RJJ Downfall

During the rematch with Tarver those opening rounds, Jones was incredibly fast and sharp 'Tarver ended his career at the top'. When you are like superman, and get banged out like Jones was? 'This has a psychological affect upon you'. Jones was in great shape for years after his defeat to Tarver, but he was not the same fighter psychologically. Tarver ended his career at the top.

I still don't believe all the talk about "going back down." he went from 193 to 175 (CW was 190 at the time) which is less than 20lbs. Most LHW's step into the ring around 195 on fight night. Not to mention that Jones/Tarver 1 Tarver was heavier. I was talking to Tarver about a month ago when I watched that fight, sent him the graphic of the official and unofficial weights and he straight up said "I knew that weight excuse was bull****" hahaha. I'll look for the graphic but It was something like RJJ 185 Tarver 189 and you can't convince me that losing eight pounds is going to kill a fighter. As for your second point, that's why I believe that a Toney rematch would have been perfect. Neither were natural heavyweights. Instead Toney manned up and fought real heavies like Holyfield, Sam Peter and Rahman. Dude, forget the fight night weights and all that, use your eyes and look at his body and how the composition of it changed. Plus he lost muscle, not fat. That **** destroyed him, especially at that age.

Which fight did you guys start to notice RJJ falling apart? The Johnson fight is the obvious moment we all realized he was finished, but there were clues prior to that. First Tarver fight he lost on my cards. Thoughts? I think I saw signs of slippage against Woods. He dominated but I felt like his reflexes were starting to slow just slightly and his legs were leaving.

Eric Harding was the fight I noticed Jones was finally past his prime.

Yeah, that's how I always looked at it. Roy always had some glaring flaws that his athleticism would bail him out of. Once he got older, the fact that he had average fundamentals killed him. But he had plenty of longevity. It was only until recently where you have guys like Pacquiao, Floyd, Bhop etc that were still great in their late 30s and in the case of Pacquiao/BHop, in their 40s. I wouldn't really say glaring flaws, that was just his style. His father built his style that took advantage of his supreme athleticism. Roy's IQ was still top notch.

Honestly, dude was 35 years old while being a professional for 15 years before he got knocked out by Tarver and started to severely decline. That's actually par for course for most fighters. I didn't think he looked great against Harding and had some less than superman type of performances after that. Did have a nice performance against Woods before he fought Ruiz but don't think he was the same fighter anymore at that point. Yeah, that's how I always looked at it. Roy always had some glaring flaws that his athleticism would bail him out of. Once he got older, the fact that he had average fundamentals killed him.

Just rewatched the Johnson fight for the first time in over a decade. I had completely forgotten how one sided it was.

Honestly, dude was 35 years old while being a professional for 15 years before he got knocked out by Tarver and started to severely decline. That's actually par for course for most fighters. I didn't think he looked great against Harding and had some less than superman type of performances after that. Did have a nice performance against Woods before he fought Ruiz but don't think he was the same fighter anymore at that point.

His downfall was playing around with weight, it caught up.

I still don't believe all the talk about "going back down." he went from 193 to 175 (CW was 190 at the time) which is less than 20lbs. Most LHW's step into the ring around 195 on fight night. Not to mention that Jones/Tarver 1 Tarver was heavier. I was talking to Tarver about a month ago when I watched that fight, sent him the graphic of the official and unofficial weights and he straight up said "I knew that weight excuse was bull****" hahaha. I'll look for the graphic but It was something like RJJ 185 Tarver 189 and you can't convince me that losing eight pounds is going to kill a fighter. I dunno....I feel this is why HW's don't make it down to the next div. I know they have a lot more weight to lose than a guy like RJJ. And it's not as if RJJ went life and death. To me, it's the fight where I can point to and say, the end is near.

Going back down did him in and we all know he didn't plan on staying a HW. An easy win but wasn't worth it. I still don't believe all the talk about "going back down." he went from 193 to 175 (CW was 190 at the time) which is less than 20lbs. Most LHW's step into the ring around 195 on fight night. Not to mention that Jones/Tarver 1 Tarver was heavier. I was talking to Tarver about a month ago when I watched that fight, sent him the graphic of the official and unofficial weights and he straight up said "I knew that weight excuse was bull****" hahaha. I'll look for the graphic but It was something like RJJ 185 Tarver 189 and you can't convince me that losing eight pounds is going to kill a fighter. As for your second point, that's why I believe that a Toney rematch would have been perfect. Neither were natural heavyweights. Instead Toney manned up and fought real heavies like Holyfield, Sam Peter and Rahman.

Awful fight, but I really feel like he needed to defend that WBA strap against HW James Toney. Going back down did him in and we all know he didn't plan on staying a HW. An easy win but wasn't worth it.

John Ruiz..... Awful fight, but I really feel like he needed to defend that WBA strap against HW James Toney.

John Ruiz.....