By Don Colgan
In retrospect, Roy Jones, Jr was a perfect reflection of the state of boxing during the 1990’s. An exaggeration! We witnessed the flameout of the presumed invincible Mike Tyson. The emergence of Oscar DeLahoya as a champion for the ages until championship caliber opposition exposed him as a simply good, not great champion. Shane Mosely, whom I won’t call Sugar, was the two time conqueror of DeLahoya and stood atop the pound for pound pinnacle briefly. “Tito” Trinidad looked invincible, yet it wasn’t so. Now Floyd Mayweather holds the mythical “Pound for Pound” mantle. He is peerless as we speak yet undoubtedly there is a 21st century “Manos De Piedra” to test him and take his heart where it hasn’t been before.
Yet Roy Jones glittered for a very long time. Tremendous athleticism, marvelous reflexes, astonishing hand speed and formidable power placed light years between Roy and the rest of middleweight and late light heavyweight class. He defeated Bernard Hopkins, a powerful accomplishment, he shut out a near prime James Toney in a contest that brought Jones undisputed recognition as the finest boxer, pound for pound, in the game.
His championship journey was pock marked by a string of defenses against less than title caliber opposition. No one denies a great champion a breather. Ali defended against Mildenberger and later Brian London. Frazier’s final two successful defenses were against the defenseless Terry Daniels and the tough yet talentless Ron Stander.
However, Jones’s legacy was built around challengers who simply had no chance to upset him. He defended against a shopworn Vinny Pazienza in a bout that rivaled the mismatch in Mayweather – Gatti.
Then came Tony Thorton, Merqui Sosa, Eric Lucas, Bryant Brannon, a long past his prime Virgil Hill and Lou Del Valle. Journeymen contenders at best, not championship caliber opposition upon which a great champion should build his legacy upon. The argument was made that Roy boxed the best contenders of his time. That is not true!
There were matches that could have been made that would have reinforced Jones’ superiority and recognition as the world’s pound for pound finest. Rematches with Toney and Hopkins’ were brought to the table yet never materialized. He brutally dominated Toney in their bout, humiliated the IBF Super Middleweight Titleholder and scarcely lost a round. His clash with Hopkins was far more competitive and merited a second clash.
Roy chose to avoid these bouts and instead embarked upon a near decade reign built upon the best second tier opposition of the day. Roy never was forced to the well as Robinson was against Turpin, Fullmer and Basilio. Emile Griffith was in that water well many times, having been dethroned by Benny “Kid” Paret, Luis Rodriquez and Nino Benvenuti. Griffith enduring two hard fought battles against the great Carlos Monzon as well as a route going defeat at the hands of the great Jose Napoles. Roberto Duran defined Sugar Ray Leonard as a great champion, as Frazier did against Muhammad Ali. Three times!
Antonio Tarver effectively closed Roy Jones, Jr.’s career with a dominant 12 round decision last Saturday. Perhaps Roy’s ascent into the heavyweight division to win a meaningless championship against the inept John Ruiz, followed by his return to the light heavyweight ranks, was a career ending mistake. A very good light heavyweight defeated a very bad heavyweight in a bout the public did not demand. No one cared. It made no point and the weight gain and loss incurred by Jones during his heavyweight foray may indeed have shorn Roy of the physical attributes that made him the dominant, yet underachieving champion he was.
The two brutal knockouts endured by Jones combined with the pounding he suffered last week forever buried any notion that history will rank him as a great champion in his weight classes. Had Tarver, who had no fear of Roy, arrived upon the scene six or seven years earlier it is entirely possible that the Roy Jones myth would have come to an abrupt conclusion.
Jones ability to take a punch was never fully demonstrated. He was never tested by a worthy foreman who would have gotten inside on Roy, hurt him to the body, forced him to take large gasps of breath. Pained him, knocked him down, made him look upwards from the canvas knowing he had to rise, and fight, to win. As Archie Moore did against Yvonne Durelle, Floyd Patterson did the third time against Ingemar Johansson and Ali did in Manila.
Jones was a dominant Middleweight and Light Heavyweight titleholder. He was a worthy champion. His “Safety First” Championship reign deprived boxing of a great era when it needed it most. He should have been so much better yet we’ll never know.
Roy fought great, but he was not a great champion.
