Roy Jones Jr. vs. the Klitschko Brothers?
July 8th, 2009
Photo courtesy of Pavel Terekhov – By Eric Thomas: According to the latest boxing news gossip, light heavyweight contender Roy Jones Jr. is reportedly interested in facing one of the Klitschko brothers in the near future. Jones, 40, has a fight against Jeff Lacy next month on August 15th, but after that it’s anyone’s guess that Jones might fight next. Jones has mentioned a number of top fighters that he’d like to fight, such as Danny Green, Bernard Hopkins and now the Klitschko brothers.
It’s not that Jones couldn’t pump up his weight and get to near 200, because Jones proved that he could do this before when he bulked up to 193 to easily defeat then WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz by a one-sided 12 round decision in March 2003.
That was a long time ago, though, when Jones was still fighting effectively. In fighting Ruiz, Jones selected a smaller heavyweight without a lot of power. I doubt that Jones feels that he can beat either of the Klitschko brothers, and a fight against either of them would probably be for money and for the attention that Jones would get in facing them.
However, unless Jones looked incredibly good in his next fight against Lacy next month, it won’t really matter much. Even if Jones looks good in beating Lacy, I still doubt that the fan interest would be strong enough to lure either of the Klitschko brothers into taking the fight.
After all, Jones is past 40 and a win over a fighter that age, which hasn’t looked good in ages, would seem almost unsporting to many boxing fans. It would already be a huge mismatch for the Klitschko brothers because of their 6’7” height which compared to the short 5’11” Jones, would make them seem like giants in comparison.
Jones could probably get near 200 if he went on a weight gaining regimen, but he wouldn’t be able to do anything about his lack reach. He’d be giving up six to eight inches in reach against either of the Klitschkos and much more in power.
As a result, I just can’t see the fight happening. The Klitschko brothers have normally made it a practice to turn down fights against fighters past the age of 40, with the exception being Wladimir facing a 41-year-old Ray Mercer seven years ago.
I can’t see Wladimir or Vitali showing any interested in facing a faded Roy Jones Jr. now that he’s at the end of his career. Joe Calzaghe, a super middleweight, gave Jones a terrible beating last year in November in a one-sided fight. Jones’ reflexes looked shot in that fight and he couldn’t pull the trigger even with Calzaghe standing directly in front of him with his arms by his sides.
Tags: 28 Responses to “Roy Jones Jr. vs. the Klitschko Brothers?”
Leave a Reply
please use above banner to link back to us!
HI IS THE BEST FIGHTER IN THE WORLD $$$$$$$$$$
p4p jones is even now maybe better then the klitschko’s..and at his prime definitly was..having said that…the klitschkos got a awhole lot more pounds….really..in the first round with ruiz..jones had some trouble..and the klitschkos are bigger and better on a bad night then ruiz has ever been even on his best night…..this would be a horrible..and dangerous fight for Roy.
the article is about jones against the klitchroid bro’s,i believe calzaghe took care of buisness when both were past there primes!!now if any boxing authority let jones near either klitchroid they should be put on trial for attempted murder coz that’s what would happen,we might aswell start talking about larry holmes fighting vitali coz that’s how insane these posts are getting!!!
Brian, sorry buddy. I meant to agree with you about the comment about Johnson. My comment was meant for SimonH. Like I said before, if the old Super Roy fought Calzaghe in their primes, it would be two hits: Super Roy hits Calzaghe and Calzaghe hits the canvas. If they fought right in Joe’s house, his family would not be able to react fast enough to stop the beating.
If joe was ever believing he could beat a primed Super Roy, he would voluntarily submit himself to a mental asylum for psychiatric testing!!!
Super Roy was way, way faster & hit much harder.
The momemt Super Roy hit him he would be throwing blinding combinations with superbad intentions. Joe was a great fighter but Super Roy was his alias simply super as in superlative or superman!
and simonH: good comment bro……
i kinda annoyed peeps a slagging of RJJ! Hez possibly give or take the greatest boxer ever to grace the sport, i have watched him ova and ova agin and there is no1 id rather watch, absolutly no1! (of course i reffering to RJJ in his prime)
Plz guys stop slagging off roy, he is bloody amazing!
tho i dnt think he shud go heavyweight, it would be a bad move! he shud def retire with his head held high, like the tru great he really is!
It was an easy nights work for Joe end of story. Jones has had his day why dont he fight Holyfield hopefully one of them might retire at the end of it.
And furthermore, to all you people who keep bringing up the Jones Calzaghe match, I watched it. I watched Jones drop Calzaghe, and I think that was the worst he has been hurt ever. Jones just didn’t have the willpower to put him away. He thought that he had the fight in the bag from that point, and tried to act stupid in the ring like he did so many times against lesser opponents. ROY allowed Calzaghe to up his work rate and gain momentum in the fight. I still think Roy would have won. The killer was that Calzaghe cut Roy. Calzaghe won that fight because Roy was freaked by the cut. That was the turn of events for that fight. Just misfortune, and bad judgement by Roy. Nothing in that fight told me that Calzaghe was better than even an old Roy Jones. What it did tell me though was that Roy has demons in and out of that ring, and probably should not be fighting anymore.
