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Let's rewind to March 2003 for a moment. John Ruiz, coming off of three tough (and VERY ugly) fights with Evander Holyfield, and having appeared to have been the benefactor of a bad decision against Holyfield in the 3rd of those contests, was the reigning WBA heavyweight champion and was set to fight Superman: Roy Jones, the #1 P4P fighter in the world who had dominated the LHW division for so many years.
What happened was not a complete surprise to boxing experts and knowledgeable fans, although plenty of people suggested Ruiz would be too big and strong. Roy Jones beat Ruiz so easily that it appeared he wouldn't have done much worse if you had blind-folded him and tied a hand behind his back. Suddenly, particularly for those fans who hated Lennox Lewis personally or his cautious style, a savior of boxing’s glamour division had arrived.
If Jones had been able to handle Ruiz so easily, then surely Chris Byrd (another so-called “former middleweight") would not be a challenge to the faster and possibly more powerful Jones. With a win over Byrd, Jones would unify 2/3 of the fractured heavyweight title and only THE man -- the aging lineal champ, Lennox Lewis -- would stand in his way. This had the potentional to be a truly great moment in the history of boxing.
However, it was not the first time boxing fans had been treated to something so special. In 1950, the great light-heavyweight and former "middleweight" Ezzard Charles, who like Jones held a piece of the heavyweight title (he had taken the National Boxing Association World Heavyweight Title from Jersey Joe Walcott in '49 and defended it three times) challenged another aging lineal champion, Joe Louis.
Ezzard Charles made history by beating Louis, became the lineal champion and went on to defend that title 4 times, cleaning the pretenders out before finally losing his title in a grueling 15 round division to Walcott in 1952. Charles never regained the lineal crown, later losing again in a rematch with Walcott and losing twice to Rocky Marciano, but for two years he ruled the boxing world.
However, unlike Charles, Jones didn't care for the sport that had brought him fame and riches. He didn't care about the fans and he didn't care about establishing a legacy that would place him among the all-time great light-heavyweights like Charles and Spinks, who rose from the lighter divisions to capture the ultimate prize in sports.
No, as usual, Jones cared only about himself and immediately told the boxing public that if they wanted to see him fight another HW champion they would have to pay dearly. He demanded the ridiculous sum of $100 million to fight Lennox Lewis. He avoided a unification bout with Byrd, and finally in the ultimate "**** you" to his fans he threw away his WBA heavyweight title and went back to LHW where he felt safe.
As a direct result of Jones's betrayal of the fans and the sport of boxing, John Ruiz -- whose fights are more unpleasant to watch than anything else seen in the last 50 years of boxing -- regained the WBA title. Chris Byrd, who Jones should have faced, went on to defend his title against weak opposition like Fres Oquendo, Andrew Golota and Jameel McCline, earning two hotly disputed decisions and a draw. And of course the lineal champion, 39 year old Lennox Lewis, faded into retirement after a tough fight with Vitali Klitchko that convinced him his old body just couldn't take the punishment anymore.
Instead of having Jones step into Lewis's place and establish some unity in the division much like Charles had done over 50 years ago to hold things together until a new great champion like Marciano could come along, the glamour division of boxing has fallen into complete disarray.
And like many other things that are wrong in boxing today, it can all be traced back to Roid Jones Jr. Food for thought.
What happened was not a complete surprise to boxing experts and knowledgeable fans, although plenty of people suggested Ruiz would be too big and strong. Roy Jones beat Ruiz so easily that it appeared he wouldn't have done much worse if you had blind-folded him and tied a hand behind his back. Suddenly, particularly for those fans who hated Lennox Lewis personally or his cautious style, a savior of boxing’s glamour division had arrived.
If Jones had been able to handle Ruiz so easily, then surely Chris Byrd (another so-called “former middleweight") would not be a challenge to the faster and possibly more powerful Jones. With a win over Byrd, Jones would unify 2/3 of the fractured heavyweight title and only THE man -- the aging lineal champ, Lennox Lewis -- would stand in his way. This had the potentional to be a truly great moment in the history of boxing.
However, it was not the first time boxing fans had been treated to something so special. In 1950, the great light-heavyweight and former "middleweight" Ezzard Charles, who like Jones held a piece of the heavyweight title (he had taken the National Boxing Association World Heavyweight Title from Jersey Joe Walcott in '49 and defended it three times) challenged another aging lineal champion, Joe Louis.
Ezzard Charles made history by beating Louis, became the lineal champion and went on to defend that title 4 times, cleaning the pretenders out before finally losing his title in a grueling 15 round division to Walcott in 1952. Charles never regained the lineal crown, later losing again in a rematch with Walcott and losing twice to Rocky Marciano, but for two years he ruled the boxing world.
However, unlike Charles, Jones didn't care for the sport that had brought him fame and riches. He didn't care about the fans and he didn't care about establishing a legacy that would place him among the all-time great light-heavyweights like Charles and Spinks, who rose from the lighter divisions to capture the ultimate prize in sports.
No, as usual, Jones cared only about himself and immediately told the boxing public that if they wanted to see him fight another HW champion they would have to pay dearly. He demanded the ridiculous sum of $100 million to fight Lennox Lewis. He avoided a unification bout with Byrd, and finally in the ultimate "**** you" to his fans he threw away his WBA heavyweight title and went back to LHW where he felt safe.
As a direct result of Jones's betrayal of the fans and the sport of boxing, John Ruiz -- whose fights are more unpleasant to watch than anything else seen in the last 50 years of boxing -- regained the WBA title. Chris Byrd, who Jones should have faced, went on to defend his title against weak opposition like Fres Oquendo, Andrew Golota and Jameel McCline, earning two hotly disputed decisions and a draw. And of course the lineal champion, 39 year old Lennox Lewis, faded into retirement after a tough fight with Vitali Klitchko that convinced him his old body just couldn't take the punishment anymore.
Instead of having Jones step into Lewis's place and establish some unity in the division much like Charles had done over 50 years ago to hold things together until a new great champion like Marciano could come along, the glamour division of boxing has fallen into complete disarray.
And like many other things that are wrong in boxing today, it can all be traced back to Roid Jones Jr. Food for thought.
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