Roy jones jr..what exactly happened?

[imp]

I loved roy jones in his prime.

We all know what happened after the first tarver fight but what was it that changed roy jones after that moment.

He achieved glory by beating ruiz and being the heavyweight champ THEN dropping weight (or muscle) and beating tarver for the LH belt.

These are my questions:-

1. How would you have remembered roy if he retired after the first tarver fight?

2. Was it the muscle loss that ended roys reign at the top?

3. Was it the fact roy achieved everything he had too after the first tarver win and lost focus?

4. Was it tarvers awkward southpaw style that ended roys reign?

Just give me feedback on your honest review on this period in roys career and your opinion on everything we see now that roy is doing.

Cheers

[Gandalf]

Age. He got a little bit older and slower and didn't have technique and thus he kept getting knocked out being a bit chinny. Not exactly rocket science.

[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.

[imp]

Age. He got a little bit older and slower and didn't have technique and thus he kept getting knocked out being a bit chinny. Not exactly rocket science.

Age is off course a factor but we are talking pre tarver johnson - post ruiz.

The first tarver fight he won showed alot of things.

[Master]

1. Roy would have been regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, ever boxer if he retired after the first tarver fight

2. It was the muscle loss that ended Roys reign with age another factor which slowed him down.

3. Roy got caught with a peach of a shot but at his best he would have avoided it.

4. Roy destroys southpaws and all styles at his best.

[jon09]

Roy is 1 of the ATG's. But ego, age and poor decisions really made him look bad in his twilight career.

[ross]

All things lead to desire.



























Or steroids.....

[imp]

All things lead to desire.



























Or steroids.....

Werent they legal when he took them?

Or is that a rumour.

[ross]

He was caught with something ilegal that was an ingredient of a sports suppliment.

Wouldnt it be easy though to find a sports suppliment that has whatever cheaty drug you want to take and use that as an excuse after being found cheating?

[Andre]

Most older men who get into a fix seem to do so cause their mind thinks like a 20 to 30 year old.( I am one I know of this stupidity well):
The old neurons cant fire down the channels as fast anymore but we still think like they can. So our legs walk our heads into stuff we can no longer take as well and once there, cant fire fast enough to get us out of the situation as fast either so to survive we have to think differently. If you sit in a good paddock a few times or dont train naturally or use roids or play with your weight in any way after middle age you are probably going to slow down even faster than someone whos done nothing, so you will have to choose your future marks even more carefully and fight a different fight.
Roy should of given up thinking about head hunting after he failed to catch a few of his chickens by hand.

[Violent Demise]

Jones never learned how to fight. With his ridiculous speed and God like athleticism he never had to. Muthafukkas don't really understand how many levels he was above everybody else in skills. He did everything wrong in the ring and got away with it. He played basketball in the day and the defended his title at night. He was that gifted. Jones should of retired after the Ruiz fight. He would of been considered one of the top 5 if he did. He should of never fought Tarver. Cuz he didn't have too. Tarver had a chance to fight Jones before but blew it when he lost to Eric Harding. So Jones didn't owe Tarver shit.

[THE THIRD MAN]

Should've retired after the Ruiz fight and worked in promotion or commentary. The first Tarver fight saw the writing on the wall, that should've convinced him to finish and no rematch given. He was 34 when he first fought Tarver, what was the point of continuing? It's a been a sad decline ever since culminating in the embarrassment of the Green loss.

[Gandalf]

Age. He got a little bit older and slower and didn't have technique and thus he kept getting knocked out being a bit chinny. Not exactly rocket science.

Age is off course a factor but we are talking pre tarver johnson - post ruiz.

The first tarver fight he won showed alot of things.

I think he just looked old, it was a very laboured win by his standards.

[Spicoli]

Roy got bored at the same time age was tapping him on the shoulder. He was pure reflex and instinct and he just didn't develope that second fundamental gear to call on. The heavy-Tyson talk was ludicrous and once that was over he didn't go back to fighting a Woods, Gonzalez or Kelly, but he fought a rebounding Tarver who had his own chip on the shoulder not to mention his previous trinkets and was a better boxer than Jones had faced in some time. Honestly Tarver did a great job at mind gaming Roy, getting under his skin and self promotion and Roy's clock simply ran out in rematch.