Roy Jones Jr. – Getting A Second Shot At Stardom

By Boxing News - 01/29/2008 - Comments

jones446444.jpgBy John Dower: Most fighters are luck if they ever become a star in the first place, but with former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Roy Jones jr. (52-4, 38 KOs), he’s getting a second shot in the twilight of his career after last Saturday’s impressive12-round unanimous decision over Felix Trinidad (42-3, 35 KOs) at New York’s Madison Square Garden. With this one win over what some people say was a shot Trinidad, Jones, now 39, has once again become the fighter that many of top boxers want a shot at.

Indeed, Jones, if he has his way, could be fighting the likes of Joe Calzaghe, Kelly Pavlik or maybe even Oscar De La Hoya in the not too distant future. The last name, De La Hoya, is someone on Jones’ wish list, but remains a fight that will probably never happen due to Jones’ size advantage over De La Hoya. However, it’s still remarkable that Jones, a fighter that many people felt was over-the-hill, is now in the running for a future mega fight with one today’s unbeaten champions.

Of course, that will involve help from the fighters that Jones has his eyes on, as he won’t be able to do it alone. He may also, in the case of Calzaghe, have to do some traveling, going to Wales or England to fight in front of a foreign audience. This is something that Jones has never done in his prime, for he was always reluctant to leave the United States to fight elsewhere. It’s something that cost him big fights, as he had chances if he was willing to travel to take on big name fighters. However, now that Jones’ name and status have dimmed somewhat due to his declining skills, he’s much more open to taking on fighters in any country.

The problem with Jones all of a sudden wanting to take on the top fighters, of course, is that many of them have already planned fights with other fighters for all of 2008, which means that Jones may have to do some waiting if he wants to fight one of the fighters on his wish list. That would mean that Jones would be a little older, turning 40, by the time that he does perhaps get the bout that he wants.

Jones could settle for a lesser champion or former champion, and fight sooner, but that might not be worth it for him, because he would probably lose the fight and mess up his chance for a bigger fight down the road. That’s the unfortunate part about Jones getting up there in age. He can’t wait too long, because his skills are diminishing with each day that goes by.

At the same time, he has to stay busy to remain popular with the public, because he’ll be forgotten if he waits too long, and this will hurt his ability to get a big money fight in the future. Right now, Jones has the perfect chance to take advantage of the most popular fighter in boxing – Floyd Mayweather Jr. – sitting out of the sport for the next year. It effectively leaves a whole for Jones to slide and take advantage, despite his diminished skill. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see Jones winning any of the fights against the top fighters, but he’ll be able to sell a lot of tickets and bring in huge PPV numbers. Who knows? He may be able to lose three or four of the fights and still bring in big money like De La Hoya. It hasn’t hurt him any.