Jones was walking a tightrope all night, he knew he couldn't take a shot to the head at that point. He hurt tarver badly with a left uppercut in the 5th. But he backed off. In the 11th he got badly hurt by a right hook and tarver was all over him but unbelievably Jones fought back in a badly dazed state and drove him back. He showed great heart pushing tarver back while out of it, jones couldn't even keep his eyes open he was rapidly blinking which was concerning but he pushed tarver back almost as if he was on a kamikaze mission. tarver showed a big time mental weakness at the end of that fight as well as the middle of the first jones fight. He kind of reverted to pawing with his jab and held his hands in like a limp almost "girly" stance with his elbows in but his arms limp. He did that against hopkins as well. I noticed he often had trouble looking his trainer in the eye. No doubt hopkins took notice of that before he signed to fight tarver.
There is a difference between having heart and having a mental weakness. Tarver had some weaknesses psychologically that were very apparent. Emanuel steward pointed them out and hopkins exploited them. That doesn't mean he didn't have heart. Just means he showed he had some issues
At his peak we all know what Jones capable of, he easily beat Hopkins and made Toney looks like #25 rank opponent. Round 5 of the their third fight was the only time Jones looks like his old self. He back up for some reason, probably reserving his energy for full 12 round.
I don't think so. If he couldn't easily beat an injured Harding and got caught by Del Valle, he wouldn't easily beat a prime Tarver. He had some vulnerabilities to awkward southpaws.
He was already slowing down before Harding and Harding was being very defensive. Jones easily took care if del Valle, the KD was really del Valle's only success and I don't think he would have gone down if the canvas wasn't soaked. At jones peak he would've easily found and exploited openings against tarver, especially if tarver fought aggressively. Just the fact that jones, a fighter who depended on his reflexes and athleticism and who had been slowing down for 5 years and looked drained and unenergetic managed to win the first time tells me that jones at his best should be rabidly favored to win, and while I don't believe in lucky punches and taking away credit for victories, tarver was very fortunate that he landed the punch that ended jones' career in the second fight because it looked like jones had figured him out in the first round.
If Tarver landed the punch that Del Valle did, he'd likely knock him out. These guys were the same age and fought each other as ams. I don't think Jones ever had an easy time with Tarver. He proved he could beat him, but Tarver would always cause problems.
