Roy Jones vs Dariuz Michalczewski - TIME TO PUT AWAY THE MYTH

:deal

 

I think you somehow forgot to mention that the tiger was the lineal champion, RJJ wasn't, but thats okay...
Maybe he didn't "duck" him, but it's a fact that Dariusz called out RJJ numerous times, was willing to go to the US for the fight, even wore t-shirts that said "Who the F is RJJ?" but he totally ignored him even though many experts and fans wanted him to fight the tiger badly.
I don't know if it was about money, if the risk-reward-ratio wasn't worth it or whatever, fact is that Dariusz wanted the fight, RJJ didn't for whatever reason.
I respect your opinion but I don't think you should call people who think that he "ducked" him idiots, there are several possible reasons why the fight didn't happen, nobody really knows the truth apart from the people involved in the situation.

 

RJJ got a dq against Montel. Nice editing.

RJJ was just the start of the dodging we know today. They put on fights like Mosely Pacman and market it as if it were the most important fight in history. RJJ just selected his opponents carefully, but u r right that he was the man. He just didn't think he needed to take big risks to prove it. PBF would fight a five year old kid if he got enough money. No risk high reward, that's the name of the game.

If you're investing money that is ideal. It is destroying boxing.

 

Being a Brit and so based in Europe I can quite honestly say at the time I knew Girard, Piper, Prince, Thadzi, and Giovannini just as well as some of RJJ's opponents like Harmon, Grant, Harding and Hall. Just because american mainstream media ignores euro fighters doesn't mean they are trash and unknown in Europe.

Fact is DM was the lineal champ and gained that by beating Hill and unifying 3 of the titles. Roy never really made an effort to make the fight and for a fighter who is often so vocal rarely mentioned DM at the time.

Personally I don't think RJJ outright ducked DM. The fact is RJJ was making HBO a loss on each fight which I suspect once the they calculated what to pay a high profile opponent like DM would mean Roy would either be paid the same as fighting trash mandatories like Rick Frazier or only very slightly more. So financially it did not make sense to fight a much more dangerous opponent for the same or similar money. So while you can say Roy didn't duck his opposition he clearly put money over legacy which for the vast majority of boxing fans is simply unforgivable.

 

I think there is no dispute about the fact that RJJ had the better resume and was ranked higher by all the experts but I don't know what that has to do with the claim that Roy ducked him. Like I said, maybe there was not enough money to be generated or whatever, there are a thousand possible reasons.
I always thought that the main reason could be that the tiger just wasn't a big enough name in the US (I'm from Germany) and that there just was no real demand for the fight outside of Germany (and I fully understand that RJJ was not interested in fighting in Germany, why should he?) but if you say the people wanted to see that fight then that can't be it either.
And the thing with the t-shirt is true, he used to wear it for some post-fight interviews in a couple of fights IIRC, I searched for pictures but unfortunately couldn't find any.
Well, at the end of the day RJJ is considered an ATG, the tiger isn't. So much for who needed that fight more...
Maybe Dariusz could have done more to make it happen, for example confront RJJ in the ring after a fight or at a press conference, but that just was not his style.
After all it is sad that that event didn't happen, I'm not saying the tiger would have beat him, Roy wouldve been a big favourite obviously but it would have definately been an interesting fight and a real highlight at least for the german boxing-fans.

 

At light heavyweight he should have fought DM and Michael Nunn. I personally found the whole situation with Nunn suspicious. Roy dumps WBC belt to fight Buster Douglas just as Nunn becomes his mandatory, Nunn loses to Rocchigianni, Roy then talks to estranged father who advises against fighting Buster Douglas so gets WBC belt back llegally from Rocchigianni.

Also Jones decision to move from supermiddle to light heavyweight when the 168lbs division was the hottest division in boxing was a highly suspicious move.

 

roy jones sucks

 

You are showing your ignorance of the time. The WBA immediately stripped DM of the WBA title as they did not recognize the WBO title at the time and the IBF ordered him to fight William Guthrie within 30 days of winning the belt off Hill which would have been impossible to train properly for in such a sort space of time. So there was no way he could have kept the titles. The powers that be bent over backwards at the time to screw DM and give RJJ the belts and he was seen as a potential cash cow for the sanctioning bodies.