Tarver Jones I

[Roger Mellie]

whatever the deal was with his weight loss,I think its plain to see that Roy just wasnt the same when he came back down.With the benefit of hindsight you could argue that the best thing he could have done was stay at heavy.

[Benny Leonard]

I think it was 15-20 pounds of muscle, nothing more. He was about 200 in the video that was behind the scenes. If he comes in at 180-185 pounds by fight time for his LH fights that is 15-20 pounds.

But it is muscle pounds so it is a pain of the ass to lose even if you have time to do it right. You are dieting differently to lose muscle than fat. Your energy supplies are **** when you lose this type of weight, which is why if you want to do it, you do it right; you take your time and take breaks. Hormones need to stay stable and changing your diet and over-training can really mess you up.

That's why Tarver and Chris Byrd both got messed up as well. With all three being in their mid 30's, forget it; they paid the price for ******ity. Hopkins was smart to never go back down to 160 to fight Pavlik; he made him come to him.

[Benny Leonard]

There was a MUCH better expanation to this. I read somewhere that it wasn't 8 months of trying to cut down it was MUCH less...can't remember where it was tough

It was much less from what I read as well. Roy was sitting on his weight after Ruiz. It wasn't until he decided to sign the contract that he decided he should start trimming down. Roy said he didn't think it would be that hard to lose the weight but he forgot one thing, and this is because he isn't a nutritionist, bodybuilder, etc; muscle weight doesn't come off like Fat.
It's like this: Start a fire and put a steak on that fire: see which part of the steak burns faster: the Meat or the Fat.

[Chr0nic]

I think it was 15-20 pounds of muscle, nothing more. He was about 200 in the video that was behind the scenes. If he comes in at 180-185 pounds by fight time for his LH fights that is 15-20 pounds.

But it is muscle pounds so it is a pain of the ass to lose even if you have time to do it right. You are dieting differently to lose muscle than fat. Your energy supplies are **** when you lose this type of weight, which is why if you want to do it, you do it right; you take your time and take breaks. Hormones need to stay stable and changing your diet and over-training can really mess you up.

That's why Tarver and Chris Byrd both got messed up as well. With all three being in their mid 30's, forget it; they paid the price for ******ity. Hopkins was smart to never go back down to 160 to fight Pavlik; he made him come to him.

tarver was most fat tho

[Chr0nic]

and yes dude, nice post, +k, after 24 hours

[Benny Leonard]

tarver was most fat tho

True, it looked like a mixture of Fat and Muscle which happens when you bulk up. Roy had the advantage of having Mackie at his side the whole time so the Fat wasn't being packed on; plus Roy's body has always been ripped all the way back to his youth, so his muscle type was always better.

Mackie wasn't there to take off the weight. Mackie knows how to pack on the weight more than take it off according to Roy. If it was Fat, it wouldn't have been a problem.

I think Tarver was over 200 pounds though so it's still a lot of weight to lose. Tarver was probably around 185-190 by fight time for his LH fights and I think I heard about 210+ for the Rocky movie. He did look like he had a bit of a belly though.


Roy and Chris were the most effected no question. It was sad to see both fighters go down like that, but I have to say, something about Chris being embarrassed like that was sad. I think Chris is a cool guy and have always given him respect for his HW career because of the huge size disadvantage and his willingness to fight anybody, which included Lennox who didn't want to fight him. And of course, Chris had some mad skill back in the day.

[Kris Silver]

I still think he shoulda taken a fight at CW after Ruiz. Down one division at a time over a longer period of time, he mighta not buggered his body quite so much. Plus then you have 5 weight champion, that woulda been unreal. I may be ignorant some of the circumstances at the time though, but what honestly was stopping him other then people just moaning for a Tarver fight?

[Mojita]

plain and simple now.

you lose 5 pounds of muscle, you'll feel some affect already. imagine another 5 more. then a couple after that. this isnt fat, this is muscle that makes your body perform better. 5 pounds sounds like a small number but its drastic, IMO Jones should never moved down till he was sitting back around 185.

[Benny Leonard]

plain and simple now.

you lose 5 pounds of muscle, you'll feel some affect already. imagine another 5 more. then a couple after that. this isnt fat, this is muscle that makes your body perform better. 5 pounds sounds like a small number but its drastic, IMO Jones should never moved down till he was sitting back around 185.

Which would have been when?

I remember Roy saying the weight was "on" and wasn't just coming off.

Usually if you bulk up beyond your frame the weight will naturally come off once you bring your diet back to your normal eating habits with simple training. But, with Roy, 200 pounds was still not over-doing it so until he started to diet and run, run, run, it didn't come off. I remember him saying in an interview that he was killing himself trying to bring his weight down and that he was running more than ever...but this was supposedly just going to make him hungry to get Tarver.

The fact is, I agree with the poster who said he should have just fought at CW if he were to fight.

Once you go up, don't come back down; especially not at that age.

Roy should have retired after Ruiz; it looked like he was going to, but Tarver shouted at him and Roy's ego got in the way.


I forget where I heard it, but somebody said they asked their Father one time when do you know your old, and the Father responded with something like, "When you lose your legs."

Well, Roy lost his legs...and so did Chris.

[Mojita]

Which would have been when?

I remember Roy saying the weight was "on" and wasn't just coming off.

Usually if you bulk up beyond your frame the weight will naturally come off once you bring your diet back to your normal eating habits with simple training. But, with Roy, 200 pounds was still not over-doing it so until he started to diet and run, run, run, it didn't come off. I remember him saying in an interview that he was killing himself trying to bring his weight down and that he was running more than ever...but this was supposedly just going to make him hungry to get Tarver.

The fact is, I agree with the poster who said he should have just fought at CW if he were to fight.

Once you go up, don't come back down; especially not at that age.

Roy should have retired after Ruiz; it looked like he was going to, but Tarver shouted at him and Roy's ego got in the way.


I forget where I heard it, but somebody said they asked their Father one time when do you know your old, and the Father responded with something like, "When you lose your legs."

Well, Roy lost his legs...and so did Chris.

yeah, i agree. he should have stayed at CW. but i think i heard somewhere where Jones said he didnt consider CW a real division. aww man Roy, roy, roy.