There was a time when defeat, let alone a nasty KO defeat, was an utterly unthinkable fate for the sublime Roy Jones Junior when he was doing his stuff in the ring. Not any more. Sadly, and no longer shockingly, a stoppage defeat has become a regular occurrence for the man with the once blurring fists and the chilling power.

For reasons only the future Hall of Famer knows (and yes, Jones is still absolutely guaranteed to be enshrined when the time comes, despite his late career embarrassments; ones that cannot erase his former brilliance) Jones continued to risk his health by carrying on fighting after taking that nasty and disturbing KO hammering at the heavy hands of cruiserweight Denis Lebedev in late 2011. Jones should arguably have called it a career even before his Russian disaster – maybe after his KO loss to Glen Johnson, way back in 2004 – but instead the 48 year-old has fought a further 11 bouts since the Lebedev defeat.

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