ROY JONES vs JOHN RUIZ: ‘Y’ALL MUSTA FORGOT’
THERE WAS A TIME WHENROY JONES WAS THE BESTFIGHTER IN THE WORLD ANDACCLAIMED AS ONE OF THEGREATEST FIGHTERS EVER.
ROY JONES fought too long. He was knocked out on the downside of his career by Enzo Maccarinelli, Denis Lebedev, and Danny Green and struggled against club fighters who wouldn’t have made the cut as sparring partners when he was young. That’s sad for a lot of reasons, one of which is that some people have forgotten how good Jones was in his prime.
There was a time when you could have asked 10 fighters, “Who’s the best fighter in the world?” And without hesitation, every one of them would have answered “Roy Jones.”
Sugar Ray Robinson, for whom the phrase “pound for pound” was invented, was a classic fighter. Robinson fought conventionally. He just did it better than anyone else. Jones was different. He moved beyond the framework of convention. Like Muhammad Ali, he deconstructed the art and science of boxing and reassembled the pieces to his liking.
The young Roy Jones beat Bernard Hopkins and James Toney. In a highlight reel moment that encapsulated his brilliance, he knocked out Virgil Hill with a single punch – a right hand UNDER the jab. Against Glen Kelly, standing with his back to the ropes and both hands behind his back, Jones flashed a right hand that put Kelly down for the count. Figuratively speaking, he knocked Glen
