To treat his fights as if they were anything more than a vain attempt to turn back the clock is as lame as it is irresponsible?
Saturday night at the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Florida, Pensacola?s favorite son, 47-year-old Roy Jones Jr. (64-9, 46 KOs), defeated 40-year-old Rodney Moore (17-12-2, 7 KOs), from Houston, Texas.
The decision was unanimous. All three judges scored it 100-90 for Jones after 10 lopsided rounds.
With 5,000 fight fans on hand to watch the proceedings, the former four-time world champion boxed his way to victory over a plodding, overmatched opponent.
But Rodney Moore was a step up from the last man Roy faced, Vyron Phillips, who was making his pro debut and was summarily TKO?d in the second round. But only just. Moore was riding a nine-fight losing streak, dating back to 2003, coming into Saturday?s fight. To say he had no business being in the ring is to state the obvious.
To make matters worse, Jones tore his right bicep in the fifth round. He continued to fight, with one hand, but one hand was more than enough to decision ?Rocking? Rodney Moore.
?It may have been the last one,? Jones told the Pensacola Journal in his dressing room after the fight. ?And I?m not mad if it is, because I had a great time. All my kids got to see daddy fight one more time. Everybody in Pensacola got to see Roy fight one more time.?
If it is indeed ?the last one,? it hasn?t come a moment too soon.
?We always think about you shouldn?t do this, shouldn?t do that. You can?t do this, you can?t do that,? continued Jones. ?There is no such thing what you can?t do. With God all things are possible. Nobody around me is going to tell me when to stop fighting. Nobody told me to start but God. Nobody is going to tell me to stop.
?I know it?s getting close to the end.?
Changing his tune somewhat, Jones said, ?We?ll just have to see how long this (healing process) takes. It was the best condition I?ve been in a long time. I felt strong the whole time. Thank God it was the right hand, because I could use the left hand triple time. Because you use it for your jab and that?s the point-getter. If it?s the left hand, now you?ve got problems. Because you have bring your shoulder from way back here and makes it harder for you to get back.?
If Jones needed an excuse to bow out gracefully this was it. There?s no fortune for him to fall back on. He won?t emerge from the sport unscathed. But at least he?s no longer getting separated from his senses by the likes of Enzo Maccarinelli (2015), Denis Lebedev (2011), Danny Green (2009), Glen Johnson (2004), and Antonio Tarver (2004).
It is time to pack it in. It may in fact have been time to pack it in for a decade. But if Roy Jones Jr. refuses to listen to reason, maybe he?ll listen to his body.
Boxing is a young man?s sport and Roy Jones is older than he knows.
Boxing isn?t a game and Jones is no longer a player. If he can draw paying customers to watch him fight in a diminished state, more power to him. There will always be someone whispering not-so-sweet nothings in Roy?s ear. ?You?re the champ. You?re the champ.? But to treat his fights as if they were anything more than a vain attempt to turn back the clock is as lame as it is irresponsible.
If that?s your thing, limp on my brothers, limp on.
