Larry Merchant vs Roy Jones jr: The Fight

general zod · Oct 22, 2010

PowerPuncher said: ↑

Jones agreed to fight Collins, Collins got knocked out in the gym by Howard Eastman and called his comeback off. Jones also beat 2 men who beat Collins
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That isnt what happened. Jones gave Levin the go ahead to make the fight then pulled out to fight to unify with Reggie Johnson

The Reggie Johnson that Jones beat was a faded version of the elite fighter who Collins fought. The same can be said for McCallum, who was pushing 40 and overweight when Jones fought him

Jones clash heads for KO

by Harry Mullan and Wayne Higgins
PROFESSIONAL boxing is a world of hidden agendas, lies and bluff, but the confusion surrounding Steve Collins' date with Roy Jones is setting new standards.
It is hard to believe that a shrewd and streetwise pragmatist like Collins, a man who has always cherished his own reputation, would run the risk of exposing himself to public ridicule by announcing the fight was on if there was any doubt about it, but if we are to believe Murad Muhammad, the American's promoter, this is precisely what has happened.
Mohammad insists that there is no question of Jones facing Collins in Las Vegas, Dublin or anywhere than in the Irishman's imagination. He refutes the support which Jones' manager, Stanley Levin, has given to the fight, and says that Levin must either have exceeded his authority to speak for the fighter, or else has been misquoted or misinterpreted.
Yet, Levin, a Florida lawyer, who gives the impression of operating on a rather higher moral plain than is customary in this business, stands by his word. There is clearly a split in the ranks, and one possibly significant aspect of the affair is that Mohammad is trying to steer Jones into a light-heavyweight championship unification match with IBF title holder, Reggie Johnson. Jones already holds the WBC and WBA versions.
When Johnson beat Collins for the middleweight title in New Jersey a few years ago, Mohammad was involved as Johnson's representative. Their current relationship is unknown, but the cynical viewpoint — which is often the most accurate and rewarding — could be that he is pushing for the Jones v Johnson match with the tempting prospect of earning from it in both capacities, as promoter and through his "piece" of Johnson, if he has such an arrangement.
Such deals, known as double dipping, are commonplace in American boxing circles.
The American press reported the announcement that the Collins fight is on, but without any comment from Jones or Mohammad.
The match would have a degree of credibility in America, where Collins is still well remembered and accorded more respect than most European fighters are accustomed to receiving over there.
Jones is known to be growing increasingly bored with the lack of challenges on offer for him, and whatever doubts about the Collins match there may be in the Florida camp, they are unlikely to be coming from the man himself. As always, though, the money men will have the last word. If Jones' TV backers at HBO want the fight it will happen: if they don't, Collins faces the prospect of an excruciatingly embarrassing public climb down.
The latter may still be the case.
HBO chief, Lou Dibella, last night insisted there had been no contact between himself and either the Collins or Jones camp on the possibility of a fight.
Dibella, who as chief of the network to which Jones is contracted, would have to okay such a deal, said in a telephone conference: "There would be little or no interest in Collins v Jones in America. Collins has not fought in a year and a half and although he was a very good champion there would not be a great deal of interest in him in America at the moment. If he wants to fight someone else before Roy Jones then interest may pick up.
"I would like to see Collins fight Joe Calzaghe, who holds Collins' former super middleweight crown. Calzaghe is an exciting fighter, whom we have earmarked to fight Roy Jones at some stage. At the moment Reggie Johnson, the IBF light heavyweight champion, is the one who I feel most deserves a shot at Jones. However, if Collins was to fight Calazaghe possibly on a Jones undercard, then the winner could meet Jones in their next contest," said Dibella.
The likelihood of Collins fighting anyone but Jones is slim, given that he has consistently said that he would only come out of retirement to meet Jones.
Dibella said he had spoken to Murad Muhamad, but had not had any contact with either Collins or his solicitor, Brian Delahunt, when they were in Florida last weekend.
Collins' solicitor, Delahunt, said yesterday that he had been talking with Stanley Levin, Jones' attorney, regarding the contest, and that negotiations had been taking place between those two.
On the possibility of Jones and Collins, he said there would be no further announcements until negotiations took place between Jones' camp and Collins' camp with HBO.
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http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1999/01/15/fshead.htm

