Classic fights revisit : Roy Jones Jr vs Antonio Tarver 1

Hello friends,

A short while ago, i created a thread for anyone who is interested in rewatching classic fights with fresh eyes and discussing them on this forum. Thread is here: Which classic fights do you want to revisit in 2025? | Boxing News 24 Fan Forum

The purpose is to revisit two fights per month. I will personally score the fights when applicable. You can also share your scorecards but you are not obligated to score them. The main purpose is to rewatch the fights and comment on them with fresh eyes.

Our first fight that we will be revisiting is Roy Jones Jr vs Antonio Tarver 1 from 2003. We will discuss this on 9th February 2025. Feel free to rewatch the fight between now and then and then comment on this thread. I will post my thoughts on the 9th.

I am going to embed the fight here.

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@PolishAssasin @McGrain @Stevie G @Terror

@Jel @robert ungurean @SixesAndSevens

@People's Champ @drenlou @Barrf

@janitor @SuzieQ49


And anyone else who wants to participate. Cheers.

 

no worries. You can skip it and rewatch the next one at the end of the month.

 

Round 1 10-9 Tarver clear
Round 2 10-9 Tarver clear
Round 3 10-9 Jones close
Round 4 10-9 Jones close
Round 5 10-9 Jones clear
Round 6 10-9 Jones close
Round 7 10-9 Tarver clear
Round 8 10-9 Tarver clear
Round 9 10-9 Jones clear
Round 10 10-9 Tarver clear
Round 11 Jones 10-9 clear
Round 12 Jones 10-9 clear

Total score: Jones 115-113 UD on my card

Round 1 10-9 Tarver clear - Jones starts decently, clearly wary of Tarver's southpaw left. Jones landed some glancing shots with his left, a light left jab, a few glancing left hooks and a decent right lead. Tarver is patient and landing some light rights. With about 30 seconds to go, Tarver unloads with hard body shots as Jones is covered up against the ropes. Jones responds with a good right lead but this isn't enough as Tarver lands another combination with Jones covering up. Tarver won this round quite clearly because of his work in the last 30 seconds.

Round 2 10-9 Tarver clear - Both guys did some good body work, Tarver with his right and Jones too with his right. Tarver got a big left through Jones's guard in the middle of the round. Jones responded with a good right of his own. Both guys landed some decent combos though I felt Tarver's landed slightly better. The round was close until the last 20 seconds or so when Tarver landed another big combination with Jones covering up and not responding. Close but clear Tarver round.

Round 3 10-9 Jones close - Both Jones and Tarver were jabbing a lot though most of Tarver's jabs were missing. Jones landed some good rights to the body and mixed it in with some nice combinations. I thought Roy was winning the round fairly comfortably until the last 15 seconds or so when Taver landed a couple of big lefts but Jones snuck in a decent right of his own. I don't think Tarver did enough in the last 15 secondsto undo the work Jones did in the whole round. Close but clear Jones round.


Round 4 10-9 Jones close - Jones is fighting at a measured pace, landing some nice body shots. Tarver is more tentative now. In the middle of the round, Jones leaps in with a good right hand lead and then follows up with 2 more.Jones is in full control until the last 30 seconds when Tarver has him backed into the corner and is unloading with some big combinations. Even though Jones covered up and did not let anything land super clean,the fact is Tarvers body punches were getting through. Jones comes off the ropes and lands a hard left hook to the body to end the round. Hard round to score. Did Tarver's domination for abvout 20-30 seconds outweigh Jones controlling most of the round? I don't think so. I think Jones did enough to take this.


Round 5 10-9 Jones clear - After a fairly uneventful 50 seonds or so, Jones starts to pot shot Tarver with lead rights to the body and ocassionally going upstairs. Tarver is very hesitant with his jab and didn't throw any big lefts either. Jones is in full command here, basically picking his shots with ease and landing some solid left hooks. But it’s the lead right to the body that is landing over and over again without Tarver being able to counter. An easy Jones round. This isn't debatable.


