Tarver vs Jones III: What a horrible perfomance by Roy

He was not in any way shot... except for the fact that he was shot to smithereens.

:-( Jones had one good round in that entire fight, and at the end of that round you can clearly see he is ****ing exhausted on his way back to his stool. The effort of fighting like the old Roy for 3 minutes ****ed him up. He couldn't reproduce that effort in any other round in the fight.

Watch the fight again, then watch Jones vs Toney, and then tell me his "speed, reflexes and coordination" weren't greatly diminished. Utterly insane comment!

 

Being shot mentally is just as taxing on a fighter. Not to mention Roy had already fallen off noticably in two key areas physically: he didn't have the legs nor the stamina anymore. Those were the things that allowed him to control the range and pace of his bouts so well. He only showed brief glimpses of his old speed after the Tarver rematch due to this. He simply couldn't exert himself anymore for any extended period without getting winded. Watch the 5th round of the third Tarver fight, and how he immediately goes back into a shell after that single one-sided round in his favor.

Either way, I don't think this has much of a bearing on how good Roy was in his prime.

 

It was a lousy effort by both men. Tarver likely went in expecting another knockout over a distraught Jones.

 

Jones was mentally 100% shot

 

He'd had a long layoff going in which may have accounted for his lack of work but the mental aspect was the big factor.

He simply didn't want to stay in range long enough to let multiple punches go for fear of getting caught again.Thats why in this fight and the Trinidad and Calzaghe ones he was pretty much a one or at best two punch at a time fighter.This from one of the better combination punchers of his era (orthordox or not).

He still had great hand speed against weaker opponents like Sheika and Lacy but really his legs were gone,his amazing reflexes shredded and his self belief and will to win were non-existent after the first Tarver fight really.

A pretty sad decline for a fantastic fighter imo.

 

The 5th. Clearly a Prime Jones would have no problems with Tarver but I still give milkdud credit for beating Jones. Also, you don't have to go as far as the Toney fight because even looking at the Woods fight then any of the Tarver/Jones fights you could tell Roy declined. Also I agree with the people that say his confidence was gone because of the knockout of the previous fight & he wasn't trying to risk anything. Roy's ego wouldn't ever let him think he could be ko'd and when it happened, it toke his confidence & will to win in tough fights away.

 

To these delusional fans who think Roy was not physically declined - how on earth do you account for how gassed Roy looked after his exertions in the 5th round, and how do you account for the fact that he was unable to make the same physical effort in the 6th or any other subsequent round?

FYI, a commentator's word is not fact. Watch the fight and judge for yourself.

 

He was 36 and a fighter who relied on doing the spectacular, not the technically simple. The spectacular just takes more energy and the stamina is usually the first to go. Jones certainly still could be incredibly fast for his age, even today. But his energy levels, reactions, reflexes and ability to pull the triger were that of an old man. Not to mention the mental thing of coming off 2 back to back KO losses and being out the ring for over a year.

I disagree with questioning a man's heart past his physical prime. Heart is not a constant it changes, ever heard the phrase 'tiredness will make a coward out of the bravest men'? Well it holds true, but also reduced testosterone levels makes a coward out of men (which happens as a man ages), then there's the maturity that makes a man see there are bigger things in his life than winning a boxing a match.

There comes a time for nearly every fighter where they say 'I don't want to put my body through a brawl like that ever again'. Look at Barrera, a brawling warrior through and through early in his career but after Morales 1, it was if he said 'I don't want to put my body through a brawl like that ever again'. ANd he changed to a boxer not too keen on engaging, he'd win by outboxing rather than outbrawling and when he was hurt against Pacquaio in their first fight, seemed to go into a shell.

Ever thought Steward said Jones wasn't shot because they were trying to justify the PPV to the audience? Then again I suppose it depends on your definition of 'shot'

 

Jones started showing signs of decline during the Harmon fight, for the Tarver III fight I would say its was his mental state which was the major issue. He really shouldn't of fought again after that fight

 

Couldn't agree more.

How anyone can watch Tarver I then watch a Jones smw fight from the mid 90s, and NOT see how he has declined physically is pretty bizarre to me. How can watch Tarver III then watch a Jones smw fight from the mid 90s, and NOT see how he has declined physically is just insane!!