I make no excuses for it either, Tarver landed a great punch, but that punch wouldn't have landed on prime Jones, same as about 50 other opponents hadn't been able to do to Jones in his career up till that point. Whether Tarver landed the perfect punch or not, the guy he landed it on was not the Superman of the mid-late 90s, he just wasn't, watch Jones's fights and the evidence is crystal-clear, no need for excuses of any kind.
I just can't see Jones being shot during the second Tarver fight because it was looking like a good brawl until the out-of-randomness. Even a prime Jones could be caught as shown in this video but I believe he was past his prime in Tarver 1 & 2 and definitely shot in the 3rd fight. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IRwQADvvcY[/ame]
That video shows RJJ being hit alot, but still not many times RJJ was caught flush, he always seemed to be getting out of the way and then maybe clipped. One thing for sure his punch resistance was effected since he moved up and down from HW to LHW.
That was what I wanted to do, show that Roy could be hit in his prime. You're right that moving up and down in weight was hurtful to him but also even if weight didn't affect him, he was getting older. In the early 2000's he was around his 30's. Age is the most hurtful thing to reflexes.
The first Tarver fight. He lost way too much weight too quickly and after that point he was never the same.
I thought Tarver had his #. I felt Roy was fading but I didn't consider him shot untill the Green fight.
His reflexes clearly werent what they were during the first tarver fight, but I think it was a sure deal after the second match that he was clearly shot.
For me Jones Jr wasn't "shot" for Tarver 1&2, a little past it but not shot. I'll go with the Johnson fight here.
Jones actually looked better physically in the third Tarver fight than the Glen Johnson fight. He just seemed scared as hell during the rubber match and happy to hear the final bell, but looked sharper with his speed and reflexes than I had expected. He looked awful against Glen Johnson. It was such a weird KO. Roy seemed like he saw that punch coming and turned his head to roll with the shot, and still got knocked silly.
I thought he was shot after the Johnson loss, and nothing I saw afterwards convinced me otherwise despite all the smoke & mirrors.