Roy Jones Jr steps into the ring for a professional fight on 1 April, a shell of the boxer he once was – and 20 years on from his career-defining heavyweight title triumph against John Ruiz. That v…
I was boxing’s Michael Jordan, fought Mike Tyson whose punch felt like a horse kick, but I’m still going at 54Roy Jones Jr steps into the ring for a professional fight on 1 April, a shell of the boxer he once was – and 20 years on from his career-defining heavyweight title triumph against John Ruiz.
Considering the punishment Jones took at the end of his career, being brutally knocked out by boxers who wouldn’t have been able to lay a glove on him in his prime, it is startling to recall just how highly he was rated after his win against Ruiz. Jones had won world titles at 160lb and 168lb, before becoming undisputed champion at 175lb. He was untouchable at his best, knocking out one opponent – Glen Kelly – with a punch thrown from the starting point of both hands behind his back.
So the tough, awkward Ruiz should not have been a walkover for any boxer jumping two weight classes in order to challenge him. Unless that boxer had the talent of Roy Jones.and NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Jones made it all look alarmingly easy.Ruiz clearly had a strength advantage in clinches, but it was actually Jones who looked like the puncher.
But even snatching a portion of the heavyweight crown was a remarkable achievement for a 34-year-old boxer, about whom the only criticism was that he needed to seek out more challenging fights. Harrowingly, he fought on. Jones went 49-1 in his first 50 fights; then 17-8 in the last 25 fights of his extended career.Five of those eight defeats came by KO. Jones – having been almost impossible to hit clean during his peak thanks to his unique head and upper-body movement – was unaccustomed to taking shots. That showed when he began eating them with increasing regularity.
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