Roy Jones: How Good Was He?

I am.

I think he was lying in his bed in boxershorts while zapping between TV-shop and David Letterman talk shows, or trained normally. Either would make him lose weight.

Keeping muscle take every bit as much effort as gaining it in the first place. If Roys normal training routine would have made him stay at the weight he fought Ruiz at, then he wouldn't have been able to do that training as a SMW or LHW without his body approaching that weight.

If you try to boil down below your natural weight, like some anorectic, you will have to starve yourself. This was never the case with Roy.

The further away he was from his natural weight, the easier it should have been for him to boil back down.

 

This sounds possible in theory, but I think it makes more sense to assume that a natural SMW/LHW would not have to push himself like a third world starving victim, when the body naturally shed excessive muscle mass unless the athlete train like a dedicated body builder.

 

This seems scientificly questionable. Perhaps if an established schoolar claimed it, like Dr Shaw, I'd consider it. Mackies field of expertice is how to best smack a guy in the head, and how to scream at guys so they train hard. He can't sort out complicated medical issues.

EDIT: I'm honestly a bit surprised the journalist published the quote at all. It's like asking a mine worker on how to do a dance performance. Makes no sense at all, tbh.

 

This is the exact point I'm trying to make.

If you detrain, you're not doing anything. And over a period of time, the weight will come off.

But that wasn't really a viable option for Roy at the time.

Why?

Because his goal wasn't just to take the weight off.

His goal was to take the weight off in a certain amount of time, whilst preparing to fight Antonio Tarver.


:good

 

AnotherFan,

:good

1. An excuse for what? He won their first fight.

2. How else did he shed the weight?

Sanders would have been an awful match up for him.

 

Seems this point is being missed by those trying to discredit this arguement ..

 

:roflatsch
Toney was in 1994!! You still don't get it. And Woods and Ruiz were absolute jokes you can lump them in with the rest. He lost to Griffin beacuse he has no Plan B when things were not going his way.

Roy's whole resume is:

Hopkins
Toney
then errrr uhhh welllll yeah um
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John Ruiz?
Tarver

there was a damn decade in between where Roy was ripping off HBO. He only fought Hill AFTER DM had taken his belts and tried to play it off like his win meant more :rofl

Jones was an opportunist. Nothing more. He loved fights for vacant or stripped belts. He not one time ever fought THE champion of the division he was in.

 

Yeah, Roy didn't stand a good chance vs. Sanders, he knew it too.

 

I was under the impression that Roy brought up weight shedding issues after Tarver had KO'd him. Am I wrong?

I find it more realistic to assume that a natural SMW/LHW won't have to resort to self starvation in order to boil down from HW.

I think so to. Without making any predictions of the outcome of a fight against Holyfield, I think that would offer Roy a better chance.

 

AnotherFan,

I don't see why.

Ha!

I'm loving this debate.

But in all seriousness, we know he wasn't lying around. He couldn't haven't done that, and just hoped to have lost the required amount of muscle. Have you read up on detraining? It affects everyone differently, depending on their age, weight, and fitness etc. You also couldn't expect a guy who'd trained his whole life, and who'd had 50 fight camps, to have just sat back. It wasn't in his nature.

We also know that he couldn't have trained normally. Now admittedly, I'm no expert. But from what I've been reading, there's only the two options mentioned to lose muscle. Other than detraining, the other way is to train at a catabolic rate, which means having prolonged workouts on a low amount of calories. You have to specifically cut your intake, including your level of protein. So he couldn't have trained normally, because the average man needs around 2,500 calories per day.

I would love to know the specifics of what Roy did in his camp though, that included what his percentage of body fat was, and if or when he sparred etc.

It all depends on what his circumstances were, including his percentage of body fat etc.

It's not a simple process. Roy has given an account of what he did, and if you search online, there's accounts of other people who have purposely trained in a catabolic state.

 

There is really no argument that Roy's muscle loss was not an issue in Tarver 1. Weird he won that one but lost when he was in top shape... Great plan by McGirt, and credit to Tarver for pulling the trigger.

 

Again, you have to look at the circumstances.

The body will shed muscle mass over time.

But how long would it have took Roy to have shed the amount of muscle that was required?

Again, his options were limited. He had a fight to prepare for, and he'd spent almost his whole life training, so he went with the catabolic option.

 

Mackie has zero expertise in anything boxing related. He specialises in sports science and strategy.

His credentials speak for themselves.

http://www.mackieshilstone.com/about/ms-bio/