By Dave Lahr: In an interview with Boxing Talk, former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. (53-5, 39 KOs) is looking at either a fight with former super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy or a rematch with Glen Johnson, and then immediately after that Jones will be moving back up to the heavyweight division where he previously held a title in 2003 with a 12-round unanimous decision over John Ruiz.
But, before moving up to heavyweight, Jones will be taking on Lacy or Johnson, which ever brings in the most amount of money for Jones. As of now, it’s hard to guess which fighter that would be, because both are popular fighters.
Although for Jones, it might be better if he fights Johnson because Roy has unfinished business with him from Jones’ 9th round knockout loss to Johnson in September 2004, a fight in which Jones was knocked completely out cold with a big right hand from Johnson.
Jones was battered along the ropes for the full nine rounds of the bout, and was never competitive in the least with the hard-punching Johnson. If the same Jones that fought on that night still exists, then it might not be a good idea for Roy to give Johnson a rematch, because surely getting knocked out again at this point in Jones’ career would likely signal the end of Roy’s 20-year professional boxing career.
However, there’s reason to believe that Jones has gotten over that rough patch of his career, as Jones recently looked like the Roy of old with his 5th round stoppage win over Omar Sheika on March 21st. Jones looked nothing short of sensational as he picked Sheika apart with jabs, short hooks and right hands for five long rounds before the fight was finally stopped in the 5th at 1:45 by referee Tommy Kimmons.
Jones looked quick and elusive throughout the fight, and only rarely got hit with anything from Sheika. Naturally, there’s a big difference between Sheika and someone like Glen Johnson, who’s a much better fighter than Sheika at this point in Johnson’s career, even though Johnson was defeated by Sheika in Omar’s prime.
The thought of Jones going up to heavyweight seems rather astounding, because Jones’ lack of size and advanced age. At 5’11”, Jones would be at a disadvantage against pretty much any heavyweight he faces. I doubt he would be crazy enough to go after the Klitschko brothers, but who knows?
He might want to take the risk knowing that he’d get a huge payday even in losing the fight. It would be a nightmarish scenario of seeing Jones fighting the 6’6” Wladimir and the 6’7” Vitali, both of whom would have a seven inch reach advantage and a seven to eight inch height advantage.
It would likely end with Jones on the canvas out cold. For that reason, it might be a better choice for Jones to select a heavyweight without as much power and speed like the Klitschko brothers. Jones would do well to select someone like the seven foot 320 pound Nikolay Valuev, who has a lot of size but not much else going for him.
Jones would likely be able to pot shot the slow Valuev with one shot at a time and essentially spear his way to a decision. I can’t see Jones knocking Valuev out, but I can definitely see him beating him by a decision.
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