Lebedev vs. Jones: Roy has to improve in a real hurry or he’s getting knocked out

By Boxing News - 04/06/2011 - Comments

By Eric Thomas: 42-year-old Roy Jones Jr. (54-7, 40 KO’s) has looked like an old statue in stepping it up against quality fighters in the past three years, losing to the likes of Joe Calzaghe, Danny Green and Bernard Hopkins. Jones has now lost his last two fights, and is going to be facing #1 ranked WBO cruiserweight contender Denis Lebedev (21-1, 16 KO’s) next month on May 22nd at the Sport Complex Krylatskoe, in Moscow, Russia.

The plus for Jones is that he’s moving up in weight for this fight and there shouldn’t be any excuses for him about feeling weak and weight drained. But at the same time he’s facing a southpaw in Lebedev, who punches harder than some of the guys that Jones has been knocked out cold against in the past.

Jones will have to be able to take a hard shot to win this fight. This is in addition to letting his hands go, which has been a major problem for Jones in his losses to Calzaghe and Hopkins. Lebedev is going to be putting some serious heat on Jones and looking to take his head off with every shot.

Why Jones decided to take on Lebedev rather than a lower ranked cruiserweight is a mystery. Perhaps Jones needs the money or maybe he wanted the cover that comes with losing to arguably the best fighter in the cruiserweight division. After all, if Jones loses to Lebedev it won’t nearly be so bad compared to getting beaten by a bottom tier cruiserweight than fans either don’t respect or don’t know of.



Comments are closed.