02.10.05 – By Jim Jamesson: I’d like to start off by commending Antonio Tarver for his impressive victory over Roy Jones Jr. Tarver talked the talk leading up to the fight and backed it up in the ring. He looked impressive in taking a unanimous decision, and even stung Roy a couple of times during the fight. Both men were obviously in amazing physical shape, but Tarver did appear to hit a wall toward the end rounds. Perhaps he punched himself out or just decided to cruise toward the decision.. Either way it didn’t really matter since Roy never really offered up that much offense. All things considered, it was an entertaining fight.
After the fight, the post-fight comments with Larry Merchant were quite upbeat. Tarver was heaving praise upon Jones — even referring to him as one of the greatest fighters ever — but was quick to point out the fact he now owns two wins over the guy. Maybe it’s just me, but Antonio seems to be the Rodney Dangerfield of boxing, and I’d almost have to agree. Maybe now he will finally receive the credit he deserves. He’s certainly one of the best fighters in the game right now.
But oddly enough, even with this big victory, the story STILL seems to be about Roy Jones. Tarver could dominate Jones 6 or 7 more times, and STILL all the articles, headlines, and chat would tilt in Roy’s direction. Tarver is a great fighter, no doubt about it, but he just doesn’t manage to fascinate us folks in the same way Jones does.
So where does each man go from here? Tarver probably has any number ways he can go. He could easily stay king of the light heavyweight division for a while, and surely give Glen Johnson another go-round. When Larry pressed Roy on the retirement issue, he was about as razor-point specific as Kostya Tsyzu has been since losing to Ricky Hatton. Nobody has a clue. I imagine he will return to the broadcasting booth for HBO (providing he didn’t totally tick off Ross Greenburg). But who could he fight that we would want to see that might make a great fight? Let’s take a quick look.
Obviously, Jones would only take a fight that offers an attractive payday. The fighter would have to be well known, and probably past their prime. A Clinton Woods type would probably never happen, he’d have to stick with the elite guys. Bernard Hopkins, whether he gets past Jermaine Taylor or not, would probably make decent sense for both guys. What a great way to go out for both fighters, win or lose. It seems not too long ago that we would listen to both fighters bicker back and forth during any HBO interview. Jones would talk a mile a minute to ‘bring it’ and Hopkins would fire back ’50/50 50/50!!’ While I Hopkins has declined as much as Jones, he is past his prime and we can’t overlook that he’s 4 years Jones’ senior. I would assume they meet at a catch weight, but as we have seen before, this could be a disadvantage to Roy. Both guys are very crafty veterans, and both guys would be cautious in the fight. I don’t know if Hopkins would be able to close the gap the way Tarver could. Hopkins couldn’t afford a slow start in this fight, as Jones would probably appear to be the busier, more accurate fighter. My gut tells me that Roy would somehow eek out a close and boring decision, since Bernard being the smaller man, and not a big puncher to begin with, wouldn’t pose much of a threat to Roy.
A rematch with Johnson is another possibility. Jones may look back at the tape and think he certainly fared better in last night’s fight than in either of the three fights before it. He could try to extract his revenge on Johnson, who himself is getting up in years. I personally don’t see this fight coming off, and if it did, I see Jones fighting an overly-safe fight, and Johnson taking the unanimous decision.
Jeff Lacy is another name that was thrown around right before Hopkins 24-hour deadline (which took weeks I believe) with Jermaine Taylor. I seriously doubt Roy would take any risks with a young and serious threat such as Lacy. I’d pick Lacy in this one by KO, but we will never see this one.
What about a move back to Heavyweight? I could be wrong, but I’d almost bet the farm that the Quiet Man Ruiz would foam at the mouth for another crack at Roy Jones. I think this is a fight that could easily be made, especially if Don King feels Jones is damaged goods and sees dollar signs on his American Flags. This would be a fight I’d want to see, as it could rid us of John Ruiz yet again. Although I’m sure he will never quite leave the heavyweight title picture… Ruiz is like a grease stain in your favorite pants… it’s never coming out. No disrespect to the man, but he just doesn’t make for exciting fights. If this fight were to happen, I think the outcome would be no different than the first fight. Roy wins the fight easy, and only loses a round if Ruiz catches him with something clean. However I don’t see Roy being in trouble at any point in this fight. A 50 year old Roy Jones would still dance circles around John Ruiz.
The only other heavyweights I think would stand any shot to make a fight would be Chris Byrd, or James Toney. Everyone else in the division is just too big physically, or too small dollar-wise. A date with Byrd would probably be next to impossible to sell, especially after the bore-fest last night. While I didn’t see the fight, from what I hear it was painfully slow to watch. Compubox would be counting feints and jukes instead of jabs and powershots. I don’t feel this fight would ever come off (especially if Wlad Klitschko has his way in the upcoming months). And even if it did, I’m not sure I would care.
Which brings us to Lights Out. Toney has defintely been overstuffed lately, and would possess quite a size advantage over Jones. Using the first fight as a comparison is probably pointless, as they first met up many years and many pounds ago. James Toney as a heavyweight just doesn’t have the power to inflict damage on the other heavies. Look at his fights since destroying an antique Evander. Even though he was injured, he couldn’t get the slow and limited Rydell Booker out, couldn’t put Ruiz away, and had no luck even knocking down Guinn last night. He would have a power advantage against Roy however. In the speed department, Roy still easily has Toney outgunned, but James easily has the better chin of the two. If Jones were to come into this fight as in-shape and motivated as he was for this past fight with Tarver, I don’t see it being a complete blowout. I imagine the betting odds would favor James Toney, and I would probably pick Toney on a split decision.
IF — and this is a big IF that probably won’t materialize for another year — IF Roy Jones decides to keep fighting, these are the only opponents that make any sort of sense dollar-wise. I personally feel we witnessed the end of RJJ inside the ring last night. However as we all know, Roy doesn’t exactly spill the beans on his short or long term plans. He tells us just enough to keep guys like me speculating on the what-ifs and hypothetical matchups. But for now at least, it’s the end of the road for Roy Jones.