By Dave Wilcox

When Roy Jones Jr. was in his prime, he was as dominating as any fighter I have ever seen. He would have long stretches where not only would he never lose rounds, no fighter could even manage to land a clean punch.

His speed and reflexes were a sight to see. From the time he was deprived of his much deserved Olympic glory in 1988, until he made history by defeating John Ruiz to claim a portion of the heavyweight title, he was considered by most the pound for pound champ. Jones was being mentioned with the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson as an All Time great. Something funny happened on the way to the Hall of Fame. The great Roy Jones lost his invincibility (and maybe his chin) while suffering consecutive knockout losses to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson.

Did Jones lose his chin? Did he lose focus, or did he flat out just get old overnight? He might have never had a chin and we just didn’t know it because it was never touched. I don’t think focus was the problem either because he sure seemed focused and ready to go before the Tarver rematch.

In years past, he would play a basketball game before a fight so that can’t be it. Aside from that, Jones has an ego the size of George Foreman’s grocery bill and wouldn’t dare come into a fight out of shape or without focus…would he?

In this scribe’s opinion, the true reason for Roy’s downfall is good old Mother Nature. Jones just got old. The first thing to go on a fighter is their speed and reflexes and Jones paid the bills with just that. A power hitter can hold on longer because the power is the last thing to go. Jones never had above average power, he just overwhelmed guys with speed and unorthodox shots. The second thing is that once a guy gets knocked out, strange things happen to his psyche. One brutal knockout can be rationalized, but two in a row for a guy who never tasted it before? That spells trouble in my opinion.

I wish Jones would have done what the great Marvin Hagler did and retire when his skills started to deteriorate to the point that he could no longer perform at the high standard that he had set for years. To me Roy Jones’ legacy is secure and he doesn’t need to prove anything.

The risk is too high and quite honestly, I don’t want to see him get hurt. I really don’t see Jones winning this rubber match against Tarver. In fact I see Tarver doing the same thing to Jones as he did in the second fight. Tarver will knock out Jones again, but probably not as early this time.

I really don’t want to see it. I have a great deal of respect for Jones the fighter and I can’t bear to watch this. I wish he would just continue to talk in the third person for HBO and fight his chickens. Let’s leave the boxing to the young guys.

Jones fanatics will cling with hopes of redemption for Roy, just as Tyson fans have continued to believe that Iron Mike can regain his heavyweight title once last time. Or the same way Wlad Klitschko fans insist a guy from the grassy knoll poisoned him before his bout with Lamon Brewster.

As a Boxing fan, I wish Roy Jones could somehow regain his lost glory. I hope I’m wrong and Jones does in fact pull off the victory. I’ve been wrong once or twice before, but in the case of Roy Jones I unfortunately think I’m right on target. I just pray he will leave the ring on October 1st without serious injury. Good luck Roy, you’re going to probably need it.

Keep punching