Wayne, I made no mention of Calzaghe in my statement. So you weren’t speaking to me. We don’t always have to bring up Calzaghe when Roy Jones comes up. Either way, they are both old news. Pretty sad when we continue to discuss boxers that are reaching their 40s and we have no new great fighters in their prime and in their 20s. Yeah, time to move on.
paul belfast been drinking to many guinness
He’s been a super fighter but its time he called it day.
jones is a walking legend a pound for pound king
he is boxing and even now hes still fun to watch.
My fantasy fight Haglar vs jones michael watson vs calzaghe ben vs hopkins and thats boxing holla
if you hear me.
but they didnt want nothing to do with him thats why i think calzaghe is a d*** and anyone that knows boxing would have lost a bit of respect for him coming over to beat two ld boys in jones and hopkins which i thought he lost to hopkins by the way calzaghe v jones 12 years ago joe wud have left beat if not beat badly or knocked out and that is a fact in my eyes
calzaghe was asked to fight roy when roy was at his best he called out everyone eubank and all
Jones would of murdered Calzaghe in his prime.
Brian, remember the Roy that lost to Tarver and Johnson was no longer Super. Geez, if he was not super then who was that guy that Calzaghe beat? Please, go check when he was SUPER and tell me if you think slap, slap Calzaghe could have landed with a punch not to mention have ko-ed him.
super great lol!
First off i hope to god Roy Jones doesn’t fight one of these brothers because he will get killed! Second all you trippers out there that think Calazage was a better fighter then Jones need to get off the drugs! You’s are off your head! Nobody could even come close to him when he was in his prime. Joe beat a old, slow, shot version of Roy. And he still got put on his ass in the first round! Jones had been knocked out by Tarver, Johnson and beat a old Trinadad that was way out of his weight division and hadn’t fought in years. Then Joe beats him and you smack heads are calling him the greatest!
I greatly respect Roy Jones for what he has done.A 34 year old Jones would have a chance at both klitchkos but he better not try it at 40.Early round Tko loss for Roy
Agreed. If Roy couldn’t handle the power and relentless work rate of Glen Johnson 4 years ago, he would really be hurt by a Wlad right hand. It just isn’t something I would want to witness.
Wayne Lord said it perfectly!!
As the greatest fan of Super Roy, I am already making reservations for him to join MJ at the Staples Center. So let us all start with the eulogies!
To the Ray Charles wanna be Bretchko, like I said Calzaghe is/was a very good fighter, maybe even great….but Jones was super great. There is no need to say more. If Calzaghe was dreaming he was beating a primed Super Roy, he would wake up and try to tap him to apologize. But even then, he would be unable to lay a glove on Super Roy.
Are you serious? Do you think a primed super roy would let him get up off the canvas after that 1st rd knockdown. I doubt he would even have been able to get up. Calzaghe was quick, super roy was greased lighting x by 1,000 and hit 1,000 times harder than Calzaghe.
Look, Joe’s dad kept him away for all those years but agreed now that Jones is no longer super, to fight him. A father is supposed to protect his son and he did but not letting them fight when roy was still super fast and super strong!
I still feel if he fought at 193 he could prolong his career but if he fought either of the giants it will be: left hook, long injury, right hook: instant death to join Michael Jackson, as Usher would sing, way too early!!
RJJ doesnt have the power to compete against against any heavyweight. Hes getting to old also. Maybe another couple of fights at light heavyweight, but nothing more.
jones would get oblitirated! Hes not stupid enough to take one of those fights- what about jones vs mayweather that would be something even though jones is a little over the hill.
Ha ha ha… oh man, my gut is about to burst from laughing so hard! Jones Jr.. versus the Klitschko giants? Roy can’t even take my right hook, what makes people think that he will somehow absorb theirs. I love Roy and all, but this is a complete joke. And I would seriously be worried about his health condition. I don’t want to see my boy in a coma.
ha, ha ha ha aahhh!! get real man !!! and roy jones looked great in the fight against Calzy. he just aint good enough to beet Calzy EVER!!! dont try to make it sound like Cal beet a shot fighter in roy!! he would have done that to him anytime!!
No the bad thing was coming back down. Losing 25 pounds of muscle at about 33h is a bad idea. To be honest with the performance he put in against Ruiz I would give him a shot against Wlad. He’s just too basic and RJJ could addapt
pls dont be silly. if u new ne thing bout boxin ud now goin up to heavyweight was the worst decision RJJ ever made, he admited it himself. LEARN B4 U WRITE.