Flashback...Roid Jones, Jr: The Nunn-Rocchigiani-WBC Scandal

[TeamElite]

Roid Jones, Jr: The Nunn-Rocchigiani-WBC Scandal

With what is now known, history will judge Roid Jones Jr harshly, and rightly so.

Given his natural talent and his claims of being the best boxer in the world for so long, his career was a huge, tedious disappointment which left more questions than answers - not to mention massive controversy.

As well as being a roided-up drugs cheat who harboured a Glass Jaw, Jones - enabled by his ridiculously soft HBO contracts - was the biggest cherrypicking ducker of his era who used any means necessary to blatantly avoid the best opposition, his favourite method being the excuse of having to service the "mandatory challengers" to his meaningless paper ABC straps instead...the majority of whom were a string of public service employees.

However, Roid wasn't opposed to even ducking his own ABC title challengers when he saw fit.

So let's remind ourselves, and educate any newcomers, of the depths that Jones and the governing bodies would sink to during Roid Jones' heyday. (It gets ugly);

Jones was truly ground-breaking when it came to ducking. In 1997 - in conjunction with the WBC - he began the most elaborate route of all-time to duck his top ranked title challengers.

In Jan '97 the soon-to-be #1 ranked WBC light-heavyweight challenger, resurgent Michael 'Second To' Nunn, was all but guaranteed a title shot, though the sceptical Nunn camp correctly predicted WBC title holder Roid Jones, Jr would duck him. (In Jun '96 Roid stated he'd already priced himself out of a title defence against Nunn at super-middleweight.);



However, no one expected the ridiculous level of corruption which would unfold...

The farcical Jones-Nunn negotiations that followed were essentially Roid's usual attempts to either duck or rip off his #1 challenger, and backfired with great embarrassment; Roid was dumb & arrogant enough to believe he could pull off his usual cr@p without resistance, yet his team of amateurs were completely out of their depth dealing with Dan Goosen; greedy Roid had offered Nunn the typical, disgusting 10% split of the fight purse, got told to F off, then was dumb enough to lose the purse bidding to the Nunn camp. Now not getting the full license fee and unable to just keep all the extra revenue for himself, and also publicly unhappy with Nunn getting his rightful 25% split as challenger, shameless Roid pathetically tried to BUY the fight off Nunn's promoters and was told to F off again.

Roid then spat his dummy out and began a revolutionary, highly innovative 3-step strategic maneuver to pull off the most outrageous and scandalous duck of his career.

So...

Step 1...Roid officially relinquishes his WBC title in Nov 1997 rather than give the #1 challenger his title shot for his rightful purse, then sat back and waited for the top 2 contenders, Michael Nunn & Graciano Rocchigiani, to box for the vacant title. In the meantime, Jones - now free of his mandatory title obligation - could continue his career exactly how he wanted; as a shameless cherrypicker, with Roid's next bout being a non-title affair against a carefully selected big-name, slightly past-prime opponent for a career-high payday.

The public excuse for relinquishing the title (i.e. the duck) was that if Roid took the fight it would violate his contract with HBO & its ppv arm, TVKO, as Nunn's promoters wanted to screen it on a competing ppv channel and Roid claimed he had 1 fight of his 3-fight contract remaining. This was a non-issue, as a contract of that nature would be illegal and would never hold up in court. It also makes no sense given Roid's aforementioned next bout, on HBO vs Virgil Hill, was apparently the first of a new golden HBO contract. In other words, Roid Jones is a liar.

Step 2...3 months after the new WBC champion Graciano Rocchigiani is crowned, Roid simply asks the governing body to just hand him back the title in Jun '98, 7 months after giving up the belt...which miraculously they did. (No one had ever been arrogant & brazen enough to even think to ask before Roid.)

