down from heavyweight affected this.if hed retired after the ruiz win then maybe we would of been talking about him as the greatest ever. who nos
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lance Uppercut
Actually he's 40...
He got old. Simple. No need for further discussion.
The reflexes and speed are the first to go on fighters as they age. Those were what made Roy Roy... When those faded he bacame ordinary... and vulnerable.
This is a good answer, he got old. Some people age earlier than others and for someone like Roy who needed his lightning reflexes, as soon as they lost that split second that was it for him. He tried to learn a bit of textbook boxing after his losses (to Tarver and Johnson) but he was too old to add that to his game and anyone in the world class bracket was just always going to beat him. The strangest part for me was his punch power totally leaving him, he used to hit like a freight train and most of the time the last thing to leave a great boxer is his power, but Roys power went with everything else.Quote:
Originally Posted by ElTerribleMorales
I fooled myself into thinking he could return to his former greatness but I was wrong and I think he did the same thing to himself. The jump to HW and then dropping back down to LHW was the beginning of the end but he could well have lost it at that age anyway even if he hadn't made the jump.
Now I make do with watching the old films of his old greatness and for the first time in 17 years I haven't watched his last fight. I watched him beat Ruiz the other night (so I could compare it to Haye more than anything) and it really was the last time he was great. If he had a geniune HW's power he could have caused some serious damage up there, because he was just so damned fast and his reflexes were that fast that I don't think many could land anything of real magnitude on him.
Ybe mentality has a bit to do with it but the long and short of it is that he was a good boxer and an outstanding athlete. Hes in his 40s...
Everything about Roy was based on his Athleticism he was never a defensive genius, he was never an offensive genius....
Roy had speed that allowed him to be slick and move around the ring like he was on ice, he had speed that allowed him to be first to the punch, he had speed that allowed to to fight with his hands low because he could dodge and avoid most punches....
He was a phenom...But it all came down to amazing reflexes....Nothing more nothing less...
Those are the first thing to go in a fighter....Roy was never a plan B person....a fighter can not learn too many new trick after a certain age because their body wont allow it...The body becomes trained to do certain things and it can not untrain itself....
Add the ego of Jones and his Back to Back KO losses to Tarver and Johnson he could not mentally get past...If you listen to him today it is as if he believes it was a fluke that those happened.....
So his reflexes and ego both took blast at the same time.....
Adam what is your opinion on the weight issue as a bit of an expert on this, I am no expert but I think it's a bit over the top as the reason he went on the downward spiral.Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamGB
Against Ruiz he weighed 193 lbs with most of his clothes on didn't fight for seven months that was at 175, now how much do you think he weighed on both nights of the two fights??
Surely at 175 he puts on a bit of weight over night say between 6-12 lbs and for the Ruiz fight he would be about the same, so lets say 195 tops for Ruiz and 183 for your usual 175 fight, that's 12 lbs to loose in 7 months most fighter loose that in the last three weeks of camp, maybe I am way off the mark here but surely it is a bit over the top the weight dropping issue as to why he got old.
Roy jones was small a LHW, and even on the night of the bouts he weighed the same as he did during the weigh ins, maybe 2 pounds over. Never seen him higher than 176, until the ruiz fight.Quote:
Originally Posted by skel1983Adam what is your opinion on the weight issue as a bit of an expert on this, I am no expert but I think it's a bit over the top as the reason he went on the downward spiral.Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamGB
Against Ruiz he weighed 193 lbs with most of his clothes on didn't fight for seven months that was at 175, now how much do you think he weighed on both nights of the two fights??
Surely at 175 he puts on a bit of weight over night say between 6-12 lbs and for the Ruiz fight he would be about the same, so lets say 195 tops for Ruiz and 183 for your usual 175 fight, that's 12 lbs to loose in 7 months most fighter loose that in the last three weeks of camp, maybe I am way off the mark here but surely it is a bit over the top the weight dropping issue as to why he got old.
THe thing is if you look at his body after his return to lhw, u can see it didnt look the same, it dint move the same, his punches were thrown difrently, i have a feeling if he never went up to heaveweight he coulda still compete at a high level
He got old, slower, Koed, lacked the confidence, and now just a shell. It has happened over the years since the tarver defeat.