Photo by Tom Casino/Showtime – By Dave Lahr: For boxing fans still interested in seeing Roy Jones Jr. (53-5, 39 KO’s) fight, they’ll get their chance on August 15th when the 40-year-old Jones goes up against former International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy (25-2, 17 KO’s) in a 12-round bout at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, in Biloxi.
The bout will be shown on PPV, although it would be much preferable if it were on regular cable due to the recent struggles that Jones and Lacy have undergone in their boxing careers. The fight had little meaning, however, because both Lacy and Jones appear to be not all that relevant in the light heavyweight division right now.
Jones, at one time the best fighter pound for pound in the sport, has been on a dramatic downward slide since 2004, losing four out of his last eight fights. The only wins that Jones has been able to record during this time have been against shot fighters like Felix Trinidad and Omar Sheika, both of whom came out of a lengthy retirement to fight Jones.
The other two wins have come against Anthony Hanshaw and Prince Badi Ajamu. I’m not too familiar with the later name, but Jones looked bad in the Hanshaw fight, which at best should have been scored a draw. I saw Jones losing that fight by at three rounds. Jones tried stepping it up against Joe Calzaghe last year and ended up being beaten by a 12-round unanimous decision by Calzaghe.
Jones looked bad, his reflexes shot, and unable to pull the trigger on his punches. Many boxing fans had hoped that Jones would retire after this fight, because it seemed pretty obvious that he didn’t have it anymore. However, Jones has chosen to ignore his critics and continue on with his career, even if he’s no longer able to beat the top fighters in the light heavyweight division.
At one time, Jones was the best fighter in the middleweight and light heavyweight division, but now he’s kind of an after thought. Boxing being a strange sport that it is, Jones is still ranked at number #2 in the World Boxing Organization, #4 IBF, #6 WBA and #7 in the WBC light heavyweight division despite Jones lack of credible wins in recent years.
In taking a quick glance at the light heavyweight rankings, I can quickly pick out sixteen contenders (not champions, mind you) – Tavoris Cloud, Glen Johnson, Jean Pascal, Beibut Shumenov, Juergen Brahmer, Yusaf Mack, Alejandro Berrio, Chris Henry, Aleksy Kuziemski, Bernard Hopkins, Vyacheslav Uzelkov, Adrian Diacunu, Nathan Cleverly, Antonio Tarver, Hugo Garay and Clinton Woods – that I feel would beat Jones at this time. In other words, so much for the light heavyweight ranking system, which seems to be ranking Jones based on his popularity and past accomplishments rather than what he’s capable of doing at this point in his career.
Lacy, 32, has also struggled in the past few years, getting beaten by Calzaghe in a one-sided 12 round decision loss in 2006, and then beaten by Jermain Taylor last year in November, again by a 12 round decision. Lacy’s power has pretty much abandoned him since injuring his left shoulder in 2006, making him more reliant on his right hand. His power in his right isn’t nearly as awesome as Lacy’s once devastating left hook unfortunately.
The power in Lacy’s left hook doesn’t look as if it’s going to return any time soon, so Lacy will have to get by more on his boxing skills to try and get by Jones. Lacy has had problems since the Calzaghe defeat, struggling against Vitali Tsypko, Peter Manfredo Jr., Epifanio Mendoza and Otis Griffin, but beating them all by narrow decisions. Lacy probably would have had an excellent chance at knocking these fighters out before he injured his shoulder in 2006, but the injury has taken a lot out of him.
While I think Lacy, ranked #5 in the IBF and #7 in the WBC, has the talent and the youth to beat Jones, I don’t think it will happen. Jones still has enough boxing ability to beat Lacy by a comfortable decision just as long as Jones doesn’t get nailed by one of Lacy’s big right hands.
Also on the same fight card will be Former WBA light heavyweight champion Danny Green facing Julio Cesar Dominguez for the vacant IBO cruiserweight title.
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