When the next WBC rankings are released, Rocchigiani has inexplicably been demoted to "interim" champion. The WBC's explanation - that references to Nunn-Rocchigiani being a championship bout on all contracts and promotional material and then listing Rocchigiani as WBC champion in their rankings for the aforementioned 3 months were all simply "typographical errors" - was beyond laughable.

The WBC had instantly created a serious, embarrassing problem for themselves.

Predictably, Jones was reluctant to adhere to WBC policy in facing the "interim" champion to unify the WBC title, so Rocchigiani filed a lawsuit against M&M Sports and Square Ring, Inc. (Jones' handlers) due to Jones' refusal to fight him. As part of the settlement, Jones, had he failed to meet Rocchigiani, would have to surrender the WBC title and pay a penalty fee of $500k to Rocchigiani. (This dragged on for over a year.)

Step 3...When Jones' camp finally arranges a title fight to appear to be cleaning up the mess, it simply gets canceled by Jones' promoter using the first excuse available - however weak. Not very subtle but effective.

The excuse to call off the fight – that Roid's opponent had missed a press conference (yet had twice given assurance in writing that he was in training camp over in Germany and didn't want jetlag affecting his preparation) – was particularly bogus and hypocritical considering Jones regularly skipped press conferences himself and without explanation. But again that's the stupidity and arrogance of Roid Jones, Jr for you.

So as a bonus for Roid, with the #2 challenger defeating the #1 to become the new "interim" champion, Roid had actually managed TWO ducks in one go. A double-duck.

GENIUS.

Then there was the final, outrageous encore act of corruption; after initially threatening to strip Roid Jones in Nov 1999 if he didn't box new WBC "interim" champion Rocchigiani, the WBC - in an inexplicable U-turn - suddenly quit their attempt at damage control in trying to salvage the fight and scandalously erased Rocchigiani from their rankings altogether due to...wait for it...inactivity.

BIG MISTAKE.

Rocchigiani wasn't going to just disappear.

The blatant Double-duck was obviously illegal, unethical...and completely transparent, making it by far the dumbest duck in boxing history, and after the WBC dropped Rocchigiani he immediately filed a lawsuit against the corrupt governing body in Jan 2000.

Roid's shenanigans with ducking Nunn weren't quite over with just yet either; after Nunn defeated Glass Jawed Fraud Willian Guthrie (who Roid had also publicly ducked prior to Guthrie picking up Michalczewski's IBF title) in May 1999, Nunn was elevated to #1 in the WBC rankings again.

However, even after the WBC scandalously dropped Rocchigiani as interim champion at the end of that year, Nunn still wasn't any closer to a shot at Jones; instead he eventually was suspiciously matched into a "final eliminator" by the WBC as Tarver was by the IBF. By this time Nunn was seemingly giving up, and after numerous eliminator pull-outs in 00-01 due to injury & visa issues, Roid was finally free of Nunn.

Then in Feb 2001 the WBC was ordered to trial.

Fast forward to Apr 2003; Rocchigiani inevitably won the lawsuit in devastating fashion. The rulings of the federal judge were;

• Rocchigiani was restored as the WBC light-heavyweight champion from when he defeated Nunn in May 1998 until he lost to Dariusz Michalczewski in Apr 2000 - a fight which the true world light-heavyweight champion Michalczewski, not being a greedy cherrypicking ducking coward, had no problem accepting - further putting Roid to shame.

• 'Reluctant' Roid Jones was retrospectively stripped of his unlawfully acquired WBC strap from 1997-2000. Owned.

• The judge then blasted the WBC with an order to pay Rocchigiani a figure of $31 million in damages. Owned again.

It was only Rocchigiani's compassion that saved the WBC from bankruptcy when he agreed to an eleventh hour 10-year financial settlement plan with the WBC in Aug 2004.

"We have gotten up off the canvas only seconds from disappearing", said WBC President Jose Sulaiman after the agreement was signed.

Officially, the WBC got off lightly.

However, the damage to their reputation has proven to be irreparable.

