Today 8 years ago ....

This is what some idiot thinks of that fight. Note to my sig

 

What Roy Jones did was impressive, but for some reason I felt the ref got in the way too much and never allow Ruiz to really use his only advantage.

 

I dont think boxers are the only ones having problems, this goes for many pro athletes in all sports, just check out the Antoine Walker story as an example.

 

I think a lot of todays fighters are becoming smarter in some ways than past fighters when it comes to their financial situation. Some are investing in a variety of areas to live comfortable. At the same time these are grown adults that have egos and have the right to their earn money and spend it however they want to. It's a democarcy, at the end of the day or night if they buying 10 cars, houses, and partying, the onlys ones they have to point the finger is at themselves when they go broke. Simple as that.

 

This may seem like an odd comparison, but I used to be a huge fan of old school pro wrestling. Back in the 80's I absolutely loved watching Ric Flair work a match. Now days he isn't even a shadow of his old self. Same deal with Roy. It is sad to see what he has become. It's borderline criminal to allow these guys to continue to embarrass themselves.

 

I know him through a friend, so I WILL NOT mention names, but there is a former NFL standout in my town who now drives a UPS truck for a living....true story

 

The whole press tour leading the Ruiz fight had Jones talking about Ruiz' clutch and hold tactics.

So in fear was Jones, that at one point during the press tour he voiced to the media that if Ruiz were let to get away with his hit and clutch antics, team Jones would make sure to cause a riot.

For a fighter to threaten a riot goes to show how insecure Jones was in his ability.

Now I'm not a fan of Ruiz hit and clutch routine, the refs prior to his fight with Jones let Ruiz get away with it exessively.

......but for the commision to appoint Jay Nady because of Jones pressure, I thought crossed the line.

Nady actually would have been fine had he let the fight run its course and warned Ruiz if he was causing to many clinches........

However, what happened was that Nady found himself stepping in to break the fighter when Ruiz was just close, and not clinching.

In a failed attempt to get his jab going and disrupt a moving Jones with it......Ruiz plan then becomes to get Jones to the ropes and use his body to lean and muscle him........but anytime Ruiz would put a shoulder to Jones to lean on him, here comes Nady to seperate the fighters.atsch
Nady would'nt even wait for a clinch to take place, he was already assuming a clinch would take place and stepping in to seperate.
In the telecast I caught Nady a few times stating, "no clinching no clinching" when there was no clinching.

Nady rode Ruiz like that the whole night, and at the end of the fight, of course Ruiz felt that it was Nady who was the cause of disrupting his pace and tempo and not allowed him to fight his fight.


Nady it turned out was brainwashed or bought off by Jones as Nady took it over the top to not allow Ruiz to come within sniffing distance of Jones.



So for the thread starter. Had Jones retired that night, he'd have regretted it.
Its easy to sit down and in hindsight say, "Jones should have retired after Ruiz."
......but only Jones nuthugging fans would have been satisfied with Ruiz being his last fight.

.....for everyone else, Jones was what Mayweather is today. A fighter with immense talent that by his own doing chose for it to remain unfullfilled.

Roy Jones cherry picking past the James Toney fight would make Mayweather today look like he takes on all comers!

 

I guess I wasnt the only one that notice the ref in the way too much, which prevented in some ways for Ruiz to use his size and even build momemtum:good

 

I would think that fighters like Hearns and Jones who pay taxes in the US, pay a social security tax when they do their income tax every year.
.......so as far as having food on the table and a nice place to live, that should'nt be a problem.

The problem with fighters like Hearns and Jones is that they accustom themselves to live a certain lifestyle and dont adjust their spending habits once their career is on the downside or over.


Personally, I dont have any pity with fighters like Hearns or Jones.
Hearns for example may say he's broke, but he's broke by millionaire's standards........
......the reality is that he likely has property he owns and income he makes from appearances that would total above the Average American income.

Hearns I would bet still lives beyond that of the average American......he just has to watch his spending as he cant live the millionaire's life, without the millions coming in from when he was fighting.


Btw, Borgia......your retirement plan is somewhat unrealistic as most boxers wont see 7 million in their lifetime.

Gerry Cooney and a few other fighters from the past have taken too helping out ex-fighters down on their luck and broke.........
Cooney and co, should be applauded and commended for their work......
What I think would be a good idea is for the same orginization to help ex-fighters should do is form a current boxers alliance.
An alliance that would bring in financial experts to stricly advise fighters about finance, and point out to them that just because they're making a sum of money now, that may not be the case in latter years, so this is what you have to prepare for, and this is the % of money you should set aside to use for retirement.


You would be suprised at how many fighters dont have a clue and are not thinking a year ahead, much less 10+ years down the line.

An alliance like this could instruct fighter that when they get a payday, they just dont live for it in the now!

 

Man i just wish he had retired that night and would have rightly been remembered amongst the panatheon of greats