If fast fingers and a hardwired sense of swing defined Peterson, fast hands and a seldom-seen sense of reflexes defined Jones?
?Had Roy Jones Jr. defended his heavyweight title even once before walking away, there?s no telling where his legacy would stand today.??Brian Campbell
?Watching that fight made it hard to believe Roy was once the best fighter on the planet and it wasn?t close. He?s maybe 5% what he once was.??Dan Rafael
?Can?t nobody tell Roy Jones when to start, and nobody can tell Roy Jones when he should stop. Roy Jones is going to do what he wants to do, and I am enjoying myself in the ring and I am going to get back where I want to be.??Jones
A prime Roy Jones Jr. was as good as it gets. Had he retired after the first Tarver fight, his record would have been 50-1 and his place among the top five modern all-time greats would have been well justified. As it is, he still will rate among the top ten on my lists because, as Larry Merchant said during the Bryant Brannon fight in 1996, he was ?Oscar Peterson with Boxing Gloves.? And if fast fingers and a hardwired sense of swing defined Peterson, fast hands and a seldom-seen sense of reflexes defined Jones.
Since that fateful Tarver fight in 2004, Roy has gone 13-6, and his reflexes and tremendous athleticism have disappeared. But since his brutal KO at the hands of Denis Lebedev (the brutality being intensified by referee Steve Smoger recalcitrance) in May 2011, Roy has gone 8-0 with his last five coming by way of stoppage.
He now continues to pick his spots and works in a more comfortable and safe groove and like his one-time nemesis, Glen Johnson, he has become a road warrior deluxe fighting in such locales as Latvia, Florida, Connecticut, North Carolina, Russia, Poland, and North Carolina. However, unlike Glen who is finding it increasingly difficult to win against top to mid-tier opponents, Jones needs to stay in his current niche.
The 46-year-old Jones is now (62-8 with 45 KOs) with his latest win coming against limited West Virginian Eric Watkins (12-9). The future boxing Hall of Fame member and former multi-division titleholder registered a lighting fast, one-punch KO in the sixth round Sunday in Mashantucket, Connecticut. A lethal and signature left hook ended matters concussively. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qPnh36to1M
Jones is scheduled to face Danny Santiago (33-7-1) on August 29 in Sint Maarten, the Netherlands, and then Tony Moran (15-6) on September 12 in Liverpool, England. Santiago will be the best fighter Jones has faced in his current win streak; Danny has faced stiff opposition (including Beibut Shumenov, Danny Green, Zsolt Erdei, and Tarver) and could present a real danger for Roy. Whether primetime opportunities will present themselves at the end of these two bouts (assuming that he wins, of course) remains to be seen, but for Roy?s well-being, I for one hope he that he continues to rack up win after win in his current niche because the specter (and lasting memory) of him being knocked out is a painful one.
As for ESPN?s Dan Rafael?s comments, Rafael has never shown much affinity for boxers?the guys who risk their lives so Rafael can write about and often insult them and even, from time to time, question their courage and then get paid handsomely by ESPN. But to quote Thomas Hauser, that?s why boxing is often viewed as a cesspool.
