By Gerardo Granados: Once upon a time, a slick boxer came out of the amateurs. He was so dominant at the amateur level that before and after he became a professional boxer I have never seen anyone like him. Not even Floyd Mayweather Jr, Oscar De La Hoya, Meldrick Taylor or Sugar Ray Leonard looked that impressive at the amateur level. The boxer I refer to suffered one of the most outrageous robberies in boxing history, be it in the amateur or professional rankings.
Note: Roy Jones Jr. says he will not be retiring after his 4th round knockout loss to Enzo Maccarinelli last Saturday night at the VTB Arena, in Moscow, Russia.
This is what Jones Jr. had to say via Fightnews.com: “This first fight as a Russian will not be the last. This is just the beginning. I said I wanted to finish my career, but now I feel a responsibility to re-enter the ring. I want to continue my work in boxing.”
I think that the reader will agree that he was blessed by the Boxing Gods with superb boxing skills, and his physical ability was something so special, that you won’t be able to compare him whilst he was in his prime to any other boxer, and I would dare to say, that he is one of the all-time greatest who ever laced a pair of gloves.
He achieved what Bob Fitzsimmons was able to do. But, as time passed Kronos did his job and this once truly amazing boxer started to slow down.
When he moved down in weight things changed for the worst. Since then he was a different boxer, but he still showed flashes of his once superb reflexes, mobility, and power. He was knocked down trying to regain the undisputed light heavyweight championship and since then he was different.
He has extended his boxing career into an old age and now he doesn’t even resembles the shadow of his greatness. His reflexes, footwork, hand speed are gone. But he isn’t the only one to have fought after his body betrayed him.
Other greats, like him, thought that they could keep fighting at the top level forever. I have seen the fight and also documentaries about the Muhammad Ali versus Larry Holmes fight, and I guess the reader can agree with me that this fight should never have been allowed to take place. But I have never wanted to see the Ali fight against Trevor Berbick.
When Ray Leonard fought against a prime Terry Norris I got the impression that “Terrible” carried “Sugar” unto the last round, because, to me, Norris could have knocked out Leonard with ease.
When Julio Cesar Chavez Sr was knocked out by Kostya Tszyu it was a sad day for me, but as time has passed, I realized that Chavez should have retired years before he challenged Tszyu. It seems like something blinded me and I fail to realize that when the late WBC President Don Jose Sulaiman urged him to retire, he said it because Julio Cesar no longer had it inside him.
When Oscar De la Hoya lost to Manny Pacquiao he misled himself to believe not only to that he could manage to make the contracted catch weight but also to acknowledge that he should have stayed retired.
I have read many comments saying that Meldrick Taylor was robbed by referee Richard Steele of a hard earned victory against Julio Cesar Chavez Sr, but those commentators fail to say that Taylor never was the same boxer after the brutal beating he took from Chavez.
It was a real shame to see Meldrick continue fighting after it was evident that he no longer had the ability to do it. Not only it was sad to hear his slurred speech but it was clear his once amazing boxing skilled no longer existed.
I wonder if Roy Jones Jr is willing to retire, as many of the Boxing Media Analysts has urged him to do, or if his pride will keep him on fighting at 46 years of age when he already has lost all of his once amazing boxing skills.
I believe it was Juan Manuel Marquez who once stated that there is not enough money in the world to buy a new brain. It is no secret that prize fighting can get you killed even if you are young and well trained, but aren´t the local boxing Commissions and the Major Boxing Organization duty to protect the old lions from taking unnecessary risks?
I mean, why wait until it is a punch too late?
Comments are closed.