Roy Jones Jr. withdraws from fight

[boxingbantz]

Roy Jones Jr., citing a hand injury, withdrew Wednesday from his scheduled Oct. 7 cruiserweight fight with Danny Santiago.


Square Ring Promotions, Jones' company, announced it was postponing the entire card, which was to have featured boxing matches and mixed martial arts bouts at the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, Fla., Jones' hometown.


"Roy's manager, McGee Wright, informed me [Wednesday] that Roy injured his left hand while sparring on Saturday and that on Monday, he went to the doctor and X-rays were taken," said John Wirt, CEO of Square Ring Promotions. "While the X-rays do not show a fracture, his hand is swollen and continues to bother him to such an extent that we have no choice but to postpone the fight."


Jones, the former pound-for-pound king and four-division champion, has lost his last two fights, a first-round knockout to Danny Green in December in Australia followed by a one-sided decision loss in a rematch with longtime rival Bernard Hopkins.
Many have called for Jones, 41, to retire after poor performances in recent years. However, Jones plans to reschedule the bout.


"At this point, we are planning on rescheduling the fight and will make an announcement regarding the new date as soon as possible," Wirt said.
Although the cruiserweight limit is 200 pounds, Jones (54-7, 40 KOs) and Santiago (31-4-1, 19 KOs) were scheduled to meet at a contract weight of 185.


Santiago, 31, of Ocala, Fla., has won two fights in a row on the Florida club circuit. He lost his two most notable fights in a row. Zsolt Erdei stopped him in the eighth round of a light heavyweight world title bout in 2007 and, later that year, former light heavyweight champ Antonio Tarver, knocked him out in the fourth round.


Tarver, of course, has a lot of history with Jones. He lost his first fight to Jones, but then beat him easily in their second and third fights, including a shocking second-round knockout in their 2004 light heavyweight championship rematch.


Square Ring had not secured a television deal for Jones-Santiago.

[rjj tszyu]

I hope this is just paranoia on my part but, does anyone else think Roy may have seriously lost it now and in light of Wlad struggling to get an opponent be getting ready to step back up to HW?

I obviously don't want him to do this and get hurt, BUT at the same time I think Roy can make it more interesting than a lot of genuine HW's might at the minute. There is no way he can be as elusive as he once was at the lower weights, but up at HW he may still be hard to catch.

As I said though I really don't want to see this but I have a terrible feeling in my gut about it.

[armin]

roy moving up to heavy would be retarded at this point and he'd get brutally ko'd, hope he has no such plans.

[Spicoli]

Good news . This point Jones needs to take only major go's because he's d.o.n.e. Jones v Tarver anyone.... hmm History+names+no other lucratrive reality at 190 +.........that said I think Tarver takes him over 12 ugh!

Rather see them fight one another than a real heavyweight who would most likely hammer them like nails at this point.

[El Kabong]

I doubt Roy moves back to heavyweight unless he's up for fighting James Toney again. He's definently not going to fight Wlad.

[Tito BHB]

i had heard he had only postponed..

i dont see why he doesnt just cancel because nobody cares about this particular opponent..

he needs to retire but i dont think roy is where he wants to be at right now financiallyy

[johnsebastianmiran]

Tito is right, he should just retire. The money would only be for medical bills. I was and still am a long time fan of Roy's. It's those unknown opponents with desires of fame that will do him in including his last birthday. As for being a heavyweight, the original eight loss after the Ruiz fight and then Tarver's hunger set him wqy back.

[Master]

Roy will end up punchy if he is not already at this rate, his ego is crazy.

[Tito BHB]

Roy will end up punchy if he is not already at this rate, his ego is crazy.

Bhop is amazing in several ways for what he still does.

Roy thinks because he is fit enough to go 12 rounds (amaazin) that its ok and he should be fighting, but thats like saying im fit enough to do triathlons and because im this fit i want to get punched in the head for 60 minutes..

comparible to an extent anyway
ha