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Cool story, bro. You're 45 though.
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Even RJJ doesn't believe what he's saying. Sigh...Roy should have retired a decade ago. He's gonna get hurt out there. If only he had invested his money better, then he wouldn't be still risking his neck & legacy for crumbs.Comment
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That's a good point and I also agree with your original statement. Whilst he was unorthodox he had a fantastic grasp of the fundamentals. Without it he wouldn't have beaten fighters like Toney and Hopkins and dominated pretty sound technicians like Otis Grant.
The point comes into focus if you make the contrast with Naseem Hamed. Another highly unorthodox and very entertaining fighter, but one that sadly hadn't done the groundwork, as Kevin Kelly highlighted and Barrera clearly demonstrated.Comment
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Hopkins had slowed up alot, moved to a weight class he had never been to, and turned tarver into a sparring partner,, roy had 3 chances at that and never looked good in any of those fights,,
And i you watch the first montel fight, you can see montel bother him with the double jab,
And he may have been "fundamentally" sound as an amateur but he veered away from it in the pro game, and i dont think he is fundamentally sound to compete at the high level of the pro game....
And you can be unorthodox and not have a good fundamental background, prince naz was a great fighter, but had no clue about the fundamentals
i honestly cant pick out one roy fight in his entire career where he used fundamentals, or relied on them,, once his reflexes were gone, he was screwed, that is why a guy like hopkins or duran can fight at a high level for a very long time, and roy is getting brutally ko'd by much lesser fighters like tarver, glen johnson, green, lebedev,,,
Roy looks horrible in the ring now, and he still has his amazing handspeed, just not the reflexes,, if roy had a great fundamental approach to his game since he started going downhill, he would still be able to compete on the high end level like hopkins and duran, but sadly, he just moves around the ring, gradually backs himself into a corner, and tries to land a perfect counter,, thats not really fundamental to me IMOComment
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To be honest I feel sorry for Roy Jones Jr. and any boxer who has a hard time giving up the sport. I don't think people realise how difficult it would be to part ways with something you've been doing for close to 4 decades. It'd be akin to telling an artist he can no longer paint, or a musician he can no longer perform. It's more than just money, the sport is something he is passionate about.Comment
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No doubt that roy has a firm grasp on the fundamentals but its an entirely different thing to perform them at the pro level...
Roy didnt beat toney, hopkins, grant by being fundamentally sound, he beat them on amazing handspeed, reflexes, and athletic ability, and once he aged, he didnt have the fundamental habits to fall back on, whence he was getting beat up by tarver 3 times, ko'd by glen, green, lebedev, bloodied and embarrassed by calzaghe, and totally outboxed by hopkins in the rematch..
Once his athletic abilty and reflexes left him, he was just a shelf of himself, and he was younger than floyd is now, and younger than when hopkins beat tito,,,
Floyd and hopkins have slowed alot, yet they still are able to perform at a top level because of a sound fundamental basis, whereas roy, def understands the nuances of the game, i dont think he can perform them at the top level, whence he he never had another meaningful win since he was 34
Just look at how manny dealt with rios. Manny has amazing handspeed still but his chin is slightly cracked, yet he was able to box circles around rios, whereas roy i think would just back in to the ropes and look to counter and a guy like rios would have destroyed royComment
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im tired of hearing everyone say how sorry the feel for boxers who cant let it go if they want to fight they will fight. Though i will admit its sad when fighters dont want to fight but have to for money and what notComment
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Can someone just please give him a shiny belt with an oversize buckle so he can go sit quietly by the window? We're tryin' to read real boxing news over here.
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I'm not even 44 I can tell RJJ that thing about being 44 years old is that one day you could have a good work out, get the euphoria going and feel like your 27-28 for a few hours and then the next day you feel like your 60
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Fundamentally I believe that it takes more than reflexes to stop world class boxers from closing the distance and landing their shots consistently. You need to subtly and constantly manipulate the amount of space between you and your opponent. That isn't solely about reflexes, it's a fundamental skill set. Hamed couldn't do that against class opposition, because as you said he didn't have a grasp of the fundamentals.
Plenty of fundamentally sound fighters deteriorated pretty quickly once they were shot. Mayweather and Hopkins have never bulked their bodies up far beyond it's natural size and then dropped the weight back off. A better example would be Chad Dawson who seems to have suffered a similar fate to Roy. He's a very sound boxer, you could even say textbook.
What also comes to my mind when I think of Roy's style and what I see as his unwillingness rather than inability to adapt is that he is a very delusional man. To adapt to decline he would first have to admit to decline. He's just stated that he feels 27 years old and could go on fighting for another 25 years.Comment
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