People make Roy seem...

[jack_the_rippuh]

...more shot than he really was going into the 2nd Antonio Tarver fight.
Nothing any one of you say can change my mind.
I don't give a ****...that's my opinion.

The muscle loss thing, I kind of believe, but let's stop making less of Tarver's brutal knockout on Roy Jones Jr.

People always talk about somebody being finished after they lose or have a close fight they should've dominated in. I admit, I'm even guilty for doing that sometimes...but Roy wasn't as shot as some people think.

If Roy Jones Jr. wins his next fight in an impressive fashion, you can bet mother****ers are going to be making threads asking, "Was Roy really shot?"

[phallus]

jack, i do believe u're right, watching the 3rd jones - tarver fight, i don't believe roy is as shot as everybody says. he still has mad skillz, he had no trouble hitting tarver when he chose to throw punches. if roy would have thrown caution to the wind like he should have and let his hands go, he would have knocked bubble gum lips the **** out



but iron mic tython, on the other hand, he is shot

[Bozo_no no]

His body, his speeed and his reflexes were never the same after losing that weight to come back down from Heavy.

Tarver deserves a lot of credit for making that win happen and for making it as dramatic as it was, but suggesting it would have been the same accomplishment as it would have beeen had Tarver faced and done that to Roy in 2002 is a different story.

He will always be thought to have beaten a faded Roy.

[jack_the_rippuh]

His body, his speeed and his reflexes were never the same after losing that weight to come back down from Heavy.

Tarver deserves a lot of credit for making that win happen and for making it as dramatic as it was, but suggesting it would have been the same accomplishment as it would have beeen had Tarver faced and done that to Roy in 2002 is a different story.

He will always be thought to have beaten a faded Roy.

Yeah but Roy was no where near as shot as Leonard was is the Norris fight or Ali was in the Holmes fight. He slowed down, yes, but he wasn't shot.
That's how I see it.

[sisforshaq]

I think Roy could have won that third fight vs Tarver if he threw more. He fought scared and lost.

[Bozo_no no]

Yeah but Roy was no where near as shot as Leonard was is the Norris fight or Ali was in the Holmes fight. He slowed down, yes, but he wasn't shot.
That's how I see it.

That's something completly subjective, and something no one can guess at.

One thing that all of those fighters have in common was how they relied on reflex in thier prime, and how they faded much quicker than other great fighters as they entered their mid to late 30's.

Guys who relied their whole career on using reflex to pull thier heads a half inch away from oncoming shots tend to be less effective as they age.

Roy is just another example.

Archie Moore, James Toney and Bernard Hopkins are examples of guys who could be effective at 40.

Ali, Leonard and Jones are not.

[Truth]

I think Roy could have won that third fight vs Tarver if he threw more. He fought scared and lost.

Co-sign. He was gun shy because of what Tarver did to him in the 2nd fight.

[.::EnRiQuE::.]

I think Roy could have won that third fight vs Tarver if he threw more. He fought scared and lost.

same here. roy still has the tools to be champ, but the idea of bring KO'd 2 times in a row will always lurk in the back of his mind when he fights

[jack_the_rippuh]

So would all of you say Roy lacks the heart or was he just a cautious fighter and is now even moreso cautious after being KO'd?
I think it's a little bit of both. I mean, he obviously was always a cautious fighter and was more than comfortable with the fight going to the cards instead of taking KOs when they were there, but in the third Tarver fight he showed competitiveness at times (in a way that suggests he isn't shot), but on the negative side, he showed a gunshy side that made him look like a coward.

[Left2body]

Yeah but Roy was no where near as shot as Leonard was is the Norris fight or Ali was in the Holmes fight. He slowed down, yes, but he wasn't shot.
That's how I see it.

Yes, Roy still had very good reflexes and speed but Roy lost that super speed and reflexes he had earlier in his career especially before moving to heavyweight.

Roy doesn't really matchup with those comparisons. The reason is because Roy wasn't a technical fighter. His style was original and unorthodox and totally based on his reflexes. Once Roy lost those tools he couldn't use his style was virtually useless and Roy didn't have the technical abilities to fall back on that like Ali, Leonard, Hopkins or even James Toney.

All those guys were able to beat opponents earlier in there career based on pure physical talent but they had technical abilites that allowed them to win later in there career.

A modern equivalent would be Jermaine Taylor who has been able to beat opponents with great physical talents but limited technical ability. Taylors true legacy will be cemented later in his career when he has/or hasn't evolved into a technical fighter that can defeat the younger stronger opponents that he will face in the twilight of his career.

So for Roy and his style, YES he was a shot fighter.