"If I lose, I quit."
Posted: 05 Jul 2006, 18:14
"If I lose, I quit." So says Roy Jones Jnr as he takes on little-known Prince Badi Ajamu in a light-heavyweight 12-rounder later this month (July 29).
The once mighty Jones, former IBF middleweight and super-middleweight champion, undisputed light-heavyweight champion and WBA heavyweight champion, is 37 - the same age as Joe Louis when The Brown Bomber was knocked out (and knocked out of the ring) in his final fight by Rocky Marciano - and has lost his last three fights. In May 2004, he was floored and stopped in two stunning rounds by Antonio Tarver in Las Vegas. Four months later, he was flattened in nine rounds by Glen Johnson in Memphis (a clean knockout). In his last fight in October 2005, he went 12 rounds to lose unanimously to Tarver in Tampa - a fight in which he fought to survive.
From Las Vegas to Memphis to Tampa. He fights Ajamu in Boise, Idaho. Small wonder Jones has nowhere to go if he loses.
And Ajamu, who hails from Camden in New Jersey, is a solid opponent in the circumstances. He hasn't lost since dropping a majority decision to comebacking Canadian star Otis Grant (stopped in 10 by a peak Jones in 1998) in Canada in April 2004, and halted Galen "Bad Boy" Brown in 10 rounds in his last outing in Atlantic City in January.
He's a sharp, tough, fresh, active fighter, no spring chicken himself at 34, but a pro only five years and on a winning run of six.
He also looks to carry a dig. He badly hurt southpaw Grant in the 10th and final round of their Quebec battle, but it came too late to amend the scorecards. His only other loss in 28 fights, to Detroit's Rico Hoye, came after 12 bruising rounds in Detroit in 2003. Again, Ajamu badly hurt the unbeaten Hoye, flooring him in the second with a big right. Hoye beat the count, on wobbly legs, and recovered to box out a unanimous decision. But Ajamu had exposed chinks in Hoye's armour later ruthlessly exposed by Sheffield's Clinton Woods.
Ajamu also has a draw on his record, with talented Contender star Anthony Bonsante in an eight-rounder in 2002.
Clearly, Ajamu struggles every time he steps up - but still puts up a fight. Too much of a fight for Jones at this stage of his career?
Jones, it must be stressed, has probably forgotten more than Ajamu will ever know. Winner of the Best Boxer award at the 1988 Olympics, he turned pro in May 1989 in his native Florida and stopped Ricky "Junkyard Dog" Randall in two rounds. "I love fighting," said Jones. "I just figured it was time I got paid to do it."
His record grew with his power. He stopped a whopping 20 of his first 21 opponents - only rugged Argentine Jorge Castro took him the distance, a man who went on to lick Roberto Duran. By 1993, Jones had mastered his more obvious assets - his blurring combinations, his dazzling footwork, his jab - to secure a crack at the vacant IBF middleweight title against Philadelphia's feared Bernard Hopkins, later to prove himself an all-time great. But Jones picked off "The Executioner" to win easily (116-112 on all three cards). It was 12 years before Hopkins lost again.
Roy didn't stick around at middle, and really proved his worth in a challenge for the IBF super-middleweight title held by the formidable and unbeaten James "Lights Out " Toney in Las Vegas in November 1994. Jones proved too slick and quick for the strong Toney - now a world class heavyweight. He dropped Toney in the third with a counter left hook and cruised to a shutout decision. Two of the judges failed to give Toney a round.
Jones cemented his status as the best fighter of the 90's when he moved up to light-heavyweight in 1996 and dominated the division for years. After crushing WBC No. 1 Woods with body shots in six rounds in September 2002, he moved up to heavyweight and trounced John Ruiz over 12 rounds for the WBA title at Las Vegas in March 2003. It made him the first former middleweight champion to win the world heavyweight crown since British-born Bob Fitzsimmons over 100 years earlier (1897).
But climbing down the mountain proved trickier.
Roy's legacy is forever tarnished by his four fights since Ruiz: a life-and-death struggle with Tarver, two losses to him, and the loss to Johnson. The decline is obvious. The once gifted athlete, the once four-weight champion, the winner of 23 world title fights, the man who beat Hopkins, Toney, Tarver, Ruiz, Woods, Castro, Grant, Julio Gonzalez, Jorge Vaca, Sugarboy Malinga, Virgil Hill, Mike McCallum, Reggie Johnson, Vinny Paz, Louis Del Valle, Eric Lucas, Montell Griffin - world champions all - is now faded.
(His only loss of the 90's, incidentally, came to Chicago's Griffin, but he floored Griffin twice for a first-round stoppage just months later.)
You know, Jones doesn't even need to fight. A breeder of fighting cocks, of fighting dogs, he lives on a sprawling Pensacola 80-acre ranch and spends much of his time rearing his 1,200 birds, his 50 dogs. There's an ugly side to Jones' character, as he showed in that loss to Griffin. Jones had been frustrated by the clever, shorter Griffin and deliberately hit him on the floor with not one but three heavy blows when the tiring Griffin took a knee in the ninth. If that wasn't bad enough, Jones seemed to feel he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice after he was slung out. Is the same arrogance making him continue when it's obvious to most he is over the hill?
