Roy, It's Time to Go!

One day, you wake up and you're old. It's not a slow progression. It's an overnight phenomenon. And after a single right hand to the temple, it's all over. Let me start by telling the world two things: 1) Roy Jones, Jr. is my favorite fighter of all time, bar none, and 2) the Jones-Ruiz fight is what gave me the motivation to launch InsideFighting. With that said… Roy, it’s time for you to walk away from the sport. Tonight, a B-level prizefighter knocked out the greatest boxer of this generation in brutal fashion. He didn’t stop him with a TKO. He didn’t knock him down and have Roy struggle to beat the count. No. Glengoffe Johnson, the IBF champion, knocked Roy Jones, Jr. the f*ck out tonight. Watching Jones get knocked out made me afraid for the first time since Nigel Benn knocked out Gerald McClellan as Jones stayed motionless on the canvas with his eyes closed for several minutes after the fateful blow. In all honesty, I feared for Roy Jones' health. Watching him on the canvas motionless was the saddest moment of my career in the fight business. From the opening bell, Glen was all over Roy. He came out pressuring Jones with volume punching just like the entire world predicted, but Jones simply had no answer. Roy Jones responded to the pressure by backing up into the ropes, covering up and eating punches. At the time of the stoppage, I had Jones down 7-2, and that was a GENEROUS score. In reality, he was probably down 8-1. For whatever reason, Roy simply refused to fight back in the face of unyielding pressure by the champion. It’s not secret that a boxer walks a fine line after a brutal knockout. You never know how he will react in his next fight. Teddy Atlas said it best when he said that many fighters get gun shy after a knockout as they keep waiting for that big punch to land. Great fighters don’t become gun shy. Roy Jones did. Does that ruin his legacy? Thirty minutes after the most shocking knockout in the last 20 years I simply cannot answer that question. Nevertheless, boxing is no longer a sport to the great Jones, Jr. It’s a job. When the sport becomes a job, it’s time to walk away. Five years ago, Jones would have toyed with Glen Johnson for a few rounds before stopping him. Today, Johnson came out and treated Roy like a sparring partner and beat the hell out of him from the opening bell. It was not the changing of the guard, because Glen Johnson has no chance against Antonio Tarver. It was the end of an era. Roy Jones, Jr. is done as an elite level boxer. If he decides to fight Tarver or any aggressive heavyweight alive (no, John Ruiz would get beat to death again), he will get knocked out again. Can he beat Bernard Hopkins? Hell, I’m not sure. The passive Roy who refused to fight can’t beat Erik Morales. The aggressive Roy who fought Tarver in the first round beats Hopkins, Johnson or anyone else not named Tarver. But I honestly don't ever want to find out if that Roy exists anymore. This is not the time to clown or criticize Jones. This is a time to remember a great champion who fought a few fights too many. It happened to Muhammad Ali. It happened to Sugar Ray Robinson. It happened to Harry Greb. It happened to Benny Leonard. And it happened to Roy Jones, Jr. Tonight, we saw the end of an era. We saw the end of the greatest boxer of the last 40 years. Let’s celebrate his great career, rather than focusing on his recent fall. However, Roy Jones, Jr. should never walk into a boxing ring again. Alton Merkerson, Roy Jones, Sr. and Derek Gainer if you love Roy, please tell him to stop. http://insidefighting.com/betweenRoundsDisp.aspx?uid=937 Great acticle.