By Chris Williams: Okay, Roy Jones Jr. (54-5, 40 KO’s) looked good last Saturday night in beating up a shot Jeff Lacy and stopping him in the 10th round, but let’s not get carried away here. This was Lacy, who hasn’t been the same fighter he was back before losing to Joe Calzaghe and suffering a shoulder injury in his fight against Vitali Tsypko.

Jones had target practice against a limited fighter who clearly isn’t the same fighter at this point in his career. Since getting the win, Jones fans have suddenly come out of the woodwork saying that Jones’ punch resistance has gotten better and that he’s now good enough to grab one or all of the light heavyweight titles should he see fit. I hate to say it but that’s a pipe dream on their part.

First of all, Jones doesn’t appear to be on a collision course with any of the top light heavyweights, let alone one of the champions. Jones, 40, plans on going after 36-year-old Danny Green next later on this year. That sounds like a fight that is a good time waster for Jones, and one that’s probably a safe bet that Jones will win. Green has fought only twice since coming out of a two year retirement this year.

Why would Jones want to fight Green when Jones has unfinished business with fighters like Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson, both of whom knocked Jones cold in bouts in 2004. At the time, Jones was only a year removed from bulking up to heavyweight and capturing the World Boxing Association heavyweight crown with a 12 round decision win over John Ruiz in March 2003.

Jones then had to trim off close to 25 pounds of pure muscle to get back down to the light heavyweight division. Jones was never the same fighter after that point. He defeated Tarver by a questionable 12 round majority decision in November 2003, a fight that many boxing fans felt that Jones lost.

Then in a rematch six months later in May 2003, Tarver knocked Jones out in the 2nd round with a big left hand. In the next fight, Jones was then knocked out in the 9th round by Glen Johnson. Six years have gone by since Jones lost both of those fights and he appears to have recovered from the knockouts and the weight draining without any ill effects.

So why isn’t Jones gunning for those two fighters instead of someone like Green? Either of those fighters would be the perfect opponent for Jones to fight now at this point in his career because he could shut down his critics by getting revenge against the only two fighters ever to knock him out. No doubt, it wouldn’t be easy to beat either one of them, because both of them appear to be still fighting at a high level.

But, both Johnson and Tarver are 40 year-old, slower than Jones and very vulnerable if Jones were to fight the way he did on Saturday night against Lacy. So why isn’t Jones manning up and fighting Tarver and Johnson instead of Green? Is Jones afraid, is that it?