What Next For Roy Jones Jr?

Image: What Next For Roy Jones Jr?By Dan Cimineradan: Ok, everyone has talked about Joe Calzaghe retiring after this fight, but possibly being coaxed into another, even his dad Enzo has hinted he might just mean a long holiday. But, what of Roy Jones? Let’s assume its Sunday morning and Calzaghe has beaten Jones on a point’s decision. Where does Jones go next?? does he retire? Or does he fight on?

Personally I feel retirement is the best option he could take. However, I do feel that if he chooses to fight on he will be motivated to win a decent percentage of however many more he takes mainly because he is a true fighter and even at this stage isn’t motivated by money alone as he surely has managed to amass some fortune during his highly decorated career. If he does decide to stick around, who would he fight? He has already point blank refused to fight Bernard Hopkins, indicating he is thinking of fighting again, just not with Hopkins. Who else could he fight? Well, as i said, we are assuming he’s lost the decision against Calzaghe here so he hasn’t been totally ruined especially as Joe would now be the highest profile unbeaten retired boxer since rocky Marciano.

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Hopkins Hoping For Rematches With Jones and Calzaghe

Image: Hopkins Hoping For Rematches With Jones and CalzagheBy Sean McDaniel: Light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins’ chances for a rematch between both Roy Jones Jr. and Joe Calzaghe seem remote at best at this point. Hopkins, 43, is counting on the winner of Saturday’s super bout between Jones and Calzaghe to give him a rematch. However, neither Jones nor Calzaghe, win or lose, appear to have any interest in giving Hopkins another shot at a fight. Jones defeated Hopkins by a close unanimous decision in May 1993 for the vacant IBF middleweight title, while Calzaghe defeated Hopkins by a 12-round split decision in April.

Both fights were extremely close and left a bad taste of needed revenge in Hopkins’ mouth. However, in the case of Calzaghe, Hopkins has had no luck in getting him to show any interest in giving him a rematch. Calzaghe appears fed up with boxing, tired of fighting after a long 15 year professional career that has saw him hold onto his WBO super middleweight crown for 10 years without a defeat.

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Could Calzaghe Have Beaten a Younger Jones ?

Image: Could Calzaghe Have Beaten a Younger Jones ?By Tim Williams: Whether Joe Calzaghe wins on Saturday night against Roy Jones Jr., it will not give a true indication of who the better fighter would have been if Joe hadn’t waited until Jones was far over the hill to decide to fight him. What it will prove is that Calzaghe, at 36, has more left in the tank than the 39 year-old Jones, who has been in a big career slide since 2003.

However, it would have been interesting to see how Calzaghe, no matter what stage of his career, had faired against Jones between 1993 and 2003. During that time, Jones was considered first the best middleweight and then the best light heavyweight in boxing. Along the way, he defeated Bernard Hopkins, Eric Lucas, Mike McCallum, Vinny Pazienza, Thomas Tate, James Toney, Montell Griffin, Virgil Hill, Lou Del Valle, Otis Grant, Richard Frazier, Reggie Johnson, Richard Hall, Eric Harding, Glen Kelly, Julio Cesar Gonzalez, Clinton Woods and John Ruiz.

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Calzaghe-Jones Failing To Interest Fans

Image: Calzaghe-Jones Failing To Interest FansBy Dan Ambrose: This Saturday’s mismatch between Roy Jones Jr. and Joe Calzaghe is failing to live up to expectations, as boxing fans tune out to a fight that most people give little chance for the aging 39 year-old Jones to win. From a boxing standpoint, the Jones-Calzaghe bout probably should have never been made in the first place. Sure, it would have been a great fight 10 years ago, when Jones was still fighting at his optimal best, but not now.

Most fans know that this is Calzaghe’s swan song, and that he’s looking for a big payday rather than a competitive fight, and are tuning out in droves for the bout. One look at the various boxing internet sites and it will tell you all you need to know about this fight. There’s hardly a peep about the fight from any fans, mainly because the fight is considered to be such a terrible mismatch.

It could be an interesting bout for Calzaghe fans, which will probably see a victory over Jones as warped evidence that Joe could beat him while in his prime, but seems highly unlikely to many of the boxing experts, who see Calzaghe as not nearly in the same class as a prime Jones.

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Roy Jones Jr. – Where Does He Go If He loses To Calzaghe?

Image: Roy Jones Jr. - Where Does He Go If He loses To Calzaghe?By Aaron Klein: Not much has been said of what Roy Jones Jr. (52-4, 38 KOs) will do if he’s soundly beaten by Joe Calzaghe on Saturday night. Instead of people looking at what will happen to Jones, 39, an all time great, most people are focusing on how badly Calzaghe will beat the old warrior. It’s unfortunate, really, that the fight needs to take place at since Jones is far past his prime and almost certainly going to be losing badly on Saturday night.

