02.10.05 – By Travis Marks: As soon as I saw Roy Jones Jr. walking into St. Pete Times Forum last night to wave to his fans, I said to myself that he is saying goodbye. It was a strange feeling that came over me. Roy was saying thank you for all the support that you gave me over the years. This was a far different reaction that I had watching the weigh-in. Roy looked hungry; he looked like a man on a mission. He had me convinced that he was going to go at Tarver with everything that he had.
I dismissed the feeling that I had when I saw Roy walking into the arena as just Roy being happy to be back fighting. But the feeling returned after I saw his walk to the ring. Back in Roy’s heyday he walked to the ring angry. But here he was again, smiling to the crowd. This was not the Roy Jones that I thought could win a fight with Antonio Tarver. RJ, Roy’s alter ego that was last seen pummeling Montell Griffin some eight years ago was the man that was suppose to exact revenge on Tarver.
But the man that we saw walking to the ring last night was a man happy to be there, a man who can pack a stadium, but a man who lacked the winning drive that had made him at all time great.
As the fighter’s met the referee in the center of the ring to receive instructions for the fight, Roy again didn’t have the most confident look on his face. Roy always looked his opponents in the eye and kept a serious and focused look on his face. Roy had problems staring Antonio down. He looked at his opponent a few times but he also looked at the crowd, he had a nervous smile on his face and he even winked at a few people. The whole time I was asking myself, is Roy playing a mental game here with Tarver or is he tight? With great anticipation I waited for the bell to ring so that the fight could start.
The first round was basically a microcosm of Roy’s night in the ring. There was an over excessive amount of feinting, an inability to throw punches, and a basic lack of aggression. A big question that was being asked as fight night approached was does Roy still have his reflexes. While his reflexes were not on par with the reflexes that helped him dominate three weight classes and win a heavyweight title he still looked like he had retained enough to beat Tarver.
As the fight progressed Roy started to do trademark Roy Jones things, like showboating, hot-dogging, slipping punches and basically playing it up to the crowd. Roy’s defense was exceptional but the problem that Roy had all night was offense. Roy was not able to mount a real offense. The only sustained offense that the former pound for pound great was able to mount was in the fourth and fifth round. Roy was going to the body, throwing uppercuts (something that was missing from his arsenal ever since he went up to heavyweight), and making Antonio Tarver pay the price for being in the ring with well times straight right hands.
With momentum building after two successful rounds, Roy let it all slipped away in the sixth round by clowning around as Tarver became more aggressive. While it was entertaining at times it was also infuriating because it cemented the fact that Roy was not there to win a fight, instead he was there to avoid a fight. Who can really blame him? After two consecutive devastating knockout losses who knows what a man’s psyche is like? The next five rounds saw Tarver trying to be aggressive and Roy using his athletic ability to stay away.
When Roy was hit with that right hook that hurt him, I thought that he was going to be knocked out again. The knockout that he had tried to avoid all night was once again staring him again in his face. To his credit he was able to stay away up on his feet because of his will and also the fact that fatigue had set in for Tarver. Antonio looked like he was punched out and ready to be knocked out as well but Roy still couldn’t pull the trigger. The scene was set for an all out war in the last round but Roy didn’t have much to offer.
Roy Jones Jr. is an all time great but he is completely done as a fighter. Whenever you hear a fighter saying that he was satisfied after losing a one-sided decision you know that the motivation to win is no longer there. Roy wanted to prove to himself that he wouldn’t suffer another humiliating knockout and he did that. But his fans and all the people that bought this pay per view wanted to see him try to defeat his archrival. He came up very short tonight. Hopefully he will retire now knowing that his reflexes are still intact but the will to win is no longer housed in that chiseled body of his.