Prince · Oct 22, 2010

Jones ending this interview...:rofl:rofl

general zod · Oct 22, 2010

bailey said: ↑

Excellent post again.
I watched your fantastic previous post where Larry Merchant, helped Hopkins sum himself up for wanting to fight smaller fighters, and on this thread watched in awe as Jones hid away from Collins and the more frightening proposition when Merchant revealed that Michalczewski was happy to travel, to meet Jones, even though Dariusz was the man.
Great post
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Thanks. Its a hard interview to find, fortunately another poster offered to upload it for me. Jones should of fought Collins at smw imo

PowerPuncher · Oct 22, 2010

general zod said: ↑

That isnt what happened. Jones gave Levin the go ahead to make the fight then pulled out to fight to unify with Reggie Johnson

The Reggie Johnson that Jones beat was a faded version of the elite fighter who Collins fought. The same can be said for McCallum, who was pushing 40 and overweight when Jones fought him

http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1999/01/15/fshead.htm
Click to expand...

Collins was supposed to comeback in a tune up and fight Jones after, he pulled out of the tune up after Howard Eastman knocked him cold in sparring, he decided to hang them up

bailey · Oct 22, 2010

PowerPuncher said: ↑

Jones agreed to fight Collins, Collins got knocked out in the gym by Howard Eastman and called his comeback off. Jones also beat 2 men who beat Collins
Click to expand...

Jones didnt agree to fight Collins. Collins was in the gym sparing Eastman when after he said he had a headache and clapsed. That was training for a comeback fight against Calzaghe not Jones. Fact

general zod · Oct 22, 2010

PowerPuncher said: ↑

Collins was supposed to comeback in a tune up and fight Jones after, he pulled out of the tune up after Howard Eastman knocked him cold in sparring, he decided to hang them up
Click to expand...

Didn't you read the link? Levin got the go ahead to make the fight, Collins was busy looking for the venue when he gets told there is no fight. It was also the year that levin said he had enough and left Jones camp

McGuigan believes Collins is silly to climb back in ring with Jones
by Rita O'Reilly
FORMER champion boxer Barry McGuigan yesterday said it was "foolhardy and silly," of Steve Collins to go back into the ring to fight Roy Jones.
Collins accepted that there was "a bit of truth" in claims that he is coming out of retirement to make money to keep up his standard of living, but he said he had always promised he'd don his boxing gloves again if a Roy Jones bout was in the offing.
McGuigan told Joe Duffy on RTE Radio's Liveline yesterday: "I think he's being foolhardy, I think he's silly taking a fight of this magnitude now. I take my hat off to him and I admire his courage...but I think he's being foolish."
Collins has credibility to gain, courage to show and money to pick up from fighting the WBC light-heavyweight champion, McGuigan admitted. But he's also got a lot to lose and he's up against an exceptional fighter, the Sugar Ray Leonard of the nineties.
In his heyday Steve would have had trouble going the distance with Jones.
"He is very quick-handed, very fast on his feet and has great hand-eye co-ordination, he's a banger.
"Boxing is about continuity, it's about keeping going, you can't give up for two years, especially if you're the type of fighter that Steve has always been.
"There's no secrets about Steve's style. He grabs the centre of the ring, he plants his feet in the middle and pitches his toes into the canvas and lets you have it.
"There's no subtleties about his style. He's an aggressive comeatcha type fighter and those are the type of fighters that Roy Jones loves." McGuigan said Jones's fleet footedness and speed meant he likes guys to come at him because then he can display his fabulous hand speed and his power.
"Steve is normally a very wise guy, I just don't think he's being very wise here," he said.
He did not think Collins, who won nine world title fights in a row before his retirement, will be able to recapture his sharpness.
"Each dog has his day. We all have a shelf life," McGuigan, who now works as a commentator for Sky Sports, said.
"This is a dangerous game, let's not forget that. He could get hurt, there's no doubt about that."
McGuigan, who retired at the age of 29, accepted his advice might fall on deaf ears. "He's laughing the whole way to the bank and I'm delighted for him and I hope he earns a fortune in it," he said of his compatriot's decision.
But Steve Collins said he had always said he would come out of retirement if he got the Roy Jones fight. "And why not?" go back into the ring, he asked.
"I believe I still have what it takes to beat Roy Jones," he said, adding that he would not go through any warm-up fights prior to the big bout, likely to take place in April.
And he said he still hasn't finalised the deal on exactly how much he will be paid for the fight : "The Rio Hotel in Las Vegas hope to stage the fight on April 17th, its opening night, but I'm hoping that a promoter over here will bring the fight back to Europe."
Both Sky and ITV have shown an interest in bringing the fight to Britain or Ireland, and Collins said he hoped a deal would be done by the end of the week.
He rejected the question mark over his decision as people being negative.
"What I've heard is a lot of opinions from people who I've not requested opinions from," he told Joe Duffy.
"The only opinion that would make any difference to me either way would be the opinion of my wife," he added.
And Collins accepted there was a little bit of truth in the claim that he is going back into the ring to keep up his standard of living, including the cost of keeping his 11 polo horses.
"Unfortunately, I've got involved in a hobby which is probably more expensive than bird-watching or fishing," he said, but ruled out selling some of his stock.
"If anything, I would like to buy better horses," Collins said.
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http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1999/01/14/fshead.htm

