By Mark Vester
Last November, we saw Roy Jones Jr. take the worst beating of his entire career when Joe Calzaghe dominated him for a better part of their twelve rounds at New York's Madison Square Garden. Minus a knockdown in the first round, Jones was outfought by a younger, quicker, slicker and more active opponent. Jones blames an inexperienced corner for the loss. He says there was one thing missing that would have helped beat Calzaghe - and that one thing was the corner knowledge of Roy Jones Sr.
"I have been asked if there was one thing that I wish I had that would have helped me win that fight. The problem with that fight was that I didn’t have enough “rooted” knowledge in my corner to help me win the fight that night. Not saying that Coach Merk wasn’t enough, but Coach Merk doesn’t really understand the way I was taught. I was taught totally different than everybody else. He was doing all he could but I need somebody else that knew how I could beat Calzaghe and that person would have been with me from day 1," Jones said.
Jones suffered a bad cut during the fight. It was the first time that Jones had to fight with a nasty gash above his eye. He claims the corner for the Calzaghe fight had no idea on a proper plan to win the fight once he suffered the cut. His dad, says Roy, would have found a way to win.
"My dad was with me from day 1 and a guy that knew what I needed to do to beat Calzaghe. I didn’t have the knowledge of my skills in my corner that I needed to get through that fight. Then I got the cut and I didn’t know I was going to have to go through something like that. I needed him to get me through that," Jones said.
Jones returns on August 15 against fellow Floridian and former champion Jeff Lacy.
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