By Dr. Peter Edwards (Photo by Norman DeShong/Square Ring)
The return of Roy Jones, Jr. is almost upon us, and many of us are wondering why Roy is stepping back in the ring after dropping three fights in a row. On Saturday night, at the Qwest Arena in Boise, Idaho, Jones (49-4, 38 KOs) makes his return on pay-per-view against lightly regarded Prince Badi Ajamu (25-2-1, 14 KOs).
After being stopped by Antonio Tarver in May of 2004, and stopped once again a few months later by Glen Johnson, every fighter took note and saw that in order to beat Roy Jones, you had to be aggressive and not willing to take a step back.
The Johnson stoppage is a bigger stain on the career of Jones because Johnson was never regarded as a big puncher, and prior to meeting Jones he did not score a knockout in at least 3 years. Johnson was picked as a "safe" opponent for Jones to prepare himself towards a third meeting with Antonio Tarver.
Nobody predicted or envisioned that Jones would get knocked out cold as a result of a single punch on the part of Johnson. Nobody pictured Johnson with his hand raised high as Jones was on the canvas laying motionless as ring physicians were making sure he was not seriously injured. Nobody predicted the scenario, except Glen Johnson.
Johnson took the fight to Jones from the opening bell and never stopped punching or giving Jones a single moment of rest to get his head together and turn the tide. The minute Johnson attacked with wild punches from all angles, Jones covered up in a shell and rarely opened up to mount an offense.
There are some that say Jones was shot when he fought Johnson, and there are others who say Jones was scared. I personally feel Jones was terrified of being hit. Some fighters are able to recover well from a knockout loss and others are never the same again. After Tarver stopped Jones in two rounds, Jones was never the same fighter.
Even after losing two fights by knockout in back to back fashion, Jones made a return to the ring against Antonio Tarver in a trilogy battle to settle the score and prove that he was back to being the "Roy Jones of old." Jones even promised to unleash his aggressive alter-ego known as "RJ."
Unfortunately we did not get the old version of Roy Jones, but yet another helping of the new version of RJ. The third time around with Tarver, Jones was not fighting to win, but rather to survive. He was almost stopped late in the fight, but managed to hang on to the final bell. Lucky for Jones, Tarver had spent much of himself by the late rounds and was unable to finish Jones off when he was on the verge of another stoppage.
Once the third meeting with Tarver was over, Jones appeared to be delighted that he was able to go the distance without being stopped. Jones did not appear like a fighter willing to move forward with his career. He appeared like a fighter ready for retirement.
Ajamu is taking no chance with Jones, he thinks Jones is going to show up in the best shape of his career and fully prepared to win. As noted earlier, Ajamu was one of those fighters who witnessed Jones being knocked out by Tarver and Johnson, and plans to further exploit the suspect chin of RJ by taking the fight to the former five-time champion from the opening bell.
“I’m coming to fight, coming to win. I’m preparing to fight the Roy Jones who defeated Bernard Hopkins, James Toney and knocked out Montell Griffin in one round. Roy is a man who is caught up in his goals”, says the Prince.
Why come back? Jones has plenty of money and has personally stated that he is financially set for life. He accomplished plenty of feats in his career to seal the deal on landing in the hall of fame. Jones is only one of two fighters in boxing history to begin his career as a middleweight and win the heavyweight championship of the world.
Not even Ajamu thinks Jones can gain anything by beating him when considering everything Jones has done in his career. What Ajamu does think is that Jones is battling with his inner demons, his pride, to prove that he is still a great fighter.
Ajamu is no dummy, he knows Jones agreed to fight him because he appears to be a safe return opponent, but like Glen Johnson - Ajamu wants to prove that there is no such thing as safe when a hungry opponent is on the other end.
“He is a desperate man on the rebound, chasing his demons, and he mistakenly thinks his fight against me is an opportunity to conquer his demons. Saturday night he will find out that I’m hungry, determined and dedicated. I’m on top of my game and his best days are behind him,” said Ajamu.
If Jones wins, so what. If Jones is defeated, his legacy takes another hit. The only thing that can make a man return in this type of situation is pride. Pride made Jones rematch Tarver. Pride made Jones fight Tarver a third time. And pride is making Jones fight Ajamu.
The one thing in common with most fighters who insist on multiple returns to the ring in order to satisfy their pride, is in the end - battered pride is all they have left.