Dodging a fighter is a cardinal sin in boxing and is something i can never be accused of, unlike one such character who came onto the scene during my era. Roy Jones, James Toney and Michael Nunn for example, i did not dodge.
Lets use Roy Jones as an example. When people asked me why i wouldn’t fight him, I would say to them, ‘Never mind the title or my job, a fight like that could take 5 or 6 years off my life.’ I was well aware of that. He was Pound for Pound, arguably the best foghter on the planet; in regards to his style, his devastating punching ability, the whole repitoire, he had it.
The rule is that if you are champiuon of the world for one body, you cannot be the No.1 contender for another belt. Unless someone was officially the recognised No.1 contender, I had no preofessional obligation to face them. With Roy Jones, he was fortunetly (and i use that word with the utmost respect) never the number 1 contender. Had he been. I would not have dodged. I would have taken the fight. Would have i won the fight. Highly unlikely. What would of been for sure was that he would have come away from the fight and got hurt, and i would have been hurt probably far more than he was. It would of been a war. Techincally we would of been well-matched, so our pure grit would of started to come into play. I believe we both had powerful wills, so the fight would up running on pure instinct. That can be a exceptional violent occurence. Interestingly i was told that Roy Jones was rumoured to have said that the only fighter he had reservations about facing was me. I don’t remember any of my critics saying much about that.
So, the ultimate measure of a fighter is not dodging. If you do, you lose your standing, your respect, your honour. Don’t dodge the No.1 contender.
He also talks about being a big fish and a small pond and what he thought about it, he also talks about fighters like Herol Graham, Mike Mucculam and if he was afraid of them.
This is from his autobiography
It seems not even Chris Eubank thought he could beat Roy Jones Jr. So all of WWatts sayings that Roy ducked Eubank is destroyed from Eubanks own type writer.
[b]RJJ was asked in june 1995 if he feared anybody & he replied “Eubanks”, when asked why he said “Not only does Eubanks have the most awkward style to get to grips with, but whenever hes challenged he responds viciously. he’d be challenged against me”
Also in december 1994 RJJ was quoted as saying “the only fighter who can give me a challenge is Chris Eubank”[/b]
Well RJJ could take a shot back then…I mean I’ve seen him roll with it…that’s like saying Evander Holyfield never had a chin. It’s always a double standard with Roy, either he was the best ever or he has no chin and ducked everyone.
You get to be 198 and have like 4% body fat then go down to 175 and stay there and tell me how easy it was
The guy was juiced up to the gills from the age of 17, he weighed 193 for Ruiz and had about nine months to weigh 175 for Tarver. When you come off a steroid cycle you can lose 20lbs in a few days.
Thats because your pumped full of water… ::** Roy you can loose it in a few days but is it good for you? I could get up to 193 and keep my body fat down but once I was there I know for a fact that loosing weight would take it out of me… a time scale of months would not be enough to revert back to feeling strong and healthy again…
Am I missing something here, I dont remember RJJ being levelled with steroids accusations all that often, and he certainly doesnt look the steriod stereotype (bigger head, unbelievable increase in muscle size) James Toney I can believe, but RJJ’s a tough one.
If you look at roy when he faught B-hop all those years ago at middleweight, and roy now, it’s hard to say whether the size gain is natural or juice, because as they get older boxers naturally get bigger, but his physique is certainly very different now, his skull looks a bit weird now.
Yeah and if I recall he only tested “positive” for a banned substance once and that is questionable if he actually did any steroids.
IMO with seeing guys use roids the don’t look like RJJ…I mean if you’re correct and he did use then he should have been concievibly fighting at welterweight.
As for the “bigger head” and all that it’s not steroids that does that it’s HGH. Human Growth Hormone makes your bones and internal organs grow as side affects to the muscle growth and it’s why Barry Bonds can still play baseball
I just don’t understand why people make such a HUGE deal about RJJ getting KO’d by Tarver and Johnson…I was more dismayed with how he boxed vs Johnson than the KO. Either of those shots would have KO’d anyone else.
RJJ has slowed down a bit, in his prime he could take a shot but he didn’t because LOOK AT ALI, yeah taking punishment is great when you don’t have to. RJJ had a chin he just never had to use it.
The way some people think it would be like saying “Well if JAMES TONEY a fat 168 pounder could stop Holyfield and Tyson couldn’t what does that say about Evander and Iron Mike???”
