By Don Deane
04.09 - Roy Jones has moved up divisions two times in search of fights and has found nothing even close to his level. With wins over young James Toney and Bernard Hopkins, Roy went in search of bigger fish in higher weight classes. He found Virgil Hill and Eric Lucas. In recent years Roy has not been able to land the big fight and it is doubtful he would even be able to if it was there. He is a victim of his own ego and self- importance. The man thinks that boxing revolves around him and he calls the shots. Negotiations never even started with Michalczewski, Hopkins or Trinidad before Roy Jones was proclaiming himself as too good to fight them. His most frequent comment is "I don't need them, they need me". Sorry Roy, but you do need them. At this rate you will be the most talented boxer in history to accomplish nothing to remember you by.
Though we can blame Roy's big head, the opposition hasn't exactly been beating down the door to get to the undisputed light heavyweight champ. Hopkins has been blowing a lot of hot air as usual, no telling how serious he is. Trinidad made no real distinctive comments about wanting a shot at Jones, and that doesn't matter now anyway because of Hopkins. The integrity of Michalczewski's people is supported by the first Richard Hall fight. By most accounts Hall was well on his way to a win before his eye all of a sudden became too bad off to continue the fight. I definitely agree with Jones for insisting that Michalczewski come to the USA for a fight. Klaus Peter Kohl seems to be a promoter that I would only want to deal with in my own backyard. And I think Richard Hall can vouch for that.
Unfortunately for Jones, he doesn't have that many options to help his legacy. Critics want him to jump to 190 and fight Vassily Jirov. That is insane. Jirov is just too big for Roy. Just because he fights at 175 does not mean he is a 175 pound man. De La Hoya and Shane Mosley have shown some effects of moving up in weight and I think the same thing would happen to Roy. Jones would not have the power at 190. Where as Jirov's power will be increased do to fighting a smaller foe. Roy will be very quick, but the added weight may slow him down just enough for Jirov. I still think Roy wins, but that fight would not be the David and Goliath kind of match up people expect it to be. It would be more like the Afghani with the rocket launcher jumping out from behind the rock to shoot down the Russian gunship. The quick strike from a superior arsenal taking down the bigger opponent.
Roy could also stay where he is and fight Antonio Tarver after he disposes of Clinton Woods. I think Tarver would give Roy problems much like Eric Harding did. The southpaw style and height would give Tarver some great natural advantages to go along with his great boxing skill. But that is about it from 175 on up. I have heard the "David vs Goliath" crowd speak of Chris Byrd or Evander Holyfield, but that is just ridiculous and merits no comment.
A good safe bet for Roy Jones would be to step back down to 168 and lure in one of the champions there. A rematch with Eric Lucas would be nice since Lucas has a belt and is much more in the public eye now. His other main option there is Joe Calzaghe. I consider Calzaghe an underrated fighter and I like him a lot. It would be a good fight that Jones would of course win, and of course the fans would all say Calzaghe is a nobody even though he could possibly be the best super middleweight since Jones left the division.
Finally we have the rematch of the undisputed champs. Jones vs Hopkins. This is the fight everybody is dying to see. I, being a big time Hopkins fan, will stick my neck out and say Hopkins wins a tough decision. Jones will fall victim to his own ego and strong Hopkins counterpunching just like Trinidad did. Speaking of Trindad, he no longer figures now that he went into retirement, because if he comes back it will be awhile before he is back at the level he needs to be.
I would be content with seeing Jones fight any five of the aforementioned guys. And if deals could be hammered out with Michalczewski or Sven Ottke, I would be intrigued by those match-ups too. And until that happens, Roy Jones will continue to be a largely misused talent and will continue to be the subject of frustration for boxing fans. But if we all got everything we wanted there would not be anything to keep us anticipating the next move of our boxing superstars. So maybe Roy Jones' career isn't all that disappointing afterall