Round 6 10-9 Jones close - Jones is in control with his lead right doing looking like it can't miss. However, Tarver did trap Jones against the ropes in the middle of the round and landed some nice combos as Jones covered up. Jones gets off the ropes and fights back with some lovely lead right hands, to the body and upstairs. Late in the round, Tarver traps Jones again and Jones again covers up as Tarver unloads with hard punches. Jones gets off the ropes and lands a huge lead right hand that backs Tarver up. I feel like Jones just about managed to claw back the round in the last 15 seconds or so with a couple of good right hands. Otherwise, it looked like Tarver was going to win the round again. I gave this round to RJJ but it is a close round.

Round 7 10-9 Tarver clear - Jones started well for the first 20 seconds or so but Tarver trapped him against the ropes and landed good shots on a covered up Roy. A number of Tarver's lefts and uppercuts got through Jones's guard. Depsite Tarver not doing much in the last 45 seconds or so and Jones landing a couple of good lead rights late in the round, it wasn't enough. Jones looks exhausted and this is clear Tarver round.


Round 8 10-9 Tarver clear - Tarver domiantes the majority of the round through hard body shots, combinations to the body and then the head. Some of those left hands that landed on Roy's head are brutal. People who say Roy had a weak chin are wrong. He took huge shots in this round. Despite Roy landing some good lead rights, this isn't a close round. Easy dominant round for Antonio Tarver.

Round 9 10-9 Jones clear - Jones is the aggressor here and Tarver is tentative again. The majority of the round is Jones simply pot shotting Tarver, landing 1 hard shot at a time. Mostly lead rights and the ocassional left hook. Late in the round, Tarver traps Jones on the ropes again and unloads a multi punch combination. However, Jones comes back with a couple of hard body shots. I don't think this round is close. 15 seconds of great output by Tarver and one big combination does not out do the remaining round which was throughly Jones's.



Round 10 10-9 Tarver clear - Jones started solidly in the first 20 seconds but Tarver took ever and landed several big shots on a covered up Roy. Roy came off the ropes and had a decent period of about a minute or so where he was pot shotting
Tarver. However, Tarver took over the last 30 seconds or so and landed another hard series of shots. A clear Tarver round.


Round 11 Jones 10-9 clear - Jones starts well, landing ones and twos. Then he starts to open up with 3-4 punch lightning fast combinations as the round goes on. Tarver traps Jones again and unloads with a series of huge combos vs a shelled up
Roy. Jones manages to block some of the force but he is clearly hurt. Tarver's gloves tape comes off and Roy gets a break as Tarver's trainer fixes his glove. Jones then controls the rest of the round, landing some good shots. Do I think half a minute of Tarver's domination is enough to steal the round? Nope. Clear Jones round. Roy looks exhausted.

Round 12 Jones 10-9 clear - Jones started well again and then went through a period where he looked in trouble as Tarver nailed him with a massive left and then had him trapped. However, Jones came off the ropes again and started dominating the rest of the round with the exception of maybe the last 10 seconds. Do I think Tarver's 20-30 seconds of domination relatively early and a decent finish out does the rest of the work Jones did in this round. Nope. Jones round for me though it was a hard fought round.

Total: 115-113 UD Jones

 

Conclusion

Jones showed tremendous heart. His strategy of going to the ropes wasn't some poor strategy nor was it because Tarver was doing something brilliant. Rather Jones Jr. looked genuinely weak and his endurance was low. Hence he was on the ropes to conserve energy.

There were some instances where Tarver did manage to trap Roy against the ropes with some brilliant footwork. But most of the time Roy chose to retreat himself.

Roy landed a lot of excellent lead rights to the body and head as well as some lovely left hooks. Jones fought at a staggered pace and managed to win the championship rounds. Roy took some huge lefts from Tarver without going down. Whoever thinks Jones had a weak chin is kidding themselves.

Tarvers success of beating Roy against the ropes looks impressive. Tarver did have sustained periods of success of 20-40 seconds multiple times where he was thoroughly dominating. Whereas Jones did not have those lengthy periods of absolute domination for the most part. However, Jones was in control majority of rounds and he clearly won the championship rounds.

Was it a close win? Yes. But it was clear IMO. I don't see why some claim this was a robbery. Jones deserves the same credit for this win as Ali does vs Norton 2 or Usyk does vs Breidis. Close win doesn't mean you shouldn't get credit.

Great win by Roy and probably his last great win.

 

Our next classic fight revisit will be at the end of the month or early next month. I feel like folks will need to slightly de load from the upcoming February 23rd card.

 

what was your updated score?