Roy jones jr..what exactly happened?

[g3org3]

I think it was a combination of 2 and 3

[Beanflicker]

I think it was a perfect storm of factors.

The weight gain and loss definitely took a lot out of him. You can't just totally restructure your body and then tear it back down again in such a short time frame, especially if you're in your mid 30s. Look at what Chris Byrd did: he decided to shave down from HW to LHW and he looked HORRIBLE. He was used to getting hit by HWs and going through it, now he was getting bounced around the ring by a 175lber with hardly any power. It's a recipe for disaster.

Also, like mentioned I think Roy's heart was no longer in it. I was watching a recent interview with him where he said his goal was to go up and win the HW title, then come back down and regain the LHW title and retire. He accomplished that after the first Tarver fight. I remember at the time (after the first Tarver fight) he said he wanted to do a "mega fight" with Mike Tyson and then retire. Once a guy starts talking about retirement, you know he's done.

And also, Roy was 35 at the time. At that point, he'd been fighting for 15 or 16 years as a professional. We've been spoiled by guys like Foreman, Bhop, ect who are fighting well into their 40s and winning titles, and we forget that those guys are the exception, not the rule.
Look at other guys like Jones who relied on speed and reflexes: Whitaker was well past it by 35 (and was getting outboxed by Hurtado at 33). At 35, Ray Leonard was getting battered around the ring by Terry Norris like an old man. And of course if you want to go to Ali, he was struggling with guys like Shavers and Spinks at that age. So I think father time was also catching up with Roy: all of a sudden his body didn't respond to openings and danger quite as fast as it used to.

I'll always have a soft spot for Roy because he's the reason I started watching boxing. I wish he'd just retired after the first Tarver fight.