And Roid Jones' name is obviously just dog***** these days.

Nunn was flat-out ducked. Numerous times.

Rocchigiani - who was easily world class when in the mood - was treated with contempt; robbed of his WBC title, earnings, and 2 years of his career - after which time he was over the hill as a top fighter. Disgusting.

Both Jones and the WBC didn't even stop to consider that Nunn and Rocchigiani weren't just mandatory bums and actually had strong management behind them in the Goosens and Klaus-Peter Kohl who wouldn't stand for their outrageous antics, hence were publicly humiliated and completely exposed for what they are;

• We Be Crooks

• Roid Jones, Jr; the worst cherrypicking ducker of his generation, and unbelievably arrogant brazen p.o.s.

"Although we always felt ourselves to be innocent, we want to leave this experience in the past", Sulaiman also said.

Innocent???

The sheer audacity of these scumbags...

It defies belief.

Roid Jones, Jr blatantly ducked the two best available opponents in Michalczewski & Rocchigiani plus a still-capable Nunn during Roid's farcial light-heavyweight trinket run, yet spuriously called himself the "undisputed world champion". He was a sick joke.

Also, to mention just one other duck, immediately after his golden HBO contract ran out in Sep 2000, Jones declared "I'm definitely moving back down to 168lbs" and looked set to face the best available opponent @168 in Joseph 'The Pride Of Wales' Calzaghe. Excellent. But it was all bs; Roid inevitably backed out, somehow conned HBO into offering an even softer contract, then continued boxing second raters @ 175lbs. zzzz...

While Roid pulled off some blatant embarrassing cowardly ducks during his prime years, the disgraceful Double-duck casts a huge shadow over them all.

This is all irrefutable, undeniable truth.

[TeamElite]

JONES, JR & WBC BRUTALIZED; Federal Judge Strips Roid Jones, Jr. of WBC Title, Court Orders WBC to Pay $31M Damages and Declares Graciano Rocchigiani as Light-Heavyweight Champion From 1998 - 2000

Business Wire, New York
09 Apr 2003

In a judgment made public today, Manhattan Federal District Judge Richard Owen reinstated German boxer Graciano Rocchigiani as the World Boxing Council Light Heavyweight Champion for the period of March 1998 - April 2000.

Having previously found that Jones had voluntarily relinquished his position as champion in 1997, Judge Owen, in an order signed April 4th, decreed that Rocchigiani "became the World Boxing Council Light Heavyweight Champion upon defeating Michael Nunn on 3/21/98 and remained the Champion until in or about April 2000."

According to Rocchigiani's lawyer, Richard H. Dolan, the ruling effectively strips Jones of his championship title from 1997 to date: "Jones, having walked away in 1997, has yet to fight the bouts required by WBC rules to regain his former title."

The court's decision is in response to charges leveled against Jones and the WBC in a case tried by Rocchigiani's New York law firm, Schlam, Stone & Dolan. Earlier rulings by Judge Owen detail a tale of gamesplaying by Jones and outright deceit by WBC officials as Jones maneuvered to reclaim his title without having to fight Rocchigiani after Jones' initial bid to become a heavyweight contender fizzled. Eager to accommodate Jones because of the lucrative sums he generated, the WBC decreed three months after the March 21, 1998 fight that its own widespread promotional, contractual, and official references to that fight as a championship bout - and to Rocchigiani as the champion - had been 'typographical errors.'

Declaring in 2001 that the "wholly arbitrary and unfair conduct of the defendant in this case would leave anyone down for the proverbial count," Judge Owen ordered the WBC to trial, at which it was assessed $7.8 million actual damages, plus interest, and $20 million punitive damages by a jury which heard the case this past fall. Last week's ruling incorporated the jury's findings and gave Rocchigiani the right to execute a judgment against the WBC in the amount of $30,598,628.00.

