BoxRec

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I don't know about that, Matthew Saad Muhammad would probably have weathered it.

It took just one punch to explode the myth of Roy Jones Junior at the weekend – and remove his tag of greatest of all time.

The man who handpicks his opponents obviously made a mistake in tackling new WBC light-heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver for a second time.

And I couldn’t help wondering if Jones’ alleged steroid abuse was coming back to haunt him.

In a well-documented case, Jones was accused of failing a drugs test following a light-heavyweight title fight against Richard Hall in 2000.

The boxing authorities did nothing, but I would have expected Jones to have been under intense scrutiny in his last couple of fights.

He would have been found out if had taken steroids before he fought Tarver the first time.


Jones’ performance under the influence of drugs against Hall was a world away from his second-round knockout by Tarver and that says it all.

Jones who started his career as a middleweight only to move through the ranks and capture the WBA heavyweight title, might have needed drugs to help him bulk up.

May be his age just caught up with him but to be considered the greatest you need to beat the greats – and Roy does not have a great fighter’s scalp.

Now Tarver could face Joe Calzaghe if he beats Glencoffe Johnson to capture the IBF light-heavyweight crown in Manchester on June 12.

Personally, I would have loved Joe to have been the man to knock out Jones, and he stood as good a chance as any because of his fast hands, big punch and granite-like chin.

But the closest I got to making the fight was when Jones said he wanted $8million – leaving Calzaghe with just $500,000!

***

Audinary Harrison said this week he doesn’t want to face Matt Skelton if the fight doesn’t go on next month.

He claims that he can’t fight Skelton in the autumn because he will be at a another stage in his career.

If he had read the press reports from his last fight and he continues to fight weak opponents, he certainly will be at another stage in his career – being shown on BBC3.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:What a disrespectful attitude. Tarver knocks Jones out with 1 shot after giving him the hardest fight of his career last time out, and you slag him off. What a fuckwit.

MightyWarrior wrote:Jesus who reads that rag anyway? Let FW babble away in quiet oblivion for all I care.

Ian 'Mr' McNeilly wrote:

MightyWarrior wrote:Jesus who reads that rag anyway? Let FW babble away in quiet oblivion for all I care.

I only wish you were right, MW. The NOTW is the single most read publication (per edition) in Britain.

Say they sell 4 mill. Maybe 500,000 read the column. How many of the half million are as up on boxing as the majority of users on this forum?

I'd say you are looking at 450,000 who think what FW is saying will be gospel. DANGER!