Why was did Roy Jones Jr. decline dramatically after the Tarver rematch fight?

Still convinced going down in weight after going up combined w his age and steroid use hit him hard. He was an athletic freak that once his speed went down slightly that was it for him. Chin was also never the same after that.

 

The perfect storm, as they say. He didn’t have long left at the top, even if not for the weight issues. He probably had the longest prime of any reflex based fighter, and they tend to fall off pretty quick. I think it was just a matter of time past about 2001, when he began clearly declining physically.

The weight draining might’ve made it more pronounced, but it was really just one hell of a shot from Tarver. The best he ever threw and the worst Roy was ever hit with. A Nunn/Kalambay type of shot, but not as flukey given the vulnerabilities Roy was already showing.

In his prime he may have avoided it, but who really knows with a punch like that. Regardless, his defeat was in the cards for a few years leading up to it’s eventual realization. The viciousness of it ruined his mental state, and it was too late in the game for him to recover.

 

Losing over 25 pounds of muscle weight was a contributor. I don’t think his body fully adapted. Jones also relied heavily upon his reflexes during his prime. As a fighter like that ages he has to adapt, because those reflexes begin to fade. Ali was a perfect example of that, except he had an exceptional chin that compensated for the slowing of his reflexes, Roy did not.

 

Well for starters he was 35 years old with about 50 fights of mileage behind him.

 

There was definitely the issue of him building his whole style around speed and reflexes and once he lost a step he left that chin exposed.

But as much as that, Roy began to believe his own press clippings and that he was invincible. He simply did not know how to lose or fully understand that is was a possibility every time he stepped in the ring. Almost all of his fights were complete whitewashes of his opponent, KO's or him rarely losing a round. Wags were going on about him being in the discussion with Ray Robinson. He played a semi-pro bball game the same day as a title defense! He never had the Norton or Frazier decision defeats to bring him down to earth. Rather he began to have devastating KO losses, the carpet completely pulled from beneath his feet, no adjustment, no time to develop a Plan B, no room for humility.

 

It’s not uncommon for boxers who drop back down in weight in their 30s to look bad. They’re already dealing aging to begin with, losing extra pounds has got to be difficult. Roy also wasn’t a technical master, he was an unorthodox boxer who often broke fundamental rules.

Sugar Ray Leonard when he went back to 154 against Terry Norris in 1991.

Oscar De La Hoya when he went back down to 147 to face Manny. I never expected him to drop back to 147 despite how much he was talking about it. I remember him saying back in the 99/00 that it was tough to make 147.

Chris Byrd when he went to 175 to fight Shaun George.

Antonio Tarver getting down to 175 after getting all fat for Rocky Balboa.

The Glen Johnson fight was the one where he really stuck out as just looking terrible all around. Despite looking exhausted in the first Tarver fight, Roy still gutted out a close win, and it was one of the more overrated “controversial” decisions ever. The body punching was the difference. The Tarver rematch was a perfectly timed punch. But against Glen Johnson? Roy just looked awful.

He was still faster than most fighters, but slower than usual. His legs looked gone. If you watch the slow motion replay of the knockout, It looks like Roy sees the punch coming, turns his head to roll with it, and still get knocked out!!

He actually looked clearly sharper in the rubber match. He stunned Tarver with an uppercut in the fifth round, and all around just looked better physically than the Johnson loss. But Roy was beaten mentally, almost certainly haunted by the previous 2 KO losses. Tarver looked kind of bad himself, they noted this on the Hopkins-Tarver preview how Tarver looked very fatigued near the end despite it being a slow paced bout.

It was frustrating to watch, it looked like it could have been winnable for Roy but he was too scared to take chances because of what happened before.

 

RJJ was all about speed. Once he lost the hand and foot speed, he was ordinary and vulnerable. That was his excuse, Antonio.

 

LOL I just rewatched the first fight. Lampley said "and Jones is still on ***** street!" Can't say that today.

 

You can't stay like that forever. He looked quite poor in many early 00s fights (Harding, Gonzales, Harmon, Tarver I), a shadow of the the guy who fought Thomas Tate. His level of opp was shocking post-Griffin also.

 

Off the roids. Close thread.

 

I think the weight thing was an excuse and I never bought into that. He looked sharp and in shape in those fights. Only thing is that his reflexes and movement deterioated. Roy was an athlet who was dependant on those things

 

Fighters who rely on speed and athleticism have the shortest primes. David Haye became a much beatable fighter once he lost his legs but he had the power to neutralize things.

 

The rapid decline was evident in the 1st tarver fight he got a gift with....in the form of slowed reflexes..laying docile on the ropes, seemingly not trying...legs dead....1)it all pointed to a guy badly weight drained from the 20lbs drop (on fight night at hw he was 199 on fight night at LH lets assume hes 179 as he wasnt a big LH).....2)some also state the balco bust had a part but theres no evidence for that ......i think its 1) plus 3) Age suddenly catching up with roys reflexes