"Judge Owen's decision is courageous. It not only restores the title to its rightful holder and makes the WBC accountable for its attempted TKO of Rocchigiani's career," said Dolan, "it also injects a big dose of real world justice into a sport that, for too long, has reeked of under-handedness and shady dealings."

"Graciano Rocchigiani has always been willing to defend his title in a bout with Roy Jones, Jr.," Dolan said. Adding that Jones had refused to file an answer or appear in the lawsuit, Dolan commented, "Roy Jones, Jr. is a talented boxer, but he was never willing to take on Rocky in a fight."

Noting that much of the revenue generated by the Mexico-based WBC comes from sanctioning fights in the U.S., Dolan said, "We intend to execute every aspect of the judgment, from correcting record books to collecting dollars - no matter how long it takes and who it affects. We are in this fight to the finish."

[TeamElite]

While we're on the subject, let's briefly clear up another stupid myth - regarding the Roid Jones vs Richard Frazier farce - which has been mindlessly parroted around for years.

Roid Jones vs Richard Frazier was not an enforced mandatory title defense but a voluntary one.

The narrative that Roid had to box Frazier or risk losing his fake WBC strap was yet another blatant lie perpetuated as usual by the Roid Jones camp & HBO.

WBC interim champion Rocchigiani - the true WBC champion who Roid was ducking - was Roid's WBC mandatory challenger who had precedence to box Roid before anyone else ranked by the WBC - including the bum who was ranked #1; useless 39 year old full-time NYC policeman Richard Frazier who was barely a club fighter.

As per WBC rules;

"Upon the return of the champion[Roid], the WBC will order a mandatory bout for the undisputed WBC title with the interim champion[Rocchigiani]. Both boxers are bound to participate in this bout and cannot participate in an intervening contest, except in special circumstances approved by a majority vote of the Board of Governors. If the bout is promoted through purse offer procedures, the purse split will be 55% for the champion and 45% for the interim champion."

And here is the statement put out by Jose Sulaiman;

WBC says Roy Jones was **NOT** forced to fight Frazier

Marty Mulcahey @ BoxingWise
27 Jan 1999

"They said that Frazier was the mandatory defense of the WBC, and that the WBC forced Jones into the fight and threatened to strip him of his title if he did not comply. Frazier was ranked No. 1 by the WBC, a fact for which I said I was embarrassed and took full responsibility.
But the WBC never ordered a mandatory defense for Jones versus Frazier and never threatened to strip him of the title. In fact, the fight was first announced as being only for the WBA light heavyweight title, which Jones also holds. The WBC only approved the fight a week before it took place and never before. The decision to fight Frazier was made voluntarily by Jones' representatives and HBO."

A month after the Richard Frazier farce, Roid was ordered to make his actual mandatory defense vs Rocchigiani.

If Roid had ever been ordered to defend his illegal WBC strap vs Frazier and didn't want to, he could've simply reminded the WBC that Rocchigiani was the mandatory challenger, or pulled his trick of asking the WBC to put Frazier in an elimination bout like he did when he ducked Tarver in 2000 & when he yet again ducked Nunn soon after...or Roid could've simply ask them to demote Frazier from the #1 spot due to being unqualified & unworthy, seeing how the WBC just made up the rules as they pleased.

All typical Jones bs; abuse his ludicrous HBO contract and collect 90% of the site fees, then hide behind the excuses & lies about having to fulfill imaginary mandatory title obligations or risk losing his meaningless trinkets...in order to duck the real challenges.

...HBO as usual were hiding the truth from the public to try and protect their disastrous financial investment in Roid Jones. They daren't even mention Rocchigiani or the mystery of the reappearence of Roid's WBC title during their broadcasts.

Fortunately, the truth always comes out, especially regarding corruption on the level of the Roid Jones-WBC-Rocchigiani scandal.

...Roid Jones boxed Richard Frazier because he wanted to.

The truth is Richard Frazier was nothing more than a cherrypick - the worst of Roid's whole career.

