Boxing

 

Roy Jones Jr. - A worthy scapegoat?

By Murali Para

18.08 - Roy Jones has often been described as the most gifted boxer of the modern era. He has won world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions since turning pro in 1989. And his sustained dominance was underlined when he was voted 1990s Fighter of the Decade by the Boxing Writers' Association of America, and when he received the WBC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Jones has frequently appeared at the top of the mythical pound-for-pound rankings since his easy victory over previously unbeaten James Toney in 1994. Yet in recent years, he has garnered a lot of negative media coverage over the quality of his contests. But does Jones, now 46-1 (37), really deserve all the bad press?

My first point is that, while Jones is sometimes mentioned alongside Ali and Ray Robinson in respect of his talent, it is unreasonable to compare his opposition with theirs. Clearly, Ray Robinson and Ali were in more gruelling wars than Jones- Robinson had La Motta, and Ali had Frazier and Norton. Besides, over the last few decades, the number of contests a world-class fighter will have in his career has dropped markedly. And many matches are politically impossible because of the myriad of different sanctioning bodies. That is why we can only really compare Jones to other contemporary pound-for-pound champs in terms of the quality of his contests.

The mythical pound-for-pound rankings are all about change. Over a period of years - or even months - many of the top fighters will tumble down the list, and will be replaced by the new rising stars. In the last 2 years alone, previously dominant champions like Naseem Hamed, Lennox Lewis, Felix Trinidad and Shane Mosley have all taken a fall. All have been exposed as less infallible in reality than the media hype had built them up to be. Hamed's defence has let him down, Lewis has fallen prey to complacency, Trinidad has been outsmarted and Shane Mosley has struggled with his opponents' jab. These weaknesses undeniably detract from the overall make-up of the fighters in question.

Now let's look at Jones. Admittedly, he took a while to work out Montell Griffin's style in their 1st bout. But the fight was there for the taking if not for Jones's overeager attempt to finish it. And the 1st-round KO in the rematch made matters clear. The manner of Jones's victories is what makes him stand out, when you look at the calibre of his better opponents. His domination of current favourite Hopkins in their 1993 middleweight bout now seems significant - the scores of 116-112 were generous to Hopkins, who struggled to connect all evening. And the fact that Jones easily stopped tough adversaries like Malinga, Tate, Sosa and Hill reflects his superiority over his peers. A master of the sweet science of 'hitting and not being hit', Jones seldom loses many rounds.

His critics maintain that his contests are 'mismatches'. But, with 7 belts at light heavyweight,
Jones has to make his mandatory defences in order not to be stripped. And just for the record, 3 of his last 4 opponents (Kelly, Gonzalez and Harding) were unbeaten before they met Jones. And only 2 of his last 6 fights (Gonzalez and Telesco) have gone the distance. So to say that Jones's opponents are not valid or that Jones under-performs is simply inaccurate. He beats everyone who is put in front of him. No champion can do more than that. It is no fault of his if his division is not as strong as, say, the light welterweight one. Besides, Jones's peers only look so ordinary because of the margin of his superiority over them.

It is true that Jones has not fought Michalczewski and, more significantly, he has not yet moved up as promised to face Jirov at Cruiserweight. Those omissions on his ledger do merit some criticism, but Michalczewski, reluctant to fight in the U.S., must share the blame here. And there is no reason, in my eyes, why Jones should fight either Hopkins or Calzaghe - neither man has proven anything at light heavyweight, which is Jones's division. It makes no sense whatsoever for Jones to go down in weight. On the whole, I really do think it inappropriate for Jones to be criticised as much as he is. Maybe when he retires, people will realise this. Until then, the bad words will flow freely. On a positive note, I hope Jones does fight Jirov. It would be good for the fans and for the sport in general.

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