Blake Murphy Sports Writing

Title: My Boy Roy
Date: January 20, 2008
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: A look back at the career of boxer Roy Jones Jr, with a look to his immediate future in the sport.

An Olympic Silver Medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea. A 121-13 career amateur record. Professional titles in four different weight classes. A 52-4 career professional record. That sounds like the resume of one of the greatest fighters of all time, doesn’t it?

Then why is it Roy Jones Jr. has fallen from the discussion about the best pound-for-pound boxers of all time in recent years?

With a decisive win over Felxi Trinidad last night at boxing’s Mecca, Madison Square Garden, in a fight with a lot of steam (and Don King) behind it, with a great deal of media, HBO Pay Per View, and ESPN coverage, maybe that’s changed. Maybe The Boy Roy has put himself back into the discussion. Or maybe, it’s too little, too late.Last night I was anxious for UFC 80: Rapid Fire, a card featuring a Lightweight Title bout between veteran BJ Penn and likable up-and-comer Joe “Daddy” Stevenson. I had forgotten that the card was emanating from England and that most reliable streamers online are from the UK, so I was disappointed when I sat down at 10pm (EST) to find that all of the streams of the event had taken place at 3pm EST, on account of the 8pm local start time in England. Instead of reading up on results or throwing on one of the many high scoring basketball games from last night, I opened up SopCast and turned on HBO Pay Per View to watch Roy Jones Jr. take on Felix “Tito” Trinidad in a battle of marquee names that was five years too late. A 39 year old Jones on the comeback trail against a 35 year old Trinidad coming out of retirement. Well, I wasn’t disappointed by any stretch of the imagination. The fight was exciting, fast paced, and a throwback to the style of fighting that once made boxing the premiere event available via pay per view. In the end, Roy Jones won rather decisively, brushing off Trinidad’s body shots in favor of landing several clean and more powerful shots, knocking down the Puerto Rican crowd favorite twice. The decision was unanimous, and the message clear:

I’m still here, and I’m still the best.

In 1988 Roy won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Korea and immediately jumped to the professional ranks. His first fight, in June of 1989, was a clean 8th round knockout of some nobody in Atlantic City. What was clear from this fight was that Roy had professional pedigree to accompany his medal. Roy would win 17 more fights in a decisive manner, all but one unanimous decision over Jorge Castro being knockouts, including three in the first round of fights. Roy had made a name for himself and would be rewarded as such.

In December of 1992 Roy knocked out Percy Harris in the 4th round to win his first championship, the WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight Title. While quite a mouthful and by no means a prestigious belt, Roy had earned himself the reputation and the record to set him up for a career of title opportunities. Just five months later Roy defeated Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision to win the IBF Middleweight Championship in what some call the best fight Roy has ever fought. He would go on to vacate the Middleweight Title without losing it to drop to Super Middleweight, where he won the IBF Super Middleweight Championship, defending against the likes of James Toney and his only Canadian opponent ever, Eric Lucas.

At the end of 1996 it was clear that he was the best ‘light weight-class’ fighter in the world. Nobody could touch him. It was time to move on up, and Roy dropped the Super Middleweight Title and jumped to the light heavyweight ranks, winning the WBC Light Heavyweight Championship right away. In his first title defense Roy suffered his first loss as a professional, a 9th round disqualification for hitting challenger Montell Griffin while he was down. Never one to let bygones be bygones, it would only take four months for Jones to meet Griffin again, knocking him out in 2 minutes and 31 seconds. Roy would continue in this division for some time, unifying the Light Heavyweight ranks and eventually becoming the IBA/IBF/IBO/NBA/WBA/WBC/WBF Light Heavyweight Champion.

At the end of 2002, Roy Jones Jr. aimed to solidify his legacy as the best pound-for-pound fighter of all time by gaining the 30 pounds necessary to make the jump to the Heavyweight division. At 47-1 and having never been knocked out or beaten on a judge’s card, Roy would make the unprecedented challenge to WBA Heavyweight Champion John Ruiz. To put this in perspective, this is the equivalent of Kyle Wellwood against George Parros, of BJ Penn against Chuck Liddell, of Dave Power against Blake Murphy. This was a mismatch by any stretch of the imagination, and a win would make Jones a unanimous Hall of Famer.

