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

Lou Del Valle also had him down heavily, and didn't look steady for the rest of the round but acted well.

 

If that was the case wouldn’t he have been KOed in the first fight and not the rematch?

 

He was old but Tarver and Johnson are the same age as him. so they deserve credit.

I feel he took the Johnson fight a bit too soon after getting KO'd by Tarver.

 

This.

If not for Tarver somebody else would have gotten to him a year or so down the line, because a speed and reflex based fighter in his mid 30's are of course very much on borrowed time.

But that punch really accelerated things. And sometimes one punch it all it takes. At least Roy fortunately only had his punch resistance ruined, his mental faculties seems amazingly well preserved today despite the fact that he went on fighting for long even after that.

 

He needed to retire early or adjust his style to compensate for his age. But I guess it's hard when things are going well and you're living in the moment. You just don't have the foresight.

I think the reason he looked poor against Harding was just due to the stylistic match up.

I don't think that he looked poor against Gonzalez and Harmon. He still looked very sharp. He just didn't put his foot on the pedal to go for the finish. He was happy to cruise to decisions. He also had an injured hand too. He hurt it on numerous occasions and it was bad against Telesco in 2000.

Apart from his low level mandatories, I can't agree that his opposition was shocking post Griffin. There were some very good and very solid fighters. I think you have exaggerated there, unless you were just looking at the likes of Frazier and Kelly.

Post Griffin he fought:

Virgil Hill
Lou Del Valle
Reggie Johnson
Richard Hall
Eric Harding
Julio Gonzalez
Clinton Woods
Antonio Tarver

That was decent opposition.

 

He looked terrible in the first fight. Looked sluggish and off compared to his usual self. Tarver deserves credit for fighting a great fight but age may have caught up w him

 

When did he come off them?

 

I don't think it was an excuse. He was exhausted in the first Tarver fight, and Mackie Shilstone advised him not to drop back to LHW, saying that burning muscle quickly at an advanced age can affect the body's immune system. Also, the same thing happened to other fighters.

It was definitely a factor, but not the sole reason.

 

Probably the main thing is that he didn't have a great chin.
He slowed down and had to take more punches and could no longer compete at the top.
Previous to that he'd been too fast to get hit.

 

Awful. Hill and Johnson were 10 years past their best. Richard Hall? Now we're stretching. Clinton ****ing Woods!(haha) Gonzales??

 

Toney hit him with a huge shot on the spin, flush. It was a great move. Jones just stared at him.

 

Somehow when I guy gets knocked out it changes them and makes them more cautious and insecure. That small difference in little facts and also how the body declines makes a big difference against top guys who look for anything. Some guys do better than others.

 

He had to fight someone I guess. I'd of rather he fought Rocchi, Nunn and DM than those chumps, to prove himself.

 

I say chumps, that's just relative to the top guys.

 

It's not awful at all.

It's just you exaggerating.

I never said that they were great. But they certainly aren't awful or shocking.

Virgil Hill went on to win a CW belt a few years later by knocking out Fabrice Tiozzo in a round.

Richard Hall and Julio Gonzalez caused Dariusz M issues, with Gonzalez getting a close win.

Clinton Woods was a solid guy who split 3 fights with Glen Johnson.

Reggie had just knocked out William Guthrie and then went on to give Tarver a decent fight.