Roy Jones Jr. to fight Antonio Tarver for third time

31.07.05 – By Jim Amato – AUTHOR’S NOTE: In light of the very good possibility of Roy Jones Jr. returning to fight Antonio Tarver in a rubber match October 1, 2005, I decided to re-release the following article. It was posted right after Roy’s stunning loss to Glencoffe Johnson….

NO NEED TO BE COY ROY…IT’S TIME TO RETIRE !

Well the initial shock is now over. It took a while. I mean no disrespect to Glencoffe Johnson but I did not think he had a real chance to win. I didn’t really give him a ” puncher’s chance ” because he did not carry the rep of a big hitter. No I thought Jones had made a wise career move. Fight and beat Johnson who was a respectable opponent who also held a piece of the title. That would set up the rubber match with his nemesis Antonio Tarver to unify their respective titles. If he beat Tarver to regain his past glory there would be other big fights on the horizon. Maybe he could entertain challenges from Bernard Hopkins or Joe Calzaghe. Maybe he would move back up to heavyweight for a long awaited rematch with James Toney. Who would have thought that a guy named Glencoffe would have ended all these possible scenarios.

This was not even a very competitive fight. Johnson jumped on Roy early and kept steady pressure on Roy. Jones had some moments, a flash of his brilliant past now and then. For the most part though Roy was rather ineffective. Still when the KO came I just sat in a state of shock. No way did I see this happening. To me this was an upset of major proportions. I always felt that Roy was a little overrated and had the benefit of fighting at a time when top notch 175 pounders were scarce. I don’t believe in kicking a man when he is down so no point going into that here. I really think this bout was just a case of a once fine fighting machine reaching the end of the line. It has happened to most of the greats, Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Duran, Arguello… They all fought one too many. I hope Roy retires now so fans will be able to put his bad performances of late behind. Fans should remember Roy at his peak and judge his rightful place in boxing history from those performances. One final thought. Who would have thought one year ago that Roy Jones would be knocked out, not once but twice !!!

AUTHOR’S FINAL NOTE:

I was hoping Roy would stay retired. I felt he beat Tarver the first time but it was close.Still it was the first sign of cracks in the great wall that Roy had built. In his KO loss to Tarver in the rematch…Well, he just got caught. I could see the justification for Tarver-Jones III. After Roy’s non performance against Glen Johnson one would have to wonder what Roy really has left.

Obviously Roy feels that he has unfinished business with Tarver. Will he regain the magic ? We’ll have to wait and see. A strong argument can be made that Roy was the best fighter of his era. I hope he does not get hurt.

Roy Jones Jr (49-3, 38 KOs) and Antonio Tarver (23-3, 18 Kos), who split two prior meetings, will fight in a 12-round light-heavyweight bout on October 1st. Jones won a majority decision over Tarver in November of 2003. Six months later, Tarver knocked Jones out in the second round. Jones has not fought since Glen Johnson knocked him out in September. The pay-per-view bout will probably be held in Las Vegas.