What went wrong with Roy Jones Jr?

Marvin was one of the greatest ever. But it's not a given he'd have gotten to Roy.

A prime, 25 year old version of Roy who weighed in as a LHW on fight night would have given any MW in history a huge puzzle to solve.

His speed and his unorthadox style would have been a huge issue for Marvin.

 

What Morlocks wrote is absolute nonsense.

He didn't avoid the best.

Hopkins wouldn't rematch him.

Dariusz wouldn't fight in the U.S. and he was more than happy to milk his WBO belt in Germany.

Calzaghe was under the radar and was happy to do what Dariusz was doing but at SMW.

At LHW, Roy fought:

Mike McCallum
Montell Griffin x 2
Virgil Hill
Reggie Johnson
Eric Harding
Richard Hall
Clinton Woods
Antonio Tarver

He fought John Ruiz at HW.

The only low level guys he fought were mandatories and the odd keep busy fight.

It's not like he was fighting scrubs and then suddenly a guy like Glen Johnson was a huge step up in competition for him.

 

Great post.

 

His first loss to Tarver was due to being caught by a perfectly timed shot. Although you have to wonder of Tarver would have been given that same opportunity against a pre-HW version of Roy?

 

The main factor was age.

Tarver and Johnson weren't a huge step up in competition.

 

Great post.

I think it would always have ended badly though. Because he would always have fought into his 40's.

Roy wasn't media friendly when he was younger which garnered hate. But that's because he felt so underappreciated.

 

Roy was visibly exhausted in the first Tarver fight.

In the 2nd fight, he'd had a rest and was better prepared physically. He'd hired Mackie Shilstone again. But like I said previously, he got caught with a perfect shot.

Taking the Johnson fight was one of the biggest mistakes that Roy made in his whole career. The reason he took that fight so soon is because he was humiliated by Tarver. That loss really embarrassed him. So he wanted to get in the ring ASAP. But the people around him should have done everything in their power to have prevented that fight from taking place. He wasn't ready for that either mentally or physically. The belief had gone. He was vulnerable. He second guessed himself and Johnson pressured him like mad because he knew he was weak. And look at the knockout itself. There's no way that fight would have played out like that before the Tarver loss. Johnson was a very good LHW who was tough. But he wasn't a huge step up in competition. He split 3 extremely close fights with Clinton Woods.

Regarding the muscle loss, look at how it affected other fighters.

Look at Chris Byrd.

He fought monster punchers at HW and then he was knocked out by Shaun George at LHW.

Mackie Shilstone told Roy to stay at HW and he said losing muscle at an advanced age a can effect the body's immune system.

 

Nothing went wrong. He had a great, great career, beat the two greatest fighters of his generation that were in spitting distance of his weight and stayed at the pinnacle of the sport for a decade. He simply hung around too long as many, many fighters do. I don't give additional points for great career management (i.e. knowing when to retire). You take his collection of performances up till 2003 and it's ridiculous by modern standards. He barely lost a round, befuddled the greatest befuddlers, stung durable guys like no one before him, and captured the flag of the glamour division.

 

Who did he avoid ?

 

I don't think steroids played a part.

Were they really that advanced back then?

He was a reflexes based fighter.

Chris Byrd, Antonio Tarver and Chad Dawson also suffered when they burnt muscle.

 

He didn't fight improved competition.

 

Excellent post sir

 

Joe Calzaghe has always vociferously made the point that, after he apparently gave a positive sample, he was never the same invincible presence again.

 

This is an excerpt from his autobiography - 'No Ordinary Joe' published a year before they fought in 2007:

"I have no interest anymore in Roy Jones and no interest in Antonio Tarver. Jones is washed up and Tarver was never that good anyway. He just caught Jones when Jones was shot and Johnson did the same"

 

That's not true though is it.

His positive test was against Richard Hall in 2000.

Yet he still looked as good when he toyed with Gonzalez and Woods in 2001 and 2002, and he easily beat Ruiz in 2003.