Roy Jones Jr. Talks Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Johnson

[mistermartin]

And on another point, I wonder why Jones always mentions that he's the only fighter alive who's won the middle and heavyweight titles. He seems to ignore ...-as if he could or would-..... that he was also Supermiddle Champ, havong beaten Toney all over the ring to win it, and defended it about 5-6 tmes.

I suppose he's just emphasizing the weight difference (NOT differential) between the middle and heavy limits. For me, to beat Toney is a far bigger achievement than beating Hopkins, .............with one arm or both.

And he's also the only fighter alive who's won the Super-milldle and Heavyweight Crowns.

In thinking about it, for me, the only man who could clown around, be completely superior to his opponent, KO an opponent with a punch from behind his back, etc was Jack Johnson.

For example, if you look at the Ketchell fight, of which many accounts have said that Ketchell was well in the fight, you can see at least a couple of times, where Johnson hit Ketchell, and as Ketchell was going down, Johnson stepped in and clinched, actually holding him up, until his head cleared.........

That's all well & good for his star power...He's definitely the fastest fighter I've ever seen. But Just like he asked in the interview....what about his level of competition. The truth is Roy generally travelled the path of least resistence which is good. But the only problem w/ that is that he never developed a chin. & didn't know wutit was like to go to war. That's wut got his ass knocked the eff out. Bernard Hopkins has never been close to being beat up.... Glen Johnson almost took Roy's life.

[mistermartin]

And on another point, I wonder why Jones always mentions that he's the only fighter alive who's won the middle and heavyweight titles. He seems to ignore ...-as if he could or would-..... that he was also Supermiddle Champ, havong beaten Toney all over the ring to win it, and defended it about 5-6 tmes.

I suppose he's just emphasizing the weight difference (NOT differential) between the middle and heavy limits. For me, to beat Toney is a far bigger achievement than beating Hopkins, .............with one arm or both.

And he's also the only fighter alive who's won the Super-milldle and Heavyweight Crowns.

In thinking about it, for me, the only man who could clown around, be completely superior to his opponent, KO an opponent with a punch from behind his back, etc was Jack Johnson.

For example, if you look at the Ketchell fight, of which many accounts have said that Ketchell was well in the fight, you can see at least a couple of times, where Johnson hit Ketchell, and as Ketchell was going down, Johnson stepped in and clinched, actually holding him up, until his head cleared.........

Wut the hell do you call wut sweet pea...Ali...or Ray leonard did??

[edgarg]

Neither you or I know that Jones didn't or doesn't have a "chin" . He's been KO'd twice, in fairly quick succession, with no intervening fight. The first was clearly a lucky, once in a lifetime closed eyes wallop which Jones, with all his vaunted quickness and other speeds, neither expected nor saw. THAT could have happened to anyone, and frequently does.

The second was the result of, partly the first, and partly his overwheening ego which not only saw Johnson as a battle=weary, journeyman type of goodish fighter with an average record both in wins and KO's, but-doesn't-win-the-big-ones kind of guy. Anyone, even a Jones hater, could see that Jones was NOTprepared for this fight and spent all his time retreating to the ropes and just..."catching". It was obvious.

As a matter of fact, I believe that the sudden Tarver KO shattered Jones' self confidence permanently, and only AFTER the 3rd Tarver fight, where ge showed that he could go 12 rounds without being KO'd has he collected a sort of shattered and partially glued together kind of cautions confidence, but real;ising that, btilliant as he has always been, age is defeating him.

Just like Sugar Ray, I watched him for most of his career, and when he got close to age 40 he began having difficulties, and occasional losses, with opponents he'd have put awy in 2-3 rounds before age 35-6. His swan song was the "draw" with Fullmer when he was nearly 40. I, and most ringside observers and journalists scored it 11-4 for Sugar Ray. By now it will be obvious that I'm speaking of Robinson, not Leonard.

[edgarg]

Wut the hell do you call wut sweet pea...Ali...or Ray leonard did??

WUT WUT WUT or whatever that is. Jones wasn't either Ali nor Sweetpea-one was too big, the other too small, Leonard also.

