By Jason Kim: With the recent news that Roy Jones Jr. (52-5, 38 KOs) will be moving up to the heavyweight division if Joe Calzaghe doesn’t give him a rematch, it interesting to consider who Jones, 39, will decide on fighting if/when he does make his move back up to the heavyweight division. Jones will be turning 40 on January 16th, and doesn’t have a lot of time to waste in working his way up to a big fight like younger fighters. With his excellent talent, he probably doesn’t need to, either, because what can a big, crude, slower heavyweight teach Jones? probably not much, I’m afraid.
But Jones needs to seek out a big name fighter first of all, who better than former cruiserweight David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) as his first opponent. Though Haye has a fight lined up with Vitali Klitschko in June, it’s a fight that Haye will probably lose quickly in the 1st or 2nd round TKO. After a loss like that, Haye will be badly in need of a rebuilding fight, and with a chin that has a history of being weak, it would be smart for Haye to be matched selectively against weaker punchers in the heavyweight division rather than pushing him into another fight against a slugger like the Klitschko brothers.
In facing Jones, Haye would be killing two birds with one stone. Not only will he be facing an opponent with little power, but he’ll also be getting a fight that will make him a nice payday in doing so – probably much better than his previous fight as a heavyweight against Monte Barrett in November.
Jones, even though he’s lost four out of his last seven fights, still is a big name in boxing and can bring in large audiences. Obviously, it would be a fight where most people would give Jones little chance to win because he’d be making a move up from the light heavyweight division to the heavyweight level, where he hasn’t fought since 2003.
However, Jones fought incredibly well the last time he fought as a heavyweight, beating WBA champion John Ruiz by a lopsided decision. Naturally, after five years Jones isn’t going to be as good as he was then as a heavyweight, but then again, it might not matter. Haye is a kind of a wild heavyweight, who takes a lot of chances by lunging in and throwing a lot of big home run punches.
Haye has poor stamina and when pressed hard, he sometimes tires out in the later stages of his fights. All Jones would have to do is stick around in the fight, make Haye miss and expend a lot of energy, and then go for the kill in the 8th or 9th rounds when Haye has nothing left.
Jones, 5’11”, would be giving up four inches in height over Haye, which sounds like a lot on paper. But when you consider that Haye, a heavily muscled fighter, doesn’t use his reach to beat fighters, then the size difference basically is meaningless.
If Haye is going to beat Jones, it’s going to be by knockout and knockout only. Haye probably doesn’t have the stamina to beat a fighter as good as Jones over the course of the fight, and would be looking to take him out as fast as possible.
Jones would then be ready to take over the fight after the 6th round, hitting Haye with fast combinations and avoiding Haye’s big, sloppy-looking right hands. At this point in the fight, Haye would likely be totally exhausted, fighting flat-footed and throwing mostly arm punches and hoping for the best. It won’t take much for Jones to knock him out, perhaps a few well aimed right hands and Haye will be finished.
Haye is a good fighter, but there’s really no comparison to his skills and that of Jones. That will ultimately be Haye’s downfall. Whereas he’s spent most of his career facing limited opposition in Europe, Jones has fought the best fighters in boxing for his entire career, fighters like James Toney, Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe. In Haye’s case, his weaker opposition has given him no preparation for a fight against someone like Jones, even though Roy is well past his prime. Even a faded fighter like Roy can beat someone that has never proven themselves against top echelon opponents.
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