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By Lyle Fitzsimmons - It’s a good thing I’m way thin on accomplishments.
I was MVP of a Cinderella hockey run as a Niagara Falls pre-teen, and I’ve managed to outrun about 10 percent of the field while completing a dozen 10-plus mile road races since… but no one’s been ringing the cell phone lately asking for up-front tickets to my Hall of Fame inductions.
It’s just as well, I guess, because I don’t particularly like being a target.
These days, no matter the acclaim earned over a career in an endeavor of choice, it seems a righteously indignant never-was is rarely far away with a sheaf of reasons why even one more split-second in the spotlight – win, lose, draw or otherwise – will immediately reduce legacies to rubble.
This past weekend, it was Roy Jones Jr.’s turn in the crosshairs.
Again.
Nearly every day since October 2005 – when a unanimous decision against Antonio Tarver was the third straight loss in a career that just 18 months earlier had been sans blemish – some soothsayer from some outlet has written that the Pensacola showman ought to retire in order to save his resume.
Or just as accurately, the writer's warped view of it.
As if three losses then – or the four more he’s had in 11 fights since – would be enough to cancel out title belts in multiple classes, one-sided wins over myriad Hall of Famers and more plentiful highlight-reel material than any 100 fighters whose careers dissolved long before anyone noticed. [Click Here To Read More]
I was MVP of a Cinderella hockey run as a Niagara Falls pre-teen, and I’ve managed to outrun about 10 percent of the field while completing a dozen 10-plus mile road races since… but no one’s been ringing the cell phone lately asking for up-front tickets to my Hall of Fame inductions.
It’s just as well, I guess, because I don’t particularly like being a target.
These days, no matter the acclaim earned over a career in an endeavor of choice, it seems a righteously indignant never-was is rarely far away with a sheaf of reasons why even one more split-second in the spotlight – win, lose, draw or otherwise – will immediately reduce legacies to rubble.
This past weekend, it was Roy Jones Jr.’s turn in the crosshairs.
Again.
Nearly every day since October 2005 – when a unanimous decision against Antonio Tarver was the third straight loss in a career that just 18 months earlier had been sans blemish – some soothsayer from some outlet has written that the Pensacola showman ought to retire in order to save his resume.
Or just as accurately, the writer's warped view of it.
As if three losses then – or the four more he’s had in 11 fights since – would be enough to cancel out title belts in multiple classes, one-sided wins over myriad Hall of Famers and more plentiful highlight-reel material than any 100 fighters whose careers dissolved long before anyone noticed. [Click Here To Read More]
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