Jones vs. Tarver 1

I just got finished re-watching Jones Tarver 1 for the first time in years.. Much of the talk of Jones not taking risks and not fighting the best in any weight got me thinking..

The fight was not actually as controversial as I first thought it was, Roy Jones landed huge right hands to the body at will nearly all fight.. I noticed the crowd would get into it when Tarver would land on the ropes, and was silent when Roy was teeing off on Tarver's body, landing blistering right hands that you could hear the thud from... I thought Roy won that fight clearly although he was certainly not himself..

I also realized Roy's jaw was not glass at that point.. He took a few mean power shots upstairs from Tarver, that would have knocked out a glass jawed fighter, especially one that just lost muscle mass from being trained to fight at HW..

Any one that claims he had no plan B, folded in adversity, or he had no heart, need to pull their head out of their assholes, and watch this fight.. I was amazed and reminded how much heart he showed against such a willing and dangerous opponent that ate, ****, and dreamed about him for years and years...

I have also asked how many people can name fighters that fought legitimately at HW, dropped down and beat the best LHW in the world in their very next fight... I can only think of Joey Maxim, and Roy Jones.

At the time it seemed as anything but and ATG win, but that is exactly what it was.

Every great fighter has one last great fight... No one knew we were watching Roy's.

 

He did that with pure heart and toughness..

I remember it was the first time I saw him slumped over in the corner, breathing with his mouth wide open mid way through the fight...

Those last 2 rounds were that of a warrior...

 

Way overlooked.. Historically this has not happened much, almost as much as him winning a HW belt..

It was because it was the first time he looked human, people overlook the accomplishment, which I hold as his 3rd best win because of the circumstance.. As much as i bring it up, still people give it little notice. Maybe it will take 10 or 15 years when Roy isn't getting knocked out by scrubs?