Roy Jones Jr.

By Michael Lieberman: I don’t care if Joe Calzaghe beat Roy Jones Jr. last Saturday night. The fight proved little other than Calzaghe is good enough to defeat the remnants of Jones, who is maybe operating at 30% of what he used to be while in his prime. A win over Jones at this point, as faded as he is as a fighter, needs to be put in the larger perspective to where he’s currently at as fighter.

And let us not be under any illusions about how diminished he is as a fighter, because he’s clearly only a shell of what he was while in the prime of his career.

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By Sean McDaniel: It was sad sight to see last Saturday night, Roy Jones Jr. (52-5, 38 KOs) taking a vicious pounding at the hands of the much more youthful, energetic Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs) at Madison Square Garden, in New York City, New York.

Despite taking a terrible beating, absorbing a tremendous amount of punches from Calzaghe and having his left eyelid cut badly, Jones, to his credit, lasted the full 12 rounds, losing by a one-sided decision.

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By Dan Ambrose: Nearing 40 years of age, Roy Jones Jr. was shown up badly by Joe Calzaghe last Saturday night, beaten every which way but Sunday, bloodied and beaten badly in a one-sided fight that reminded of watching the great Joe Louis being pounded into oblivion by the young Rocky Marciano. In this case, Calzaghe didn’t have the power – or possibly the inclination – to finish off the former eight-time champion.

However, Calzaghe still did Jones no favors, for he kept him in the fight for the full 12 rounds, embarrassing Jones with his speed, accuracy and high volume work rate and ultimately making a bloody mess of Jones’ face while at the same time boxing circles around the former champion. With his 40th birthday fast approaching in two months, one suspects that Jones won’t be getting any better, and wouldn’t stand a chance against other top light heavyweights like Chad Dawson, much less in a rematch with Calzaghe.

At this point, Jones’ options are rather limited. That is, if he’s concerned at all about winning the fights and not taking another beating like he did last Saturday night against Calzaghe.

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By Scott Gilfoid: As expected, Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs) defeated 39-year-old ring legend Roy Jones Jr. (52-5, 38 KOs) by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday night, keeping Calzaghe’s unbeaten record intact, his legacy untarnished and proving that he’s good enough to beat a washed up version of Jones. There was little suspense going in, and the outcome came to no surprise as Jones took a beating, and looked old and over-the-hill.

What was surprising, was seeing Jones knock Calzaghe down in the first round with a hard right hand to the head. Instead of going after Calzaghe, who was badly hurt, Jones let him off the hook, and didn’t work hard in finishing him off. In hindsight, perhaps Jones felt that there would be more opportunities later and that he didn’t need to go after him. This in effect let Calzaghe survive the round, a round he probably would have been destroyed in if this were a 30 year-old Jones rather than a 39-year old.

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By Simon Hirst: Joe Calzaghe vs Roy Jones Jr was the boxing highlight of the weekend and it proved to be a cracking fight to watch. Firstly, to all those who say it meant nothing significant, Joe beat a shot Roy Jones and that Jones lost no credibility, I do agree with that. What Calzaghe did prove that he’s still in his prime and whilst he shouldn’t retire, there aren’t many challenges out there for him.

Joe extended his unbeaten record to 46-0. Look at the names on his record. He became the first man to beat Jeff Lacy, a man whom all believed would eat Calzaghe up, and many believe that that was Joe Calzaghe’s best performance in a boxing ring. He took Jeff Lacy to school that night. Now to me, the Jones win was a much better victory than the one against Jeff Lacy. My first point is because look at Jones and look at Lacy.

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By Adam Laiolo: Let me start with the easy stuff before I get to what I really have to say. I am massive Joe Calzaghe fan and have been for years, followed him through a lot, even when it didn’t seem a seriously talented fighter like him would never make it to the top and was destined for boxing obscurity. I am also a fan of Roy Jones, loved watching him beat James Toney at Super-middle and dancing round ‘The Quiet Man’ John Ruiz. But last night was a nothing fight, it should have been an exhibition.

This adds nothing to Calzaghe’s record and takes nothing away from Jones’. Jones legacy is secure, he could lose another five fights and I’d still consider him one of the finest I’ve seen. Joe on the other hand has a great on his record, which is fair enough but it looks good on paper, not much substance behind it. Jones is shot, I firmly believe this was Calzaghe ticking all the boxes for his career. Beat a legend in Las Vegas? Check. Promote my own fights with my new company? Check. Fight another legend in Roy Jones Jr at Madison Sq. Garden?

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By Dan Ambrose: Joe Calzaghe attempts to defeat a legend tonight in facing Roy Jones Jr., 40, who appears to have overstayed his career by five years. Whether Calzaghe gets the win or not, he’ll likely get little credit for it. Jones hasn’t been the same fighter he once during his pound for pound boxing form heyday of the 90s since as far back as 2003.

As such, any victories over Jones at this stage is going to be colored with the perception that he is well past his prime, which will likely rob Calzaghe from the fan adoration he would have normally have received if he had met up with Jones years ago rather than now. However, Calzaghe will be paid well and he’ll have that to console his hurt feelings into his promised retirement. Calzaghe has dominated the super middleweight division since turning professional in 1993, and has only rarely had an opponent that could hang with him.

That probably won’t change tonight with Jones, who no longer has the hand speed, foot movement or strength to fight in the center of the ring.

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By Scott Gilfoid: Tonight, Joe Calzaghe makes what will likely be an empty gesture by in all probability defeating an age depleted Roy Jones Jr. at the Madison Square Garden, in New York City, New York. If there’s any good that can come out of this fight, and believe me, I can’t find much, it’s that Calzaghe will be retiring immediately after. At least then, we will be spared any further legacy building fights against faded fighters in or near their 40s like Jones presently is. At 36, Calzaghe has had enough of boxing, he says, and wants to get out of it with his looks intact.

The timing of the retirement comes at an odd time, just when he’s being pursued by a number of good fighters like Bernard Hopkins, Mikkel Kessler – both of whom he beat by close decisions – Chad Dawson and Kelly Pavlik. Calzaghe is choosing instead to wrap up his career against Jones rather than them, and because of that taking a lot of static from boxing experts. Having fought most of his career against less than impressive fighters, it has only been recently that Calzaghe has stepped up the level of his competition in squeaking out victories over Kessler and Hopkins.

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