By Sammy Rozenberg
Who would have guessed that Boise, Idaho would play host to the ring return of Roy Jones? After a ten-month layoff, Jones (50-4, 38 KOs) won his first bout since he beat Antonio Tarver in November of 2003. Jones dominated the less experienced Ajamu (25-3-1, 14 KOs) on route to a unanimous decision before a pro-Jones crowd in the Qwest arena.
The bout started well for Ajamu, who backed Jones to the ropes and began to pound away with punches. After the first round was completed, Jones dominated the action with his jab, fast combinations and plenty of body punching.
The fight was dirty at times, both men were warned for using illegal tactics by the ref. Badi lost points for low blows in the seventh and eight rounds, coming very close to being disqualified.
Some had written Jones off after he dropped three fights in a row, but he still had more than enough to make the fight against Ajamu a mismatch. In the post-fight festivities, Jones called out Joe Calzaghe, Bernard Hopkins and other top fighters in the surrounding divisions.
The light heavyweight landscape has changed a lot in the last year. The one-time king of the light heavyweights, Antonio Tarver, is no longer looked upon as the single major threat within the weight class. After Tarver was dominated by the 41-year-old Bernard Hopkins, who was moving up two weight classes, his dominance at 175 pounds was destroyed, and there is no word if Tarver will continue to fight.
Glen Johnson is still a viable force, and set to meet IBF light heavyweight champion Clinton Woods on September 2 in Lancashire, England. They fought to a draw the first time, Johnson beat Woods in the rematch and Johnson is the early favorite to win the third meeting. Either of the two could be good opponent for Jones. Jones holds a dominating TKO win over Woods and Johnson knocked out Jones in 2004.
The revenge factor still exists with Johnson, but Jones has several flaws in his style that Johnson can easily exploit. Jones keeps his hands down very low when he backs up and he still lets fighters back him to the ropes to pound away with punches. The current style of Jones is made for a fighter like Johnson, who unlike Ajamu will not allow Jones to get away and has enough stamina to continue pounding on Jones of twelve rounds.
Some new faces begun to emerge at the weight and make names for themselves. WBO light heavyweight champion Zsolt Erdei (25-0, 15KOs) has proved to be a very good boxer, with decent punching power. A dominating victory over Thomas Ulrich has given him more credibility at the weight. Most of Erdei's fights have been held in Germany, which makes him unknown to the American market.
Tomasz Adamek (30-0, 21KOs), the WBC light heavyweight champion, from Poland, is another good fighter that most of the American public has never seen. He can box and he can fight. He will get some important exposure in the United States on the undercard of WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev's title defense against Monte Barrett in New York's Madison Square Garden, on October 7. Adamek is set to face Paul Briggs, another top player in the light heavyweight division, in a return bout. HBO is going to televise the Valuev-Barrett scrap and Adamek-Briggs is the current top runner for the televised co-feature.
The EBU light heavyweight champion Stipe Dews (31-1, 13KOs), has lone loss to Paul Briggs, but has picked up his career with 5 straight wins. Not very a marketable from a financial standpoint, which gives him little chance to fight Jones.
Undefeated prospect Chad Dawson (23-0, 15KOs) is the sole shining light for the United States in a division being conquered by European fighters. A recent win over Eric Harding, where he got off the deck to dominate the fight, gave him legit credibility among the top fighters of his class, but Jones is unlikely to put himself in position as a "coming out" opponent for the dangerous Dawson.
From a financial standpoint, the real money is at the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds. The only way money can be made at 175 pounds is if Jones plans to go overseas to fight any of the reigning European champions. In the past, Jones has stood his ground on never traveling across the ocean to fight, but enough money may change his mind at this point.
Joe Calzaghe, the recognized leader of the super middleweights could be persuaded to move to light heavyweight in order to make a fight with Jones and has called for a fight with Jones fight, notably after he beat Jeff Lacy in March.
Jones has said that he plans to take a few easy bouts to build himself up, and after a year he will take on a top opponent.
On the undercard
In a battle of cruiserweights, William Gutherie (34-3-2, 26KOs) stopped Luke Munsen (19-6, 13KOs) in four rounds.
Veteran fighter, "King" Arthur Williams (43-14-1, 29KOs) stopped Kenny Keene (53-4, 28KOs) in the tenth round, and may receive a shot at cruiserweight champion Virgil Hill with the win.
