Jones was probably unaware that he had broken any laws. But as the old saying goes, ignorance of the law is no excuse?
During a recent visit to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia last year, Roy Jones Jr. briefly met Russian President Putin for small talk and a photo op.
Everything was going fine until Jones, with a straight face, asked Putin, ?I want to ask you about maybe having a passport to go back and forth, so that I can do business here, because all the people here seem to love Roy Jones, and I love when people love me.?
Putin smiled.
?I don?t think there have been any others like you in the world,? the Russian President said, ?at least, not in boxing.?
Instead of leaving well enough alone, Jones appeared on RT News to clarify, if that?s the right word, his desire to be both an American and Russian citizen.
?I can come and go as I please,? Jones said. ?I can come, and I can go, so that?s the most positive. Because being able to go and come makes me feel like home and home. Now I don?t have to be a visitor. I?m home and home. So I have two homes. Two homes are better than one.?
There?s no arguing with the fact that two homes are better than one, unless one happens to be Ukrainian.
Anton Gerashchenko, Ukrainian MP and Interior Minister?s top adviser, wrote on his Facebook page that ?American boxer Roy Levesta Jones was included into the ?Peacemaker? database as a violator of the state border? and has been placed on Ukrainian blacklist of ?traitors,? ?separatists,? and ?terrorists.? That?s not all. Gerashchenko wants to open a ?criminal case? against the 46-year-old boxer under Article 332-1 ?violating the state border of Ukraine.?
According to rt.com, Jones, who is in Sevastopol this weekend to take part in a boxing show, crossed the border ?illegally.? Furthermore, the top adviser in the Interior Ministry claimed that Jones was paid a ?certain sum of money? by the Russian authorities to ?promote? Vladimir Putin?s working visit to the region.
Jones was probably unaware that he had broken any laws. But as the old saying goes, ignorance of the law is no excuse.
