Firstly, Roy should have got out once he won the HW strap. We'd be talking about the GOAT if he did. Secondly, just how bad was Roy's cut for the Tarver rematch? I remember his trainer Mackie Shilstone advising against it at the time, and to not try your hand at CW for a Toney rematch (and because it would have been healthier for Roy's body) was something that baffled me. Was there rumours in the camp at the time about Roy's camp prep/weight etc?
I believe the weight was a big deal. He should have retired after the the Ruiz fight, he didn’t and definitely should have retired after the first Tarver fight. But he wasn’t satisfied with his win over Tarver and wanted to give him a real beating. We know what happened and that put him in a position to basically earn back all the respect he had previously to the Tarver fight. My guess is he was basically done with boxing after his win at heavyweight. He had accomplished his goals but Tarver wouldn't leave him alone. He beat him and made his point but he just couldn’t leave it alone. As far as greatness...Roy is not the greatest Middleweight (Robinson). Not the greatest Light Heavyweight (Charles) and if he beat all the people he faced after the first Tarver fight his accomplishments would still not match Ezzard Charles’ of beating Hall of Famers at Light Heavyweight and beating Hall of Famers at Heavyweight all the while starting at middleweight.
Roy Jones should have fought Tarver at Cruiserweight. He could have won and retired with a win over a long time rival.
It is an excuse. Jones was not drained for that fight. Tarver knocked his ass out and people need to get over it.
His weight cut from HW was before the first Tarver fight. It could have affected his performance in the first fight leading to him getting caught more then usual. He cant really use the weight cut as an excuse for the second fight orher than apparently it affected the first Tarver fight and may have helped speed up a decline in his overall abilities going forward from the first fight.
Putting on roughly 20 pounds of muscle for a heavyweight fight to then drop it all, in your very next fight, against a highly motivated opponent is a bit much to ask. Roy did it, beat this man...and show have said, I had no interest in fighting you and I still beat you. The second fight, Roy was more motivated than Tarver, came out throwing leather, and got caught with a shot, because he did not have the speed he once had nor technical defensive, or the chin to take that shot. It is his own fault for signing up for that stupid second fight...and every other fight after. I consider it something like Jordan playing for the Wizards. All it accomplished was to lower his career stats.
It was tough mainly due to the time constraints. He signed for the fight in September 03, with the fight being early in November. He spent most of his camp just running. A lot of people think he had 8 months to lose the weight, but he only had 2. HBO had that date and Tarver had baited him all year. He was exhausted after 9 rounds. In my honest opinion, that’s the best win of his career.
He weighed 193 for Ruiz and 174 eight months later. Does anyone know if he maintained the 193 pounds in anticipation of a high dollar heavyweight fight? Personally, I don't think that he seriously intended to have a second fight at heavyweight. In that case, if he was planning on fighting again, he should have started dropping the weight right away. Nineteen pounds isn't a lot to drop in 8 months and it shouldn't have a horrible, lingering effect. I'm guessing that he probably was looking for something at heavy or cruiser that didn't pan out so he took the Tarver fight and had to cut in 60 days or so.
I guess Leonard never had a good chin as well since pillow fisted Camacho ko'd him. Even though he fought Hearns who's one of the hardest hitters in boxing.
It's mostly bull****. He weighed in at 193 for Ruiz, which is a high end in-ring weight for a light heavyweight. It did have an effect on him in the first fight but he was still performing like a top 3 fighter in the sport. He was in normal early 2000s form for the rematch. What nobody wants to mention is that Tarver was his best opponent since James Toney nine years earlier. Nobody wants to mention that Tarver landed the same shot as Del Valle but Tarver could deliver it with more force than anyone in boxing at the time short of Corrie Sanders. Tarver himself would've beaten the crap out of Ruiz. If Roy was shot for the rematch, explain why Tarver permanently ejected Eric Harding from being a top 5 light heavy and ended Chris Johnson's career, both with the same punch he caught Roy with. Maybe Roy should've fought some A listers instead of going for almost a decade without fighting one.
Roy wasn’t 193 pounds. The scales hadn’t been calibrated properly. Mackie Shilstone asked Marc Rather of the NSAC to reweigh him. When he did it registered 199 pounds. In the documentary ‘The Sweet Science’ which was a behind the scenes look at the Ruiz fight, Ratner is seen joking about it with Shilstone. In the fight, Roy was absolutely exhausted by the 9th round. In the rematch, Tarver caught him with the perfect shot. But he couldn’t find that shot in the other 2 fights. Tarver was one of his best opponents, but there were no other A level fighters available for Roy to fight at the time. Fights with Dariusz and Hopkins couldn’t get made.
The official weight is what's credible. That's why it's the official weight. Unless that doc showed Roy's PED cycle for the Ruiz fight, it should be assumed to be biased. Roy could have fought Calzaghe, Rocchiaggi, Jirov, Benn, Nunn, Eubank, Liles, Nelson, or any number of heavyweights.
The official weight was registered because Alton Merkerson hit Norman Stone which caused a fracas. Marc Ratner of the NSAC was the official who conducted all of the weigh-ins. He reweighed him and then apologised to Mackie Shilstone afterwards. It’s on tape. The second weight was never registered. Tell us how he could have fought those guys. All you’ve done is listed the guys who he didn’t fight. You have no knowledge of Roy or the era.
Strange how Ruiz clocked in at a normal weight on the same scale at the same time. Six pounds is also a normal daily fluctuation for someone at heavy. Tell me why he couldn't have fought some of them. He only had about a decade to work with. Roy took far more weak opponents than Pac, Oscar, Floyd, and Canelo. It is what it is,
