Roy lost 20+lbs of muscle in less than a year when he came back down from HW, since then he's never looked the same at Light Heavy. He looked shot and drained when he 1st fought Traver and squeezed out a close decision back in 2003. Though he didnt loose much speed, he totally lost his confidence, timing, footwork, endurance, pretty much never threw any combination, got tired after throwing 2 punches and just stood still and covered up in a corner.
Roy lost 20-25 pounds of muscle... It wasnt 10 pounds. He fought Ruiz on fight night @ 200 lbs. He didnt have an once of fat on him at 200 so to come down to 175=25 lbs. It's been documented that the weight was incorrect. If you do not believe that there was a documentary before the fight which showed Jones at 200 and him complaining because they weighed him in at 193. If you still arent convince then just use simple logic. He did fight at 201 lbs so why would he sweat out 8 lbs as a heavyweight? Roy basically had a physical advantage and he got away with things because of his athleticism...when that went away he began to get hit more. I dont think Roy has the best chin either... At this point he is nearly 40 he is far from prime and he isnt going to get any better.
I have been a Jones fans since he first turned pro and this is my opinion: I think Jones was an off/on again steroid user all the way up to the Ruiz fight. I believe he got off the Juice right after then had to shrink down 25 pounds to get to Tarver. He took a beating in that fight even though I do think he won it down the stretch. I think that fight was the downfall for him mentally AND physically. The brutal KO's that followed did killed his ego. Does anyone remember round 4/5 when he had Tarver hurt and backing up and failed to do anything about it---he lacked the confidence/killer instict to at least go for it. JoeyP