by Carl Rice
9/30 - One year ago, if someone would have wanted to bet that Roy Jones would be knocked out twice over the next 365 days, I would have taken that bet against everything I have. But here we are, one year and a few months after defeating John Ruiz for a portion of the heavyweight championship; Roy Jones has been taken the distance by Tarver in a fight that many say Tarver could or should have won, knocked out in the rematch, and then knocked out again by Road Warrior Glen Johnson. What could have possibly led to this turn of events?

If reading other reactions from fans, commentators, and internet writers that answer spans from "Jones got old overnight" to "Jones was overrated to begin with”. I will deal with the writer aspect of this later. For now, I want to focus on the man himself. Everyone that reads talkingboxing.com knows that in my "Tale of the Tape" article, I predicted that Jones would KO Johnson in the 8th round. But in that article, I made several points that cannot be overlooked.

1."Frankly, I feel that going up in weight to heavyweight, and then coming back down again has irrevocably hurt Jones physically more than he probably knows or thinks."

I recall what Jones used to look like when he fought at light heavy…his abs were like a washing board, he was a good looking 175, muscular, but not muscle-bound. At light heavy now, he looks like he's in shape, but his body just doesn't look the same. When he took that step up to heavy, he had to put on extra weight, and it came in handy against Ruiz. He pushed the bigger man around the ring and had Ruiz shook off the quickness. It would have been in his best interest to stay at heavy, but Tarver did a good job in goading Jones to come back.

Now I'm no doctor, but I know the physiology of the human body. What Roy did I liken to a reconstructed bridge. Imagine a sturdy bridge that is being forced to take on more weight capacity. The bridge is reinforced with steal girders and concrete. When completed, it is stronger than it ever was before. But after its usefulness, all the girders and concrete are taken out, which seemingly makes the bridge the same as it was. But because materials were stripped off of the finished product, it is weaker than it was before. That is what Jones did: stripped himself of muscle mass. Losing 25 pounds of fat is one thing…shedding 25 lbs of muscle is totally different. It is a difficult process, and for him to do it in such a short period of time is draining not just in the short term, but also in the long run.

Jones has relied on his reflexes and quickness to get him out of dangerous waters, and the loss of lean muscle mass has taken away from his speed, which has taken away from his power. It has also dimmed his reflexes, allowing him to be hit more often than in the past. Just as critical is the loss of his legs. He doesn't move around the same way as he used to, getting himself out of trouble. He's more or less there in front of a guy, and with the loss of his greater assets, his faults are exposed. I was taken totally by surprise to see Johnson beating Jones to the punch...this never would have happened before the Ruiz fight.

2. "This fight will squarely be decided on how Jones decides to come out. If he comes out tentative and apprehensive, he will have some problems and Johnson will sense this and probably go for the kill."

When the bell for the 1st round rang, Johnson stormed out of the corner and punched at Jones for nearly the whole round. Most of those punches were blocked, but some got threw. And he didn't counter as much as he should have; even Johnson said after the fight that he was expecting Roy to come with the left hook and when he didn't see it, he just kept coming.

As the fight wore on, it was clear that Jones was not willing to engage as much as Johnson. He was obviously apprehensive and not wanting to get caught with a shot while trying to deliver the left hook. But people are not giving Jones credit for the fight. Sure he was knocked out, but up until that point, Jones was not getting dominated as much as people are talking about. He landed some good shots on Johnson that other fighter would have packed it in. But Johnson is a tough guy and was not discouraged by Jones' speed or his flurries. And it's obvious that Johnson felt that if he could keep the pressure on Jones, he would cave eventually.

3. "There's no doubt that Jones is less intimidating that he's ever been at any point in his career. Johnson knows this and surely feels that if he comes straight at Jones, maybe he can get him too…But there should be no questions about Jones' chin, as he's taken some hard shots from many hard punching fighters."

Emanuel Stewart, who said that Johnson's attack of Jones was "amateurish", wasn't considering this fact. Once a fighter's aura of invincibility is gone, guys feel more invigorated and willing to attack. Jones did not come back with any quick counters in the first round and he seemed to be content to just lie on the ropes. This had to make Johnson feel even more comfortable and confident. And after seeing that Jones was not responding well to the pressure, he had to feel that he could put Roy down.

The way Jones fell from that punch still startles me, which reinforces that coming back down to 175 took something out of Jones physically. The punch was not that hard (easy for me to say; I didn't take the punch), but it did land in an awkward spot, like right behind the ear. When it landed, Jones leaned forward and then was pushed back by a left hand. When he was falling his hands were still in a boxing stance, but when he hit his head on the canvas, then were like noodles. I can't say the punch didn't hurt him, but I highly doubt that the punch was more an impact than his head slamming against the canvas, a statement many have made.

