Last Saturday night, a moderate number of fight fans around the globe found themselves curious enough to fork over $40 bucks to see exactly how much Roy Jones jr. has left in the tank. His opponent is a man that many had already tossed to the wolves, under the false notion that he's no longer a solid value on the world class level; but for Jones, the fight served as more or less a gauge to see if he could handle the youth and power of a fading star, or perhaps shine again like the one he once was. Currently, we live in an era of the fight game where one or two losses can quickly equate to the end, but KO's and other losses withstanding, after 10 rounds of one-sided action, it became abundantly clear that the ever-yapping Roy Jones Jr. coincidentally still has much left to say. Both literally and figuratively.
Coming into the fight, in an effort to stay neutral in my observation of him, I thought it would help to put in the back of my mind for one evening the fact that this was one of the most purely talented fighters of the past, and simply try to rate him as if he was a new prospect on the rise? My results after seeing his performance was a clear and emphatic "wow", helping me to finally understand why he made a habit some years back of telling fight fans "yall musta forgot"!
Floyd Mayweather jr, Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins; All of these men have held the pound-for-pound mantle at some point in recent years, but fundamentally, even at the age of 41, after witnessing his performance, you have to really ask yourself how many of them truly possess this level of raw skills. The razzle dazzle can be imitated, but nearly impossible to duplicate is the 12-punch combinations...the ability to land and hurt an opponent from the oddest of angles with either hand....and the list goes on. Now, the taunting may not be the classiest ring demeanor we've ever seen, but when you get in the head of a fighter (think about that carefully) this is a very common act. Only difference is, most stop when the bell rings, while Jones has a penchant for braggin' while earning those braggin' rights, instead.
Love it or hate it, antics aside, there's very little dispute that Jones' talent is far from evaporating. The best example of Jones' natural attributes can come from analyzing those of a rather unlikely source. That source being Bernard 'The Executioner' Hopkins. When you watch Hopkins, although the final results are often similar, his victories come from total strategy employed from a mental position to make up for his less than speedy hands and/or reflexes. In the case of Jones, it's total domination of God given attributes. As those God-given attributes began to fade, his lack of the fundamental strategy and inability to win without those physical attributes hampered him. The chin-checks and subsequent losses at the hands of Johnson, Tarver, and Calzaghe each proved to us that he may have in fact left some of his better days behind him. But after this stunning performance turned in, I think clearly, there's no way to deny the fact that he still has a few key ring moments that lie ahead.
Is he relevant? Yep! Is it evident? Yep! Does this settle it?.....Well, not so fast! Only time will tell, and looking the way he did the other night at age 40, I think it's safe to say that time is infact on his side. Stay tuned.
(Vivek Wallace can be reached at
vivexemail@yahoo.com,
Youtube (Vivek1251),
Twitter (Vivek747),
Facebook, and
Myspace).