[TeamElite]

In reflection...

The lawsuit ruling - which came to its conclusion just one month after Roid had successfully juiced up to heavyweight to cherrypick an ABC title with the ref in his pocket - was the beginning of the end for Roid. The steroid story broke 3 months later. His luck had finally ran out. With so much money at stake, Roid's ridiculous out-of-the-ring shenanigans failed miserably at heavyweight so after he inevitably backed himself into a corner, Roid wisely - or unwisely? - returned to 175lbs to reluctantly face the thorn in his side who would ultimately take his soul; Antonio Tarver. The rest is history.

So on the plus side, the cloud over boxing that was Roid Jones' career did have one silver lining;

[TeamElite]

Humiliated Jose Sulaiman Begs Rocchigiani For 2007 Payment Grace

By James Blears
Sep 2007

The World Boxing Council is asking boxer Graciano Rocchigiani to allow them to suspend the this year’s payment that stems from a lawsuit settlement.

Rocchigiani was awarded $31 million dollars in damages by a New York City federal court jury in 2003, from a lawsuit against the World Boxing Council and its president, Jose Sulaiman. The lawsuit began in 1998 with claims that the WBC had improperly taken away his title.

After Roy Jones Jr. dropped his title for aplanned move to the heavyweight division, the two leading contenders, Graciano Rocchigiani and Michael Nunn, fought in Germany in 1998 for the vacant title. Rocchigiani won and was crowned champion. After Jones announced that he was going to stay at the light heavyweight, the WBC downgraded Rocchigiani's status to "interim champ" and later stripped him of that status and gave the title back to Jones.

After the WBC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2003, the two parties reached a private settlement, which is reputed to span seven years.

But WBC President Jose Sulaiman explained: “We want to suspend the payment for this year, because we don’t have the money! I can’t mention how much is involved, because we have an agreement between the parties not to mention the money, but it is a lot!

“My message to Graciano is that people believe, and I strongly believe that the World Boxing Council is needed for boxing in the world. We are providing many benefits for the sport. I could not image professional boxing without the WBC green and gold belt, So I’m asking Graciano, who has made so much money out of us, that at least he could give us, understanding the situation, an extension this year without a payment, while we look what to do to get the money.”

The WBC is organizing an event including a dinner and bouts including a world title fight for December 6th in Cancun, to raise money to help pay the debt.

Don Jose said: “I’m thinking about having some dinners or something, because I thought the promoters would help directly, but they don’t.”

[ShoulderRoll]

You joined the website this month, just to go on a crusade against Roy Jones?

[The Old LefHook]

Something about that voice haunts my deja vu for just a moment. Then I think, no, it couldn't be.

[classicbuzzbox]

In reflection...

The lawsuit ruling - which came to its conclusion just one month after Roid had successfully juiced up to heavyweight to cherrypick an ABC title with the ref in his pocket - was the begining of the end for Roid. The steroid story broke 3 months later. His luck had finally ran out. With so much money at stake, Roid's ridiculous out-of-the-ring shenanigans failed miserably at heavyweight so after he inevitably backed himself into a corner, Roid wisely - or unwisely? - returned to 175lbs to face the thorn in his side who would ultimately take his soul; Antonio Tarver. The rest is history.

So on the plus side, the cloud over boxing that was Roid Jones' career did have one silver lining;

Interesting reading. Video was a bit harsh but humourous. In the ducked fighters list at the end was David Tua.....holy s**t, could you imagine if that happenned.

[The Old LefHook]

I have nothing against glass-jawed, scum sucking roid cheater Roid Jones, the fraud without a soul, except--Give Me His Head On A Silver Medal Now! His speed of a cheetah may have been the speed of a cheater. Hypocrisy and dishonesty are needed more than a jab and a hook when your name is Roid Jones. That's Roid Jones, in case you missed it.

[Dempsey-Louis]

Who is TeamElite and why are they saying these things? Curious.