By Dan Cimineradan: Ok, everyone has talked about Joe Calzaghe retiring after this fight, but possibly being coaxed into another, even his dad Enzo has hinted he might just mean a long holiday. But, what of Roy Jones? Let’s assume its Sunday morning and Calzaghe has beaten Jones on a point’s decision. Where does Jones go next?? does he retire? Or does he fight on?
Personally I feel retirement is the best option he could take. However, I do feel that if he chooses to fight on he will be motivated to win a decent percentage of however many more he takes mainly because he is a true fighter and even at this stage isn’t motivated by money alone as he surely has managed to amass some fortune during his highly decorated career. If he does decide to stick around, who would he fight? He has already point blank refused to fight Bernard Hopkins, indicating he is thinking of fighting again, just not with Hopkins. Who else could he fight? Well, as i said, we are assuming he’s lost the decision against Calzaghe here so he hasn’t been totally ruined especially as Joe would now be the highest profile unbeaten retired boxer since rocky Marciano.
So there would surely be some exciting prospective fights for him. Or would there? I mean, if he hasn’t been able to cut the mustard against Joe Calzaghe, a great fighter but still not a true light-heavyweight, Jones would be forgiven for not looking at the light-heavy ranks and fighters such as Chad Dawson who would surely relish the opportunity to knock out Roy Jones Jr, if only in name and not the fighter he once was, still “I knocked out one of the greats of all time” is something every boxer would love to say.
That leaves the bunch knocking around at the light-heavy/super-middle catch weight. This at the moment consists of Calzaghe, Jones, Hopkins, Pavlik, and possibly Kessler. Calzaghe has just beaten him and although a rematch at Cardiff’s millennium stadium would be one of the greatest boxing spectacles ever, it is unlikely. He is refusing to consider Hopkins so that leaves Pavlik and Kessler, and in my opinion we can add the winner of Jeff lacy and Jermain Taylor to the equation.
Ok firstly, there’s Kelly Pavlik. Off the back of a bad defeat to Hopkins could have as one option to fight another big name to prove that Hopkins was just a bad night out and get back on the proverbial horse and prove the hype with which he was previously decorated. Considering that he now has pretty much no chance of attracting Calzaghe, and wants to keep the status he had, Jones would be the one to go for. Could he win? Depends on what happened against Hopkins. If he can honestly put his hand on his heart and say it was a bad night, that wasn’t the true Kelly Pavlik, then yeah, sure he could have a chance of being “in” a decent fight with Jones as long as Jones doesn’t find a way to rekindle some of the old spark. That said, he would probably still lose even if it was closer than the Hopkins decision.
Kessler, must surely be fancying his chances if Calzaghe has won big, and possibly even if it was tight. Joe admitted that Kessler was probably the toughest fight he has had and if Joe is 46-0 then surely Kessler’s 1 is irrelevant going into any future fight. Although, as always, there is the question of how well he would do given the extra weight. Pavlik claims it was to his detriment in his fight with Hopkins, so it could be that Kessler is just a true middleweight who might not hack it at light-heavy. Calzaghe has said in the past he felt he was losing power at super-middle because he was naturally heavier and at 6ft that’s no surprise so saying if Joe can Mikkel can would be quite foolish, they are different styles and different men entirely. But it could be a great fight.
That brings us to Lacy and Taylor, although Lacy lost badly to Calzaghe, styles make fights as the old saying goes. And lacy was as Enzo Calzaghe said “made for” Joe. Roy Jones is a totally different fighter from Calzaghe and although very versatile, his main fight style is to come forward and pick his fast, accurate, powerful punches. This is simply a more polished version of what Jeff lacy does, and given the ailing punch resistance of Jones in recent years, id give lacy a decent shout of knocking Jones out. As for Taylor, as it is i doubt he would be good enough to mix it with Roy Jones as although i think he is a pretty under rated decent fighter, for instance Pavlik has beaten him twice in the past, and until recently, that was no slur on anybodies record, yet now in these fickle times in boxing, it probably is enough of a question mark for there to be no chance of fighting Jones. But, before i speak too soon, if he has the quality to dispose of Jeff lacy in a convincing manner, then as i have given Jeff a chance, i can say that Taylor would also have a half-chance of doing the job.
This brings us to a point where I’ve considered 4 boxers, Pavlik, who was frankly embarrassed by a man Jones thinks he’s way too good for. Kessler who is unproven at this weight and until Pavlik was beaten was overlooked entirely in the states. And then lacy and Taylor, both younger then Jones and with decent records, Jones may fancy them, but whether they’d fancy him and make the jump up in weight and class to fight him is to be debated. So with 4 plausible, but pretty unlikely opponents, who is left? Good ol’ b-hop.
With another loss on the record, protecting a legacy by not risking a loss to someone he smashed up in his prime will be less of a notion to Roy Jones, or at least it should be. By giving Calzaghe problems and being one of only a few out of 45 to have sat Mr. Calzaghe on the canvas, and then beating America’s newest golden boy Kelly Pavlik so convincingly even after many said he was over the hill after losing narrowly to Calzaghe, Bernard Hopkins has placed himself in a half decent position to ask for a big money fight with almost anyone he wants, and as he seems to also be ducking the likes of Chad Dawson, Jones is the natural opponent. And it’s not just a consideration, Hopkins as we all know is actively badgering Jones for a fight. At this time, having had a pretty slow couple of years cruising through some average quality fighters and losing some, and now losing to Joe Calzaghe, Roy Jones is in a lesser position than that of Bernard Hopkins. Let’s face it, it’s a fight we’d all like to see, and would be a good fight to watch too, ok if Jones were to lose, it would take some of the sheen off his previous win over Hopkins when it mattered more, but ducking Hopkins is currently having the same affect, as if he is scared of losing.