And while Jones may actually make it an interesting fight for the first half of the bout, he’ll no doubt fade in the end and lose the fight by a rather one-sided defeat. No one wants to see Jones take a beat, least of all himself, but a beating is probably what he’s going to be taking in this fight. However, unless he makes a good showing in this fight, his marketability will take a huge hit afterwards. He’ll still remain popular with boxing fans, but it’s doubtful that he’ll be in the running for any other huge mega fights in the near future, such as a bout against Bernard Hopkins.

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Jones vs. Calzaghe: Who’ll Say They Knew All Along This Time?

Image: Jones vs. Calzaghe: Who’ll Say They Knew All Along This Time?By Alex Mcmillan: A couple of weeks back, Hopkins vs. Pavlik. Veteran gunslinger meets Billy the Kid. Easy Pavlik win? Hopkins too old to avoid the right hand? Or just old enough to know best?

In retrospect of course, it was obvious. Bernard had called it all along. Kelly Pavlik is an exciting fighter. A tremendous puncher. A KO specialist. But he’s not Bernard Hopkins. He’s not spent 15 years boxing some of the greats. He’s not fought Winky Wright, Roy Jones, Oscar De la Hoya, Tito Trinidad, Antonio Tarver, Joe Calzaghe, Glen Johnson and William Joppy. Hopkins had fought much higher class. Had won and lost and drawn against much higher class. He was always going to win that fight.

Did I pick Hopkins to win? Of course I didn‘t.

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Does Jones Have Enough Left To Defeat Calzaghe?

Image: Does Jones Have Enough Left To Defeat Calzaghe?By Michael Lieberman: At 39 years-old, former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. (52-4, 38 KOs) is seemingly at the end of his career going into Saturday night’s bout with unbeaten Joe Calzaghe at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Chosen largely because of his name rather than his recent accomplishments, Jones is going into the bout at a huge disadvantage no matter how much Calzaghe and other British writers try to pump up the fight.

The fact remains, Jones has done little in the past three years since being beaten in three consecutive fights to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson, two of which were devastating knockout losses. Since that time, Jones has beaten Prince Badi Ajamu, Anthony Hanshaw and Felix Trinidad, though only Hanshaw could probably be considered a good fighter out of the bunch.

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Fighting Jones Is The Perfect Capstone For Calzaghe’s Career

calzaghe656646.jpgBy Jim Dower: On November 8th, Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs) will likely be stepping into the ring for the final time in his 15-year boxing career for a bout against Roy Jones Jr., a fighter that many people consider to be faded and washed up long ago. Calzaghe, 36, has taken heat for having fought almost the entirety of his long career in Europe against mainly European fighters, and only recently has he ventured into the U.S to fight the 43 year-old Hopkins, and now the 39 year-old Jones.

Quite obviously, when taken in as a whole with the lack of what people consider to be quality opponents in Calzaghe’s career, the fight with Jones would seem to be the fitting end to Calzaghe’s career. Instead of facing other more fitting opponents like Chad Dawson, Jermain Taylor, or Carl Froch, we will be seeing Calzaghe face another older fighter as he bows out of the game for good. It’s so sad. Calzaghe’s record looks good on paper, yet when you take a look at it under a microscope, it just doesn’t stand up in comparisons to other fighters like Jones and Hopkins, both of which fought superb opponents during their career. As you’re no doubt aware, Hopkins and Jones are considered all time greats of the sport, and that’s mainly because of the top quality fighters that they’ve proven their worth against throughout their career.

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Can Calzaghe Slap His Way To Victory Over Jones?

cal5378.jpgBy Scott Gilfoid: Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs) has had an amazing career, staying undefeated throughout his long 15 year career and holding his World Boxing Organization (WBO) super middleweight title for an incredible 10 long years without one opponent even coming close to beating him. Almost all of his bouts have taken place in Wales, having only recently come over to the U.S for his hard fought 12-round split decision victory over Bernard Hopkins.

For many Americans, they were less than impressed with Calzaghe, in particular his slapping punches which looked pale in comparison to the hard, clean-landing shots from Hopkins. In the end, Calzaghe squeaked by with a narrow split decision due to Hopkins tiring out in the second half of the bout, and resorting to clinching and other such delaying tactics. Nevertheless, the slapping and lack of clean landing shots from Calzaghe made his U.S. debut more than a little disappointing, because fighters over here are usually expected to land harder punches in order to win. While Calzaghe was able to get the nod over Hopkins last time out, I have grave doubts that he will get a second win if he fights in a similar manner on November 8th against Roy Jones Jr.

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