Boxing

Roy Jones, Jr. down in The Garden

By Kenny Giles

07.07 - On Saturday, July 18, 1998 I was in New York - a long way from my home in the North of England. I was midway through a two week holiday touring East Coast America with my girlfriend who, it has to be said, has little or no interest in Boxing whatsoever. The first day was spent visiting the Big Apple attractions that I expect most tourists would have in their top five list, a list now sadly reduced to four, but my priority was a simple three word location: Madison Square Garden.

There is something about 'The Garden' that overrides the glamour, glitz and hype of the usual high profile boxing contest. This is not a Nevada hotel complex, this is the Mecca of boxing itself where the likes of Ali, Frazier, Marciano, Louis, Holmes, Holyfield, Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard and 'man of the moment' Lennox Lewis have all displayed their crafts in some of the finest clashes ever seen. Just to walk around the empty arena would have been an amazing thrill for me, to take in the air, the atmosphere and to tell myself that this is where it happens, as far as boxing is concerned there is no other venue.

I could not have hoped for a bigger surprise. Not only was The Garden playing host to boxing once again that Saturday night, but top of the bill was a World Light Heavyweight unification bout between Roy Jones, Jr. (then 36-1 with 31 KOs) and Lou Del Valle (then 27-1 with 19 KOs). Within a few seconds I had purchased two tickets, they were back row seats but that didn't concern me, I was going to be a part of The Garden on World Championship Fight Night!

7:00 pm - As with most of the sporting venues I have ever visited, The Garden was surprisingly small compared to my TV influenced expectations. This, however, was a bonus considering we were located in Row Z and the ring didn't seem to be that far away (although I had dismissed any chance of listening to the corners between rounds). At this early hour the crowd was sparse, a far cry from the 4,519 that would be gathered later in the evening. I took the opportunity to read my program and was surprised to see that no less than nine fights were scheduled before the main event. Heavyweights, Super Middleweights, Jr. Welterweights and even Women Lightweights, there was a real feast of warm-up bouts to wet my appetite before Roy and Lou would take centre stage. This, naturally, meant nothing to my girlfriend who had realised she was in for a lot more boxing than she'd bargained for. Time for a beer.

Two large Buds later and my excitement was starting to intensify. I sensed strong local support for Lou Del Valle, a fighter from Queens, as his growing army of followers began taking their seats around me. This could pose a problem as I had planned on cheering for Roy but I had reassurance in the fact that I was with a girl, I was a foreigner and by the time the bell had sounded for round one I would have drunk enough beer to silence all my inhibitions.

10:00 pm - three hours into the boxing extravaganza and David Izon had just stumbled to an eight round points decision over Marion Wilson. The atmosphere was heating up and I had even managed to befriend a handful of fellow Roy Jones, Jr. supporters - there would be high volume cheering from this quarter after all.

11:00 pm - two more bouts passed by and next up was the main undercard contest between Kevin Kelley (then 48-2-2 with 32KO's) and Derrick Gainer (then 23-4 with 16KO's). I knew this would be an interesting fight because I had recently enjoyed Kelley's classic 'up, down' battle with England's own Naseem Hamed on TV (also staged at The Garden). This was something of a grudge re-match between Kelley and Gainer who had fought each other in 1996 in what some regarded as the 'fight of the year' when both were knocked down, Gainer doing most of the damage and Kelley finally producing a late kayo to win. Any repeat of that drama and I was in for a treat! And so the first round proved to be with Kelley down after a quick fire shot from Gainer. He was upright again after a couple of seconds but the next six rounds saw Kelley seemingly reluctant to repeat the effort of 1996, or the determination shown against Hamed. He was floored again in the seventh and Gainer was content to circle the ring for the rest of the fight and earn a points victory. The real action was looming.

12:00 am - by now the crowd was close to capacity and the arena awaited the entrances of Jones and Del Valle. Suddenly, without any warning, rival fans erupted into a mass brawl only a few rows in front of me. Around thirty heavily built men clashed in true gladiator fashion whilst security struggled to keep them apart. Chairs were flying forwards and from side to side, though thankfully not backwards which made my Row Z position relatively secure. The close proximity of the fracas did, however, waken my inhibitions for a moment, especially when I remembered I was in New York, USA - they have guns here, right?

