By Jake Donovan
With the event itself already a joke, Roy Jones Jr. spared himself further shame in scoring a 2nd round knockout of Vyron Phillips in a special event Sunday evening at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona.
Jones allowed Phillips to have his moments early before catching him with a sweeping right hand produced the knockout blow in round two. The matchup served as the lone boxing fight of an evening that included three MMA bouts and a special "legends" wrestling match, all of which streamed live via Internet Pay-Per-View.
The event came about when Jones - a former four-division champ and once upon a time regarded as the best fighter in the world - announced his intention to face a fan in the ring. A $100,000 prize was offered to the lucky contestant in the event that he beat Jones, although the talent pool was narrowed down considerably once the Arizona Boxing and MMA Commission intervened.
With the stipulation of potential candidates requiring combat sports experience, Phillips emerged from a final list of roughly 20 applicants. The relatively unknown MMA fighter from Minneapolis, Minn. boasts a 6-1 amateur boxing record, as well as a current mark of 5-3 in the pro MMA ranks.
To his credit, the 33-year old was combat fit and as ready as he would be for this version of Jones (62-9, 45KOs), who was last seen being scraped off of a canvas in Russia following a brutal 4th round knockout at the hands of faded former cruiserweight titlist Enzo Maccarinelli last December.
It's been clear for well over a decade that Jones' best year are far, far behind him. As much was evident in his profile for this fight, looking every bit his 47 years of age and sporting an uncharacteristically fleshy build for Sunday's main event.
Once the bell rang, it hardly mattered. Phillips boxed well for the majority of the opening round. Jones fought in his typical rooster-like style, hoping to make his inexperienced opponent miss to the point of countering with a game changing shot.
A few flurries from Phillips were enough to get the sparse crowd into it, of the belief that a competitive fight would come of the evening. Those dreams were dashed towards the end of round one, when a leaping right hand shot from Jones drove Phillips into a corner just before the bell.
Jones finished the job in round two. The two were at close quarters, with Phillips charging in only to get caught clean by a sweeping right hand. He hit the canvas hard and never threatened to make it to his feet, prompting the referee to stop the contest midway through his count.
Hopefully the success that came from the night won't convince Jones that he still has "it", and that the end is finally near, if not having already arrived. At the very least, he was respectful of his opponent's efforts, not to mention his willingness to step out of his comfort zone and get in the ring with an all-time great.
"This guy has tremendous heart," Jones said after the fight. "I mean, I would've never challenged (National Basketball Association (NBA) great) Michael Jordan to a game of one-on-one. He has amazing heart to try such a thing, and to try against the best that ever did it."
There were no regrets on the part of Phillips, who believed he executed his game plan to the best of his ability.
"Speed is power," Phillips said of what's left of Jones' skills.
For the better part of a 10-year stretch between 1994-2004, Jones was regarded as high among the very best boxers of his generation. His first title win came in May '93, outpointing Bernard Hopkins - at the time an unknown contender on the rise and still two years away from kicking off his own legendary run - for a vacant middleweight belt.
Some 18 months later came what at the time - and for years to come - served as a career-defining win, pitching a virtual shutout of then-unbeaten James Toney in their Nov. '94 pound-for-pound showdown. Jones nabbed the super middleweight crown, making five successful defenses before moving up to light heavyweight for a third title in as many weight classes.
His lone loss through 16 years as a pro came via disqualification in the 9th round of his March '97 meet with Montell Griffin, losing the light heavyweight belt he obtained in a Nov. '96 points win over aged legend Mike McCallum. He'd regain the belt in violent fashion, annexing Griffin inside of a round in their Aug. '97 mid-week Pay-Per-View headliner.
Despite racking up 11 successful title defenses in his second light heavyweight reign, his two best wins over a stale stretch from 1998-2003 came outside the division - his infamous 4th round body shot knockout of Virgil Hill in their pre-Easter non-title fight in April '98; and his becoming the first former middleweight titlist in over 100 years to claim a piece of the heavyweight crown with a 12-round nod over John Ruiz in March '03.
