by Ricky Town

13.09 - It must be tough being Pound for Pound the best boxer in the world. If you think that's tough, try being Pound for Pound the best boxer in the Light-Heavyweight division.

Roy Jones not only have to endure the critics who claims he only fight easy fights, he has to do it in a division that just doesn't have the talent to test his greatness.

Have we forgotten that Roy Jones fought and beat both James Toney and Bernard Hopkins? He fought the best that stood in front of him. Unfortunately for Roy, there are no more Toneys and of Bernard Hopkins, it would be a repeat of the first fight.

True fight fans would have loved to see Roy Jones fight a Light-Heavyweight Evander Holyfield, Dwight Muhammad Qawi , Mathew Saad Muhammad or a Michael Spinks. You would have seen prize fighting at its best.

I would have loved to see Roy Jones against Tommy Hearns in his prime or Sugar Ray Leonard or better yet against Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Time only allows so many great paths to cross.

We criticize great fighters too often for not fighting great opponents. Sometimes business dictates sport. Roy Jones is a prize fighter. He fights not just for the fans, but for the prize.

Joe Louis will go down in history as a great champion but had to endure the "Bum of the Month" ridicule.

Muhammad Ali as great as he was, fought fighters that should not have been mentioned in the same breath.

To be honest, I like seeing the underdog climb in the ring with a great fighter. We all rooted for Leon Spinks, Buster Douglas, Jimmy Young, Clinton Woods, I even rooted for Rocky against Apollo Creed.

I thought the fight was very entertaining and Clinton Woods fought his heart out. He did a million times better that Peter McNeely and Bruce Seldon.

Woods came to fight and broke the house up with his version of the "Ali Shuffle". No one would be reading this if you had not done what millions of others had done; you tuned in to watch a great fighter not a great fight.

Roy Jones' only alternative is to move up in weight or down in weight. Either direction would be a mistake. Let the fans scream foul. Let history be unkind. Let the sports writers write unfavorable reviews. When the dust clears, no one will deny that Roy Jones, Jr. did it his way.