By Brent Matteo Alderson
Boxing fans are talking like Calzaghe-Jones is just a warm up for Jones-Hopkins II, as if the name “Roy Jones” will enable the aged fighter to do something incredible and set up a historic and destined rematch with his epoch rival, Bernard Hopkins. You know, kind of like how Roberto Duran’s upset over Iran Barkley led to a third match between Hands of Stone and Sugar Ray Leonard - nine-years after the famous “No Mas” fight. Those pugilistic followers need to come back to reality because Jones hasn’t been an elite world class fighter since 2003 and has absolutely no chance of beating Joe Calzaghe.
The reality is that Roy hasn’t been that super-fighter since his move from heavyweight back down to light-heavy, which dramatically exasperated the speed of his physical decline. Since then he’s gone 4-3 and hasn’t scored a knockout in over six-years and took more punishment in his wins over Prince Ajamu and Anthony Hanshaw than in his first forty-fights combined.
The Trinidad win was impressive, but Tito couldn’t hurt Roy because there was too much of a size differential. Trinidad’s bombs, that had been lethal in the lighter weight classes, had little effect on the much larger Jones. It was reminiscent of how Johnny Tapia’s punches had little effect on Marco Antonio Barrera or De La Hoya’s on Hopkins.
And even though a win over a great fighter like Trinidad is always a noteworthy accomplishment, the Puerto Rican great hadn’t fought in almost three years and had been completely shut out by Winky Wright, a fighter much smaller than Jones.
Yet fans still cling to the Roy Jones mystique, to the idea of the purity of his greatness even though it’s been evident for quite some time that it was lost with his youthful exuberance. The fact of the matter is that father-time has taken away the two things that made Jones special; speed and phenomenal reflex. And since Jones was such an unorthodox fighter and never utilized a solid fundamental foundation, he hasn’t been able to fight at the elite world class level since he’s been out of his physical prime.
Basketball experts always say that Michael Jordan was one of the most fundamentally sound basketball players in the history of the sport and credit those fundamentals for allowing Jordan to produce at such a high level well into his thirties. Well Jones wasn’t very fundamentally sound; he fought with his hands down, didn’t lead with his jab and often times led with his left hook, and would use his speed and reflexives to avoid getting hit.
Hopkins has even compared Jones to Allen Iverson, another athlete who depends on his athleticism, and has theorized that Iverson won’t be able to play into his mid-thirties because he doesn’t have the strong fundamental foundation that can compensate for the loss of speed.
The same thing goes for Roy Jones, and if he hadn’t been so spectacular in his prime and if we hadn’t witnessed the magic he displayed in the ring during that time - he would be considered a fringe contender. For arguments sake, let’s say Jones of today was named John Doe. Well after his workman-like performances over Hanshaw and Prince Ajamu, he would be considered a solid light heavyweight contender, an ESPN II headliner. He wouldn’t be receiving these gigantic paydays and huge pay-per-view fights. He’d be making ten to forty grand a fight.
I don’t want to demean Jones. There is no doubt in my mind that a prime Roy Jones circa 1996 would have dominated a 2001 Hopkins and a prime Joe Calzaghe. This is 2008 and with wins over Kessler, Hopkins, and Lacy, Joe has clearly shown that he is currently one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world and one of the three greatest fighters in British Boxing history. on November 8, one of the best fighters of today will beat the best fighter of yesteryears because they are fighting in 2008 and not 1998.
Now Hopkins' victory over Pavlik may influence some people to think that Jones may also be able to pull off an upset, but it shouldn’t because there were a number of indicators that Hopkins could win the bout with Pavlik. First off Bernard hadn’t decisively lost a fight in more than 15 years and most recently lost a very close decision to Joe Calzaghe. In addition, he had already established himself at 175 pounds with a dominant win over Antonio Tarver in 2005. Perversely with Jones there hasn’t been any indication during the course of the last 5 years that Jones still has the skills to upset Calzaghe, just false hope fueled by the memories of past performances.
The reality is that Roy Jones career as an elite fighter ended in 2004 when Glen Johnson brutally laid him out and any chance he had of regaining a portion of his greatness went out the window when he clowned around in surviving twelve disappointing rounds in the third Tarver fight. As an admirer of Roy Jones, I just wish he would hang them up so we can remember him for his glorious talent and not for the subpar performances at the end of his career that have tainted a record that would have been flawless if it truly reflected the greatness he displayed in his prime.
Notes:
Alex Camponovo, the general manager for Thompson boxing informed me that Timothy Bradley is currently in China and that they are “seriously trying to set up some type of unification bout for Bradley in the first quarter of 2009.”
If Roy Jones beats Calzaghe I won’t watch a boxing match on television for six months. I will occasionally attend live shows and read about them online, but I will not watch a fight on television for six months.
It took 10,000 feet of film to record the James Corbett-Bob Fitzsimmons bout in 1897.
Where is Eric Bottjer? He was a magnificent columnist in the pre-internet days of boxing coverage and had worked as a match-maker for a number of organizations.
Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004. Alderson's published work has appeared in publications such as Ring Magazine, KO, World Boxing, Boxing 2008, and Latin Boxing Magazine. Alderson has also been featured on the ESPN Classic television program “Who’s Number One?” Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com
