What was the beginning of Roy Jones decline?

[JAB5239]

I was debating with some bozo a couple weeks ago and he was trying to tell me Jones was the same fighter he'd always been going into the second Tarver fight and only after getting knocked out did he start to slip, not physically but mentally. When and why in your opinion did Jones start declining into the fighter we see today?

Poll to come.

[B.U.R.N.E.R]

Fighting at 193 and 175 pounds in the same year. He lost a lot of pure muscle.

[SouthPawAngle]

His legs and stamiona were already begginning to go before going to HW. Roy usually walked around at 185-190, but he put on an extra 10, and then tried to sweat out 25 to make weight in the 1st Tarver fight. In that fight, he took a ton of clean punches that, while weight drained, ruined his punch resistance. Tarver caught him with a pearler of a shot in the 2nd fight, and that was all she wrote.

[Larry the boss]

Honestly,I think Tarver would always give Jones trouble like he did when they were kids and like he did when they were grown..and i also think that brutal ko had a huge effect on his mental cause he refused to really let his hands go after that

[bojangles1987]

It was obvious in the first Tarver fight that moving back down ruined him.

[Russian Crushin]

You can see in the first tarver fight, that is wasn't the same Roy

[JAB5239]

His legs and stamiona were already begginning to go before going to HW. Roy usually walked around at 185-190, but he put on an extra 10, and then tried to sweat out 25 to make weight in the 1st Tarver fight. In that fight, he took a ton of clean punches that, while weight drained, ruined his punch resistance. Tarver caught him with a pearler of a shot in the 2nd fight, and that was all she wrote.

He had slowed down some before Ruiz, that comes with age. But its after Ruiz it was very noticable. Like you said, he took a ton of clean shots in that fight, something he had never deone before. Good post!

[gmc_rfc_06]

The Ruiz fight is the last time we saw the real Roy Jones.

Losing that muscle killed his power, hurt his reflexes and basically ruined the athletic ability that made RJJ special.

[JAB5239]

The Ruiz fight is the last time we saw the real Roy Jones.

Losing that muscle killed his power, hurt his reflexes and basically ruined the athletic ability that made RJJ special.

Jones was far from average, but the average professional athlete retires by age 33 because they have in most cases physically declined. I think that is the same with Jones only it was magnified by the weight and muscle loss after Ruiz.

[JAB5239]

You can see in the first tarver fight, that is wasn't the same Roy

I said that too. Another poster insisted it was just mental though after getting ko'd in the second fight and had nothing to do with speed or reflexes being in decline.