Roy Jones jr: Triumph and Downfall, Physical gifts or Skills?

[THE REED]

ok but roy has been shot for a couple of years now...when is he gonna let it go, step to the side and let the young bucks take over the sport...its always good business when you can still put a few butts in the seats, but the jones antics combined with the talent made him in his prime.....he is nothing more than a sideshow right now...

His fans will still pay to watch him fight as long as he continues. If he's a sideshow to everyone else, it doesn't matter... don't worry about him, forget about him. But his fans will still support him as long as he continues, and he knows that.

I don't know how long he will continue, I am not Roy.

[THE REED]

Come fight night Jones would walk into the ring at 187 lbs (when fighting as a lhw), so its 203-187 lbs=16 lbs. But apart from that, good post.

That still doesn't mean he didn't have to get down to 175lbs.

Fight night weight, doesn't mean you still don't have to make weigh-in weight.

[paul750]

He went a long time without getting hurt. Most people, skillful or not, get tagged when they face quality fighters. I'll have to go though all of his fights to make a better judgement, but he was surely hit a few times on the whiskers before the defeats? The fact he went up in weight and then moved back down again does give us one explanation as to why his downfall started, besides the possible explanation that he never had a chin in the first place.

[THE REED]

He went a long time without getting hurt. Most people, skillful or not, get tagged when they face quality fighters. I'll have to go though all of his fights to make a better judgement, but he was surely hit a few times on the whiskers before the defeats? The fact he went up in weight and then moved back down again does give us one explanation as to why his downfall started, besides the possible explanation that he never had a chin in the first place.

He had a chin... he took flush right hands from a heavyweight.

[Silencers]

He obviously learned the basics, (hook, jab, uppercut) every boxer does. The problem was the reliance on twitchy reflexes instead of honing defensive skills like the shoulder role etc...

Also fighting a tactical fight was out of the picture in his prime because Jones jr. knew that his talent could be used to the full potential in every fight(hands behind back knock out), rather than being suppresed by aplying technical skills in the ring.

His lack of skill set really showed up when he fought tarver for the first time. The reason for this is his reflexes, legs and power had already diminished after the 20 Ib weight loss. Now the debate here is whether the muslcle loss caused the decline in natural talent.

A good comparison would be to floyd mayweather jr. We know they both have talent, but look where floyd mayweather jr. is in 2009 and compare this where Jones jr. is in 2009.

No he didn't, throwing punches of course are things you learn when you pick up the sport but Jones doesn't throw basic, textbook shots. The way he throws his uppercuts and hooks is reliant on his speed, you rarely see other fights throw them the way he does.

And I disagree that he didn't know how to fight a tactical fight, Jones is actually one of the smarter fighters I've seen in the ring even though he wasn't smart enough to learn the basics or when to call it a day. But when he got into the ring, he knew what to do to win a fight tactically, especially evidenced when he fought Ruiz and how he adjusted to Griffin during their first fight, it showed that he could adapt during a fight.

Again, Jones never lacked skills, his skills were revolved around his physical assets so that when they went he wasn't nearly as effective obviously. And losing the 20 pounds only accelerated his decline, similarly to how it accelerated DLH's decline when he made 145 against Pacquiao.

That's not really a good comparison, Jones turned pro in 1989, Mayweather in 1996. Let's see where Mayweather is in say 2016, if he's still fighting by then.

[Adamantium]

honestly i think he should just hang 'em up...whats one more fight with green gonna prove at this point...i can see if he was fighting supermiddles, but jones don't have no business fighting cruisers or top lightheavys...

Djtmal I'm afraid I have to say you may be a bit past prime as a poster, there is no Hopkins hate in the above post.

[THE REED]

Then it has to be the musle loss that caused it. Also here are some intresting quotes from Jones jr:

MF: "You were the first middleweight champ in over 100 years to win the heavyweight belt. Was it hard to change your body for that fight?"

Jones Jr.: "It really wasn't hard at all. I have good eating habits. I worked hard, the good part it was so easy. I did it the right way. Losing it was a problem that I didn't think I'd have. My back was having a hard time because it wasn't used to carrying that much weight. So I had a really hard time, even during the fight. After round seven I knew my back was going to give mea problem, and it did. It was a heck of a transformation to gain 25 pounds of muscle in six weeks was very difficult."


MF: "What changed? Did you figure something out?"

Jones Jr.: "I figured out that I had to let my body make a real adjustment. 25 lbs of muscle was a lot to lose. That's a lot of pressure to put on my body at 36 years old. I also feel like I wasn't having a good time, I was doing work. That's not what I was blessed to do. I was blessed to do it to have a good time. I'm the kind of guy who's blessed to go in the ring and put my hands behind my back if I want to, do whatever I want to do. That was part of me entertaining the crowd. That's what I was blessed to do. I wasn't blessed to fight with my hands up."


MF: "You are a little older now. Your assessment of your own skills — how have things changed?"

Jones Jr.: "Power is not as sharp as it used to be. I've become more economical, so I only throw power shoots where I need them and when I need them. Speed is about the same. Reflexes are a little bit different. You don't see as much coming as you used to see, or as quick as you used to see it, but I'm not sure if that's reflexes or the fact that I'm just not having fun anymore. So I'll see. I have to find that out shortly."

Still doesn't answer my question as to why you are comparing a 32 yr old prime Floyd to a 41 yr old Roy?

[Squirrel]

****, forgot about that part, take into account the dude was 36 years old at the time of losing all that mass. Ouch.


edit: ree****yaluss, I love that picture of Bradley in your sig.

[D33Pwaters]

No he didn't, throwing punches of course are things you learn when you pick up the sport but Jones doesn't throw basic, textbook shots. The way he throws his uppercuts and hooks is reliant on his speed, you rarely see other fights throw them the way he does.

And I disagree that he didn't know how to fight a tactical fight, Jones is actually one of the smarter fighters I've seen in the ring even though he wasn't smart enough to learn the basics or when to call it a day. But when he got into the ring, he knew what to do to win a fight tactically, especially evidenced when he fought Ruiz and how he adjusted to Griffin during their first fight, it showed that he could adapt during a fight.

Again, Jones never lacked skills, his skills were revolved around his physical assets so that when they went he wasn't nearly as effective obviously. And losing the 20 pounds only accelerated his decline, similarly to how it accelerated DLH's decline when he made 145 against Pacquiao.

That's not really a good comparison, Jones turned pro in 1989, Mayweather in 1996. Let's see where Mayweather is in say 2016, if he's still fighting by then.

you said that the 20 Ib muscle loss accelerated his decline, but what started it then? it coudn't have been any factor before the Ruiz fight because he was in top shape.

[IMDAZED]

you said that the 20 Ib muscle loss accelerated his decline, but what started it then? it coudn't have been any factor before the Ruiz fight because he was in top shape.

Age started it.