The win over Ruiz proved to be his last hurrah. Jones struggled mightily in a majority decision win over Antonio Tarver in their first fight in Nov. '03, before his reign at the top came to a crashing halt in a one-punch 2nd round knockout in their May '04 rematch. Tarver would add a second win, claiming a 12-round decision in their Oct. '05 rubber match, which was Jones' first fight in 13 months after suffering a shocking 9th round knockout of Glen Johnson.
Jones has spent the past 10 years trying to reinvent himself - though all the while riding long and hard on the strength of his fame. The closest he's come to another title shot was a Nov. '08 points loss to Joe Calzaghe, who was (wrongly) regarded by some as the World light heavyweight champ, but at the very least was the division's best fighter after having moved up from his lengthy super middleweight reign to outpoint Hopkins the prior April.
Calzaghe had the sense to retire after wins over Hopkins and Jones, having since gained enshrinement in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2014. He joined Oscar de la Hoya and Felix Trinidad, though could have easily been the odd man out had Jones opted to call it a career at that same point.
Instead, his career lingers on despite having plenty of other options - including a long-running role as HBO Boxing expert analyst as well as heading his own promotional company.
As for whether or not he will participate in another event similar to this, only time - and the box office receipts - will tell.
"It all depends on how well it turned out tonight," Jones noted at fight's end. "If the fans enjoyed it, we can do it again."
UNDERCARD
Rey Mysterio emerged victorious in a best two-of-three falls match over Kurt Angle in their battle of legendary wrestlers.
Angle's size difference was the difference in leading to the bout's first pin, but the San Diego-based Mysterio rallied back hard, setting up both of his takedowns with his patented "619" acrobatic kick through the ropes.
The bout's final knockdown came with typical wrestling drama. Mysterio ducked just in time to avoid an incoming Angle, whose attempted Lariat move instead connected with and knocked out the referee. The two wrestlers continued their match unsupervised, with Angle flooring Mysterio and then climbing out of the ring in search of a foriegn object with which to smash him.
He found what he was looking for in the form of a metal chair, which he folded up and hoisted over his head. The illegal tactic was disrupted by "rapper" RIFF RAFF, who - after torturing the crowd with his live performance prior to the bout - snatched the chair from out of Angle's hands. Mysterio arose like clockwork, assuming control of the fight and pinning Angle, at which point the referee conveniently regained consciousness just long enough to count him out.
Jacob "Kobe The Stunna" Ortiz scored a 3rd round submission win over Brendan "Tiny Shorts" Tierney in a matchup of Arizona-based mixed martial artists.
Tierney was in control for the first half of the opening round, only for Ortiz to turn the tide and never look back. He nearly had Tierney out towards the end of round one, but dominated the rest of the way en route to forcing a submission at 0:24 of round three.
Banned MMA fighter Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping fought to a three-round draw. The bout was not contested in the presence of any judges, as the only way to win was by submission. Neither fighter came close in a fight that wasn't worth any more keystrokes than already wasted in this recap.
Opening the show, Shannon Ritch scored a 1st round submission of familiar rival Maverick Harvey. The MMA fighters accepted terms for a return bout on short notice, coming in very late replacement when attempts at securing two other fights fell through.
The matchup was tough to take seriously, as the fight began with Ritch exiting from the ring and landing on the receiving end of a wedgie (I can only wish I was making up this stuff). The 45-year old journeyman with over 200 fights to his name came back and was able to batter Harvey into submission two minutes into the contest.
If these bouts are deemed official by the Arizona Boxing and MMA Commission, then the feat gives Ritch the satisfaction of two previous losses suffered at the hands of Harvey, in Nov. '05 and again in April '06.
All bouts were streamed live on URShow.tv.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
