By Scott Gilfoid: Former four division world champion Roy Jones Jr. (54-7, 40 KO’s) says that World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) copied his style of fighting, but didn’t do a very good job of it. Jones, 41, wants to fight Haye and try to capture a second heavyweight world title. Jones defeated then WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision in 2003 to win the heavyweight title. Jones’ luck has been mostly bad since then, unfortunately. He’s lost to Antonio Tarver twice, Glen Johnson, Danny Green and Bernard Hopkins. These are all fighters that Jones either beat or would have beaten in his prime, but he’s far from that now.
In an interview at Sky Sports’ Ringside, Jones says “It’s very true. David Haye has admired me all his career; he copied my style as a matter of fact – or tried to anyway! But he’s just the heavyweight champion right now who’s not as big as the other guys so it would be the perfect match up for me. It’s a good opportunity to walk down the line and become heavyweight champion again – or call it a day and walk out. I’m just saying hey, if the people want to see it, it would be my last hurrah. But I will try one more time before I go. Over here they want to see it and if they want to see it and I’ve got anything to do with it, I’m going to give it to them.” I don’t people want to see it over here. As for Haye copying Jones’ style, I think if that’s the case, then he’s done a really poor job of it. Jones wasn’t the type to just run around the ring without throwing combinations and making his opponents miss. Jones also didn’t have the tendency to throw rabbit punches in his prime. In Haye’s fights with Monte Barrett and Ruiz, Haye landed some monstrous rabbit shots and it looked bad.
Jones has lost his last two fights, one of them being a 1st round knockout defeat to Danny Green. While I can’t speak for boxing fans in the UK, I don’t think this is a fight that fans would like to see in the United States. A lot of fans over here want Jones to retire rather than continuing his career and risking further losses.
However, UK boxing fans might see this as a great fight. They really loved Haye’s match-up with John Ruiz recently and tons of fans over there watched with great interest. They’re also really into seeing Haye’s fight with 38-year-old Audley Harrison. That’s a fight that wouldn’t draw flies in the United States. As such, I can see a Jones-Haye fight as being something the British fans would like to see, and at the same time it would give Haye another opportunity to milk his WBA belt a little while longer before he hangs up his gloves next year when he turns 31. I don’t see Haye fighting the Klitschko brothers, so I guess he might as well go ahead and fight Jones if his subjects are willing to pay to see it.
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