By Ryan Burton
In 1997, Montell Griffin shocked the world when he handed pound-for-pound king Roy Jones Jr. his first professional loss. The fight was a nip and tuck affair going into the 9th round when Jones was disqualified for hitting Griffin right after he took a knee.
Jones would avenge his loss with a 1st round knockout in their immediate rematch.
The former champion Griffin (50-8) is still a fan of the sport and also trains fighters. He follows boxing very closely, particularly the light heavyweight division that he held a title in and where he also holds two wins over the great James Toney.
Like the rest of us, Griffin is very intrigued by the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward super-bout that is scheduled for November 19th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In order for the bout to come to fruition, Ward first must take care of business against heavy underdog Alexander Brand on Saturday.
"They are the two best light heavyweights in the world. You also got Superman but he hasn't been fighting enough. You have Kovalev's power and Ward's boxing skills that makes for an interesting match up. I can't wait to see," Griffin stated.
Griffin feels that Ward is very close to being at the same level as the prime version of Jones. Griffin said that while Jones has the edge in speed, mentally they are both very similar.
"Andre Ward is comparable to him. I think Roy is a little bit faster than him. A little bit faster with his footwork but they are kind of on the same level as far as their great boxing IQ," said Griffin.
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