Hopefully, Ajamu will do the sport a favour and expose Jones as the worn, rusty, aging fighter he is. But saddest of all, Jones probably has enough left to win.
The once mighty Jones, former IBF middleweight and super-middleweight champion, undisputed light-heavyweight champion and WBA heavyweight champion, is 37 - the same age as Joe Louis when The Brown Bomber was knocked out (and knocked out of the ring) in his final fight by Rocky Marciano - and has lost his last three fights. In May 2004, he was floored and stopped in two stunning rounds by Antonio Tarver in Las Vegas. Four months later, he was flattened in nine rounds by Glen Johnson in Memphis (a clean knockout). In his last fight in October 2005, he went 12 rounds to lose unanimously to Tarver in Tampa - a fight in which he fought to survive.
From Las Vegas to Memphis to Tampa. He fights Ajamu in Boise, Idaho. Small wonder Jones has nowhere to go if he loses.
And Ajamu, who hails from Camden in New Jersey, is a solid opponent in the circumstances. He hasn't lost since dropping a majority decision to comebacking Canadian star Otis Grant (stopped in 10 by a peak Jones in 1998) in Canada in April 2004, and halted Galen "Bad Boy" Brown in 10 rounds in his last outing in Atlantic City in January.
He's a sharp, tough, fresh, active fighter, no spring chicken himself at 34, but a pro only five years and on a winning run of six.
He also looks to carry a dig. He badly hurt southpaw Grant in the 10th and final round of their Quebec battle, but it came too late to amend the scorecards. His only other loss in 28 fights, to Detroit's Rico Hoye, came after 12 bruising rounds in Detroit in 2003. Again, Ajamu badly hurt the unbeaten Hoye, flooring him in the second with a big right. Hoye beat the count, on wobbly legs, and recovered to box out a unanimous decision. But Ajamu had exposed chinks in Hoye's armour later ruthlessly exposed by Sheffield's Clinton Woods.
Ajamu also has a draw on his record, with talented Contender star Anthony Bonsante in an eight-rounder in 2002.
Clearly, Ajamu struggles every time he steps up - but still puts up a fight. Too much of a fight for Jones at this stage of his career?
Jones, it must be stressed, has probably forgotten more than Ajamu will ever know. Winner of the Best Boxer award at the 1988 Olympics, he turned pro in May 1989 in his native Florida and stopped Ricky "Junkyard Dog" Randall in two rounds. "I love fighting," said Jones. "I just figured it was time I got paid to do it."
His record grew with his power. He stopped a whopping 20 of his first 21 opponents - only rugged Argentine Jorge Castro took him the distance, a man who went on to lick Roberto Duran. By 1993, Jones had mastered his more obvious assets - his blurring combinations, his dazzling footwork, his jab - to secure a crack at the vacant IBF middleweight title against Philadelphia's feared Bernard Hopkins, later to prove himself an all-time great. But Jones picked off "The Executioner" to win easily (116-112 on all three cards). It was 12 years before Hopkins lost again.
Roy didn't stick around at middle, and really proved his worth in a challenge for the IBF super-middleweight title held by the formidable and unbeaten James "Lights Out " Toney in Las Vegas in November 1994. Jones proved too slick and quick for the strong Toney - now a world class heavyweight. He dropped Toney in the third with a counter left hook and cruised to a shutout decision. Two of the judges failed to give Toney a round.
Jones cemented his status as the best fighter of the 90's when he moved up to light-heavyweight in 1996 and dominated the division for years. After crushing WBC No. 1 Woods with body shots in six rounds in September 2002, he moved up to heavyweight and trounced John Ruiz over 12 rounds for the WBA title at Las Vegas in March 2003. It made him the first former middleweight champion to win the world heavyweight crown since British-born Bob Fitzsimmons over 100 years earlier (1897).
But climbing down the mountain proved trickier.
Roy's legacy is forever tarnished by his four fights since Ruiz: a life-and-death struggle with Tarver, two losses to him, and the loss to Johnson. The decline is obvious. The once gifted athlete, the once four-weight champion, the winner of 23 world title fights, the man who beat Hopkins, Toney, Tarver, Ruiz, Woods, Castro, Grant, Julio Gonzalez, Jorge Vaca, Sugarboy Malinga, Virgil Hill, Mike McCallum, Reggie Johnson, Vinny Paz, Louis Del Valle, Eric Lucas, Montell Griffin - world champions all - is now faded.
(His only loss of the 90's, incidentally, came to Chicago's Griffin, but he floored Griffin twice for a first-round stoppage just months later.)
You know, Jones doesn't even need to fight. A breeder of fighting cocks, of fighting dogs, he lives on a sprawling Pensacola 80-acre ranch and spends much of his time rearing his 1,200 birds, his 50 dogs. There's an ugly side to Jones' character, as he showed in that loss to Griffin. Jones had been frustrated by the clever, shorter Griffin and deliberately hit him on the floor with not one but three heavy blows when the tiring Griffin took a knee in the ninth. If that wasn't bad enough, Jones seemed to feel he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice after he was slung out. Is the same arrogance making him continue when it's obvious to most he is over the hill?
Hopefully, Ajamu will do the sport a favour and expose Jones as the worn, rusty, aging fighter he is. But saddest of all, Jones probably has enough left to win.