But first, he had to drop a rap album. He released “Round One: The Album” on his own and then formed the rap group Body Head Bangers and released a group-titled album that featured Petey Pablo, B.G., Mike Jones, Juvenile, Lil’ Flip, and more. Jones had leveraged his popularity and recognition as a boxing phenomenon to become a rapper. Though short lived, his rap career did produce the fantastic single “I Smoke, I Drank” by the Body Head Bangers featuring YoungBloodz. It was also around this time that he appeared in The Matrix: Reloaded as Captain Ballard, though I can’t speak to his success as I haven’t seen the movie. I can, however, speak to his success as a cockfight manager. Known for treating his roosters with the utmost care and respect, Jones once told Esquire Magazine, “Get a rooster comfortable and he’ll fight his ass off.”

Back to the boxing world, some were concerned Roy’s extracurricular activites would make him unprepared for such a huge fight. Well Roy had two words for them: unanimous decision. Jones did the impossible and beat Ruiz, becoming the first former Middleweight to win the Heavyweight Title in over 100 years. That was the end of Roy’s Heavyweight endeavour, having proven himself a better boxer than the world champion.

In what was a bad decision, and what I feel has ultimately cost him his reputation, Jones dropped back down from 200 pounds to 170 in just half a year to defend his Light Heavyweight Title against Antonio Tarver. The up-and-coming Tarver, who would later go on to star as Mason “The Line” Dixon in Rocky Balboa, gave him all he could handle as Jones won a 12-round majority decision that some considered controversial. Half a year later, Tarver shocked the world in their rematch by knocking Jones out with a nasty left counter-hook in the 2nd round. The invincible Roy Jones Jr. had been knocked out, and in convincing fashion no less. Roy then suffered a 9th round knockout loss to the unheralded Light Heavyweight champ Glen Johnson
Roy then jumped to the announcer’s booth for HBO, and this is where he probably should have called it a career. Still with a 51-3 record, his Ruiz victory fresh on everyone’s mind, and a reputation as one of the best the world had ever seen, the Tarver knockout gave Jones a respectable out from the boxing world at age 35. But, always a fighter, Roy has what I call fighter’s pride, where when you’re the greatest for such a long time, any hint of disrespect makes you feel the need to defend your legacy. You see it all the time with athletes, mixed martial artists, and boxers. It is what could eventually ruin Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s bid as the greatest of all time: not being able to walk away on top, because there is always someone you’ve never beaten.

Well a year later, after Johnson, too, beat Tarver, Jones got his rubber match with the first man to sit him on his ass. Tarver won by unanimous decision in an entertaining fight, but Jones would not take the loss as a sign of aging or declining ability, instead calling it a, “warmup for future fights.” Motivated once again by his desire to be known as the best ever, Jones hit the comeback trail with back to back July unanimous decision victories (2006 and 2007) over unheralded American fighters. This set up the big match from last night, a heavily promoted throwback fight against Felix Trinidad with both fighters beyond their prime.

For the first time ever, Jones worked a card put together by DKP, Don King Productions. Jones had long since swore to never work with Don King (the reasons are debated, but in my mind it’s because he couldn’t handle as big a name as Don King sharing the spotlight leading up to the fight), but an alleged telephone call asking for King’s help changed all that. At MSG, the home of the Boxing Gods, Jones Jr. picked apart Felix Trinidad for the last eight rounds of a 12 round fight.

What did this fight do for Jones, though? Trinidad certainly isn’t, at this stage, a formidable enough opponent to make people forget about his three straight losses from a few years ago. And the win certainly wasn’t dominant enough to establish Jones as a man to still be feared. But with a big name like Roy Jones Jr. and a promoter like Don King, Jones has to be the favorite to face the winner of Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe sometime in late 2008 or early 2009, a fight that could re-establish Jones as ‘the man.’

Last night, Jones probably danced too much, definately smiled and laughed too much, and undoubtedly hung his left hand way too much. At the same time, Jones danced just enough, smiled and laughed just enough, and hung his left hand just enough to show himself off as just as exciting and personable a fighter as there has ever been. Maybe the rap career, three straight losses, and cockfighting scandal hurt his legacy. Maybe his refusal to walk away from the sport on top at age 35, or now at age 39, will tarnish what was otherwise an unprecedented career. But maybe Jones wins a few more fights, another title or two, and then walks off into the sunset as a winner above the age of 40, carrying a resume like nobody before him, a true pound-for-pound legend.

…Or maybe he’ll treat us all to another rap album.