With The Garden restored to relative calm, the fighters made their approaches to the ring with Jones been by far the more flamboyant. Not only did he enter the arena accompanied by a spectacular music and light show, the music was his own material, written and performed by Jones himself. This truly is a multi-skilled individual. When in the ring Jones was surrounded by several scantily clad dancers, much to the crowd's delight, and I tried to imagine what Jack Dempsey or Joe Louis would have made of all this.

Roy Jones, Jr. and Lou Del Valle have a couple of things in common. Firstly, and importantly, the pair had sparred more than thirty rounds together three years prior to the fight. Jones was very much the 'known' fighter at that time with Del Valle picking up a hard earned 750 dollars a week for his trouble. The point is that much of Del Valle's pre-fight verbal was based around the knowledge he had acquired during this sparring and how he was hugely confident that he would beat Roy Jones. The second connection is Virgil Hill, former WBA Light Heavyweight Champion. Del Valle had lost a controversial points decision to Hill in 1996 when he challenged for the World Title, the only tarnish on his pro record. Jones had fought Hill in his last fight (April, 1998), stopping him in the fourth with a 'made for replay' body shot. With all this in mind I anticipated an absorbing contest and I wasn't about to be let down.

As soon as Jones' dancing girls had been dispatched from the ring and the PA had stopped playing his new CD it was time to get down to business. On the line was the WBC belt held by Jones and Del Valle's own WBA belt which he had won by knocking out Eddy Smulders in Germany the year before.

Halfway into the first round and Jones had immediately established his superior speed and movement, looking every bit the World's Pound for Pound finest. Del Valle's strategy looked ominous as he allowed Jones to lead the fight, hoping to score on the counter attack. For the first two rounds it was pure exhibition from Jones who danced around the ring threatening with both hands, throwing in frequent head fakes to add to Del Valle's confusion. For the entire third round Jones switched to a southpaw stance which seemed to completely baffle his opponent, himself a southpaw. Through the middle rounds Jones' hold on the fight strengthened. His constant pressure seemed to be getting the better of Del Valle who simply could not match or counter Jones' style, what happened to the inside knowledge he picked up from sparring?

Until the eighth round the highlight of the fight had been Jones' flurry of deadly body attacks and Del Valle's courageous ability to absorb them. What happened next would make history.

Round eight was coming to an end and Del Valle battled gallantly against not only mesmerizing opposition but now a troublesome cut over his left eye. The doors on this contest appeared to be closing. Confidence was sky high as Jones began showboating between shots then, from nowhere, a flash right-left combination to the head dropped him to the canvas. Nobody was more surprised than Del Valle who moved to a neutral corner with rejuvenated intent. Controversy would later brew with talk of a slippery canvas, but at that moment it was a clean knockdown and Roy Jones was sprawled after falling over on his side. The crowd went berserk as hysteria swept across the arena - this was a magical feeling, I could smell an upset in the air and I was Del Valle's number one fan for a few seconds. Actually it was only five, as Jones was back on his feet and the bell rang to end a round that will live in the memory of Lou Del Valle for eternity.

The most astonishing aspect of this fight (and perhaps the most devastating for Del Valle) was how Jones re-established himself in round nine. It was as if the knockdown had never happened as he continued to press, only now without the showboating. Jones dominated the next four rounds on his way to a unanimous points victory which saw him win every round except the one in which he was toppled. Pound for Pound mark of a true champion? I would say so. Jones earned two million dollars for the fight with Del Valle collecting slightly under one million.

As of July, 2002 Jones' record had improved to 46-1 with 37 KO's and Del Valle to 31-2-1 with 21 KO's. Confusingly, Del Valle's last fight against Bruno Girard in Marseilles (August 2001, Draw) was for the vacant WBA Light Heavyweight title - the same belt he lost to Jones in Madison Square Garden. This is because the WBA have promoted Roy Jones to the status of 'Super Champion' which was created to give undisputed champions more time to defend their titles and more challengers a chance to fight for the 'regular' title. 'Super Champions' must defend their titles within eighteen months against the WBA champion. Nice if you are the Super Champ, but surely this devalues the achievement of the 'regular' champ. Do we really need even more titles to fight for?

No fighter before or since Lou Del Valle has floored Roy Jones, Super Champion in a professional boxing match. I tasted a piece of history that night in The Garden and even though television replays suggest a controversial slip, I believe otherwise. Ask anybody in Row Z.

 

 


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