PowerPuncher · Oct 22, 2010

bailey said: ↑

Jones didnt agree to fight Collins. Collins was in the gym sparing Eastman when after he said he had a headache and clapsed. That was training for a comeback fight against Calzaghe not Jones. Fact
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You don't know ****, for 1 Collins would never fight Calzaghe, he isnt risking the Jones payday or going after a young gun for small pay

2 he was preparing for a tune up to sell the Jones fight

PowerPuncher · Oct 22, 2010

general zod said: ↑

Didn't you read the link? Levin got the go ahead to make the fight, Collins was busy looking for the venue when he gets told there is no fight. It was also the year that levin said he had enough and left Jones camp

http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1999/01/14/fshead.htm
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Yes I have and it proves little, there was talks with Collins, he was supposed to fight a tune up. He was preparing for a tune up when he got seriously hurt in sparring

general zod · Oct 22, 2010

PowerPuncher said: ↑

Yes I have and it proves little, there was talks with Collins, he was supposed to fight a tune up. He was preparing for a tune up when he got seriously hurt in sparring
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What do you mean by that? It tells you that Levin got the go ahead to make the fight. it tells you that Collins was looking around for a venue, when he is basically told, sorry dude there is no fight.
I keep hearing runours about him collapsing in sparring, but no one has ever given me a valid link to prove it

bailey · Oct 22, 2010

PowerPuncher said: ↑

You don't know ****, for 1 Collins would never fight Calzaghe, he isnt risking the Jones payday or going after a young gun for small pay

2 he was preparing for a tune up to sell the Jones fight
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Its true, Collins was preparing for Calzaghe when the headache in the gym occured. Collins always said Jones never agreed to it

big_AL · Oct 22, 2010

ha wats funny is that he had beaten hopkins and went on to beat johnson and telasco so merchant can go lace up some gloves and do better

general zod · Oct 22, 2010

big_AL said: ↑

ha wats funny is that he had beaten hopkins and went on to beat johnson and telasco so merchant can go lace up some gloves and do better
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Look at it from HBO's point of view, did they really want to pay out 1.5M+ for Jones-Frazier?

bailey · Oct 22, 2010

big_AL said: ↑

ha wats funny is that he had beaten hopkins and went on to beat johnson and telasco so merchant can go lace up some gloves and do better
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But avoided the real test of Michalczewski, the real LHW champ

Salty Dog · Oct 22, 2010

Larry by early KO. I've learned to like Roy, but he does have a china chin.

general zod · Oct 22, 2010

bailey said: ↑

But avoided the real test of Michalczewski, the real LHW champ
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That would of been a damned hard fight for Jones, even though he would of been considered the favourite. The thing is that the contract he had with HBO meant that he was always guarentted around 1.5-2m, no matter who he fought. Why fight Darius for 2m, when you can fight a full time cop for close to 2m?

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