Jones has taken some blows from some tough fighters. Bernard Hopkins started touching Jones in the later rounds of their fight. The punch by Lou Del Valle was a right hand that landed in about the same manner, and he got up from that punch to win the fight. Against Julio Gonzales, he was hit a few times and was able to take it. In his fights against Griffin, he was hit with several hard shots, at least as hard as the one that took him out last Saturday. Tarver connected with some nice combos in the first fight, and Ruiz caught him in their fight, so for people to say that he's never taken a good shot before just haven't seen enough of his fights. And I recall Larry Merchant saying that Jones has never been in a firefight like that before, but he must be getting old. I recall him saying the same thing when Jones fought Merqui Sosa, when Sosa was on the attack until the ref prematurely stopped the fight. Although it only lasted two rounds, Jones was in a battle and was holding up quite well.

So I can admit, my prediction was off, but I did suggest that Jones was a little questionable going into the fight. But this was never to slight Johnson, for he's a good fighter. But I simply don't think that Johnson or Tarver would have been able to do anything with Roy before he moved to heavyweight. But this is not what some boxing writers have said; many have simply stated that Roy was not that good anyway, that he's a bum, and that he's always been overrated.

I suppose that I could be considered a part of the boxing media because (hopefully) boxing fans are reading this. But I try my hardest to respect boxers, not just because they can give me a beatdown, but because boxing is as forgiving as cement and I consider it disrespectful to just condemn a guy because he was KOed. There are many writers that I respect a great deal that now feel that Jones was a media creation, but if this is the case, then I guess that the guys he beat were REALLY terrible. Roy's record does have some questionable names listed, but there were also some very credible fighters on that list, just as many as most other fighters.

Then there are the "fans", who are saying that Roy is shot, could never take a punch, is a female sexual organ, etc. This most likely comes from guys who have never boxed or even fought in their lives, and would never say that to Roy or any boxers face. I write about boxing because I grew up around it, but I don't have what it takes to get in the ring, straight up. I've been in a few scuffles but that is when I had to protect myself, but I never looked forward to fighting, even though I had to put more than a few guys down. Furthermore, as a rather attractive guy (at least that's what the ladies tell me), I have no need or want to take blows to the dome. It's one thing to criticize a guy for coming in overweight, or someone who quits, but to demean and look down upon men who trade leather for a living seems rather ridiculous.

And let's not forget the regular bunch, like Jim Lampley. I wonder has this guy ever even stepped into the ring. I watch him do fights and although he's a classy guy, you'd think that he'd been in the ring before. But alas, the closest he's ever been in a ring is from where he sits. And I sometimes don't even know what he's talking about. He's talking about the fight being so far gone at the time of the KO, as if Jones was being completely overwhelmed. Jones was behind in the fight, but he wasn't completely out of reach. And who could forget that he thought Wladimir Klitchko was the best thing since fossil fuel; I was smirking the whole time he had to retract his sentiments after the younger Klitchko was KOed by Corrie Sanders.

And let's not forget the boxing writers who used to box. I guess this gives them license to talk all the smack they wanted. But here's a news flash...if you were half as good as Jones, you'd be fighting instead of writing and don't ever forget that. In fact, if you were half as good as Sedrick Fields, you'd be in the ring instead of bumping your gums about how any fighter is a bum. Having boxed before, in any capacity, should give these guys more insight into how boxers think and feel. But I suppose it makes them feel like big men to cut someone to shreds at their lowest point, especially since they didn't have the courage to pursue their dreams.

But now the question is what will Roy do now? I've never been one of these guys to tell a fighter when they should retire. But I'll certainly say that seeing Jones lay there on the canvas motionless made a tear well up in my eye and hope that nothing was wrong. And with all respect to Johnson, if Roy could be KOed by Johnson, then he can be put down by a lot of other light heavies. I would rather see Jones retire than seeing him lying on the ground concussed; that is certainly a position that I don't want to see Roy in again. But he's a grown man and can make his own decisions. But he's said numerous times that he didn't want to end up like his good friend Gerald McClellan. He's a millionaire a few times over, he's won the outstanding fighter in the 1988 Olympics, he won several championship belts, and he was the Pound for Pound Greatest fighter in the world for over 10 years. He has nothing left to prove, especially to finicky and forgetful fans and journalists. Pride will only take a man so far, then it becomes petty. Hopefully in this case, logic will outweigh pride.

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