Last night in Phoenix, former great Roy Jones Junior destroyed part-time boxer/MMA fighter Vyron Phillips with a crushing 2nd-round KO. The 47-year-old legend, taking part in something of a novelty bout – with Phillips set to pick up $100,000 if he won – dropped Phillips flat on his face with a right hand shot. The fight was all over with less than a minute to go in the second-round.
What this proves is open to debate but Jones Junior certainly didn’t announce either his retirement from boxing or his next fight. Weighing in just above the 200-pound limit, Jones Junior basically did as he pleased against the 33-year-old fighter who is 5-3 as an MMA fighter and 6-1 as an amateur boxer. Phillips spoke before the bout about idolizing Jones as a youngster and he said post-fight that he would like to see the former multi-weight king call it a day and retire to be a trainer – “I don’t want to see him get hurt,” Phillips said of his hero.
Fans around the world have wanted to see the once untouchable Jones Junior retire for some time now, but the future Hall of Famer refuses to listen to his critics and continues to do as he pleases. And fight is what Jones Junior wants to do and he may well continue to do for some time. Jones Junior, who before last night’s bout was left flat on the canvas himself, by Enzo Maccarinelli in December, will no doubt point to his win as evidence he can still do it. He can, but only at a certain level; certainly nothing like the level he once dominated at.
There wasn’t a big crowd on hand to watch Jones-Phillips and the other bouts, from MMA and wrestling, and we have no idea how many armchair fans paid the pay-per-view price of $11.99 to watch last night’s event. When we consider how great and how huge a star Jones was back in the 1990s and early to mid 2000s, last night’s spectacle was indeed a sad affair. Still, at least it was Jones doing the knocking out this time.