People grow, mature, and age, at different rates, it has to do with their genetic and physiological makeup. The factors which allowed George Foreman to lose 9 rounds and suddenly produce a KO punch in the 10th to reclaim the Heavyweight Championship aren't passed around to everybody. I think...I say I THINK the last person who had this sort of attribute was Archie Moore in the Durelle fight, which fight incidentally I saw at the time.

[edgarg]

That's all well & good for his star power...He's definitely the fastest fighter I've ever seen. But Just like he asked in the interview....what about his level of competition. The truth is Roy generally travelled the path of least resistence which is good. But the only problem w/ that is that he never developed a chin. & didn't know wutit was like to go to war. That's wut got his ass knocked the eff out. Bernard Hopkins has never been close to being beat up.... Glen Johnson almost took Roy's life.

I just had a quick look at Boxrec. Between the Tarver KO and the Johnson fight, where he just stood around mostly, and took it, was 4 months. This was ridiculous even for a guy who HADN'T lost 25 lbs of muscle within the year.

[venerablefist]

dude, Jones and Hopkins have totally different styles. Jones relies on his superior physical talent to have a great run in his career. In his prime, he would probably beat every fighter put in front of him. If he had stopped fighting after winning the heavyweight title, he would be one of the greatest fighter alive. His mistake isnt about not learning the fundamentals cuz he didnt need to back then. His mistake was dropping 30lbs of muscles to fight Tarver. He was never the same after that.

it looks like he had to go back to them in his last couple of fights in his fight against tito he just showed the world why they should hate him with his showboating,and why do people always talk about him *****g his hands behind his back and knocking somebody out thats purly disrespectful screaming please knock me out

[edgarg]

Do you actually believe that or are you around to get a rise out of people? If Roy told you the sky was green you would believe it. How was the Tarver that beat Roy light years ahead of the one Hopkins beat when it was only 8 months later numb nuts? Was the Pavlik that KO'D Taylor light years ahead of the one Hopkins beat to?

It's not neccessary to be rude or vulgar to make your point, especially to me, as I'm not the fool you seem to think. I was referring to the second fight where Jones was KO'd, which was over 2 years previously, and it was obvious, even though the KO was a lucky punch, that Jones hadn't recovered from the muscle loss, nor the blood and guts win just 6 months before. In fact the Tarver in THAT fight, was, until the last few rounds, the best Tarver I've ever seen, and Jones' decline could easily be dated from THAT fight.

In that fight you could see Jones "sucking it up" in a way seldom seen. The last time I saw a similiar thing was wiothMarquez in the first Manny P fight.

[edgarg]

Do you actually believe that or are you around to get a rise out of people? If Roy told you the sky was green you would believe it. How was the Tarver that beat Roy light years ahead of the one Hopkins beat when it was only 8 months later numb nuts? Was the Pavlik that KO'D Taylor light years ahead of the one Hopkins beat to?

As far as there being a green sky, that's happened too, but I'm not going to bother telling you about it. Whatever I think of Jones, I'm not alone. It's recognised by a many boxing experts, that he's either the greatest boxer ever, or one of the top 5. There was a huge discussion about boxing's very best, after he won the Heavyweight Title from Ruiz.

You might find Hopkins somewhere in the top 100....maybe, but when you think of juist the middleweights who'd eat him for breakfast.......?? Whadda ya think a prime Tony Zale would do to him, or Cerdan, or Freddie Steele, or Monzon or or or .....almost ad infinitum

I don't want to mention Sugar Ray Robinson in the same breath.

[Sin City]

I sense some sour g****s coming from Roy against Hopkins. He's still mad that Hopkins beat Tarver easy. Roy has more xcuses then anyone by the way. I hope you don't really believe that one arm thing.

That is silly.. why would he have sour g****s over someone he beat?
Makes no sense.

[edgarg]

it looks like he had to go back to them in his last couple of fights in his fight against tito he just showed the world why they should hate him with his showboating,and why do people always talk about him *****g his hands behind his back and knocking somebody out thats purly disrespectful screaming please knock me out

The sort of thing you're complaining about as being disrespectful, is fascinating to most, I do believe. In his interview, printed today on BoxingScene, he explains clearly what it, and his style, abnd his ring actions are all about.....and THAT'S entertainment for the fans, the audience that pays him multimillions..


You can't argue with that. He's first a businessman, like all boxers with common-sense.