If Roy Jones Never Moved Up To Heavyweight How Different Would His Career Be?

Yes but there were name fighters who were ready to be taken, who still commanded respect, like Tyson and Holyfield.

 

No. Roy's in ring weights were somewhere in the mid 180s at that time. He weighed in at 192 for Ruiz and may have added a few more pounds by the time the fight started. It isn't a big deal, especially 2+ fights later.

 

Wow...

 

I believe that his demise was a perfect storm. A culmination of different things. But the weight loss certainly wasn’t exaggerated.

In the majority of his fights at LHW, he weighed-in in the low 180’s. (180-183 pounds)

The muscle was took off very quickly in just a few months.

Mackie Shilstone advised him not to do that and take a break from the sport. He also said that doing that to the body can affect the body’s immune system.

Roy was clearly drained for the first fight. He was exhausted, despite the fact that it wasn’t fought at a fast pace.

Tarver caught him with a great shot in the rematch. A perfect punch. A punch like that may always have knocked him out. But we’ve seen other fighters struggle when they’ve lost muscle. We’ve seen their punch resistance compromised.

Tarver suffered the same fate against Bernard Hopkins, as well as Chris Byrd and Chad Dawson, when they fought Shaun George and Andre Ward.

 

By about 2 months.

 

His weights were in the low 180’s.

According to Mackie Shilstone, as well as Marc Ratner of the NSAC, Roy weighed 199 pounds at the second weigh-in against Ruiz.

Apparently, the scales weren’t calibrated properly the first time around.

Other fighters, including Tarver himself have also been affected by burning muscle.

The same thing also happened to Chad Dawson and Chris Byrd.

All three of those guys looked visibly different, and all three of them said that they felt devoid of energy in the ring.

Chris Byrd’s loss to Shaun George was a big shock at the time.

He looked like a different fighter.

I’ve also spoken to John Scully regarding Chad Dawson.

There must be something in this. Especially when the muscle is taken off quickly at an advanced age.

Mackie Shilstone claims that it affects the body’s immune system.

There’s just too much evidence to dismiss it.

 

Horse**** comparisons.

Byrd had just gotten his face beaten in by Povetkin and was not a light heavyweight.

Dawson went down to 168 for the first time. It wasn't his weightclass. (The excuse is overblown here but it probably did affect his performance.)

Jones went back to the weightclass he was comfortable with. He was back to his age adjusted form by the second Tarver fight. He stayed at 175 after because it was his weight.

 

They’re not bad comparisons at all.

They’re all relevant.

All of those guys burnt muscle quickly, and all of them said that they were devoid of energy.

Their punch resistance seemed compromised.

All of them struggled.

Chad Dawson had fought before as both a MW and a SMW, although he hadn’t been a SMW for 5-6 years.

Chris Byrd had never been a natural HW. He never should have fought there. Yes, he’d taken punches off of a big puncher in Povetkin. But it had never bothered him before. He’d taken huge shots off of Wlad etc. But against George, he just fell to pieces where he couldn’t take anything.

Roy was comfortable fighting at LHW before he fought Ruiz, but he certainly wasn’t comfortable in dropping back to LHW from HW. It was a huge struggle for him. And you could see him struggle in their first fight, where he was absolutely exhausted. Yes, he’d adjusted by the rematch. But the point is, the damage could already have been done by that point.

How can you ignore all of the above, as well as a direct quote from Mackie Shilstone, where he said that burning muscle is very dangerous, where it can damage the body’s immune system?

You can’t ignore all of that.

Mackie told Roy not to drop back to LHW and to take a significant break from the sport.

 

Try Bob Foster, pal.

 

The circumstances surrounding Foster were different.

You could also have mentioned Thomas Hearns too.

It doesn’t alter what I’ve said.

Look, I don’t see any point in taking this any further.

You’re not interested in debating this subject.

I never said that no other fighters had done it.

I simply gave you the facts of 4 different fighters, which also included the opinions of the well respected sports scientist/strategist who was involved in 3 of their fights.

If you want to ignore everything that I’ve written then that’s on you.

We’ll leave it there.

 

And do you think these guys who moved down never burnt muscle with their cuts? And do you think that burning muscle doesn't impact a performance?

 

If he retired after the first Tarver win he'd be seen as one of if the the greatest boxer of all time by casuals.

 

So moving through from MW to HW and doing the business for the first time in 106 years wouldn't impress a non-casual fan?

 

It would but people here would still be saying SRR or Ezzard Charles beats RJJ lol Roy could've become undisputed heavyweight champion and they'd still favor old fighters like Dempsey or Jack Johnson to beat that absolutely inhumanly athletic monster

 

Not Roy in the second Tarver fight, my dear friend.