Jones’ future in the heavyweight division

Janne Romppainen

06.03 - After years of waiting and receiving harsh criticism for his non-fighting of the best opponents Roy Jones proved once and for all that he is all business by soundly defeating John Ruiz and capturing the WBA heavyweight world title belt. Considering Jones’ supreme boxing skill and talent the outcome wasn’t very surprising, but the easiness of the victory impressed everybody. After all, Ruiz had given Evander Holyfield all he could handle three times, yet Jones treated him for many rounds like he was a sparring partner. After the performance the question about what Jones plans to do next also popped up quickly.

All the doors are open now for Jones. He can go back to the light-heavyweight division and face his challenger Antonio Tarver there or even finally give a chance to his long-time fellow titlist Dariuz Michaelzewski. Also the cruiserweight division is an option. Vasily Jirov and James Toney are about to fight for the top spot of the weight class. Jones’ match against the winner could be interesting especially if that would mean a rematch against his old rival Toney who has been calling out for a rematch for about a decade now to make up for his embarrassing points loss back in 1994. Or, Jones can continue his excursion among the heavyweights and see how far his skill can take him.

Easily the most interesting and also the biggest money-making option for Jones would be staying among the big boys. After last weekend there is hardly an expert who would give a chance of victory for other light-heavyweights against him. Jirov could pose some kind of challenge but he is still relatively unknown outside the boxing fans. But the heavyweight division would mean mega-bouts and multi-millions for Jones and even losing in there wouldn’t harm his reputation too much anymore. Think about it: Jones-Tyson, Jones-Holyfield or, like some have even suggested, Jones-Lewis for the unified heavyweight crown. Many interesting sounding fights out there, but which of them should Jones take into consideration?

Many people are willing to acknowledge that Jones defeated the fighter from the heavyweight that was the best-made for him. That might well be the truth. Ruiz is neither very big, nor very powerful, nor very fast. That is true, but he still was a solid heavyweight and Jones won him in a manner that suggests that he indeed has future elsewhere in the division.

Jones is still not a heavyweight though. He defeated a top-ten heavy, but his own size would be still small for even the cruiserweight division. This is a fact that should be remembered. In my opinion that means that Jones should stay far and away from the giants of the division. Lewis and the Klitschko brothers seem to be just unbeatable even for Jones. The disadvantages that Jones would face in size and power would be too big to solve. He probably knows this himself too.

But the group of non-monsters is there for Jones. He brings to the table better speed than anybody. His technique is also ahead of the others and he seems to pack some power as well to hurt everybody. To see that, all you have to do is to compare the first and the second round of his fight against John Ruiz. In the first round Ruiz went after Jones but then he suddenly dropped the aggression and tried mostly to counter-punch Jones, which failed badly. Ruiz didn’t turn pacifistic for nothing, Jones was hurting him with his punches. Maybe he doesn’t have the same absolute power than the other top men, but the speed of the punches and the fact that you can’t see them coming makes up for it. Ruiz never stopped going after Holyfield or Kirk Johnson, but Jones was able to stun him.

Jones is often compared to Chris Byrd in the heavyweight. Byrd was able to slap and move the ring legend Evander Holyfield all night long en route to a lopsided decision victory. Jones poses more speed and probably even more power than Byrd so it is quite easy to see him doing the same. Holyfield takes and gives a better punch than Ruiz though so Jones’ chin would be tested in a new level. This is a fight that would create huge interest and money and would be very winnable for Jones. I see this option as one of the most likely.

Also battles against Mike Tyson or David Tua might be possible. Again the Byrd comparison, Byrd was able to outbox Tua pretty handily and Jones could try to do the same. Tyson isn’t the quickest from his feet anymore either. Both of these fights would be highly risky however as both of the men could end the fight with one shot, which is something Jones isn’t used to and something that would make the fight very exciting too. Both Tua and Tyson have also very good chins so Jones’ punching power wouldn’t help him much in there, he just had to stay away. Especially the Tyson fight could be one of the richest in the history. I doubt Jones will fight either of them however, he has a chance of winning but I wouldn’t bet for him either time.

Then there is Byrd himself of course. He was planned to be Jones opponent earlier too and that fight would make a lot of sense. Byrd isn’t very dangerous kind of an opponent. He doesn’t bring to table anything that Jones couldn’t cope with. As mentioned before, his power would not be a big issue as Ruiz is a bigger puncher than him and although he is fast, he isn’t faster than Roy himself. He would have the edge in reach and his boxing skill could be a problem even for Jones though. Jones had some trouble against Eric Harding and Montell Griffin earlier so Byrd could pose them too. This would probably be a real chess match between two master boxers.

Other than the biggest names, Jones still has the second group of triers to fight with. Fres Oquendo, Hasim Rahman, Kirk Johnson etc. would probably want to try to stop the new WBA champion if given an opportunity.

Whatever Jones decides to do and whatever happens to him in the future, he has secured his place in the history and he doesn’t need to prove anything anymore. In fact, now that he has climbed to the top, he can sit back a little and just enjoy doing the sport that he loves and in the progress give us even better exhibitions of his magnificent skills. We wait eagerly.

Comments/questions: janneromppainen@hotmail.com