Do you think Roy Jones Jr. overtrained, or did he fight lesser foes? What made his demise? Age ?

Question

Roy beat Ruiz, played games with his weight, overtrained, then got KO'd. Or was he exposed due to age and fighting mostly lesser opponents. What happenened ? He went from being unbeatable, to being KO'd and carted away. What do you think ?

Answer 1

It seems you've done your homework, already. As a former fighter I cna assure you that contrary to what Foreman did, and, Holyfield id attempting to do, the fight game is vicious especially once you get 15 years or so under your belt. So yes, the age thing is a HUGE factor in Roys fall. Another thing you mentioned is Weight......Playing with your weight will kick you in the sack 9 outta 10 times---simply put you don't do it against decent fighters. I'm not talking elite fighters....just decent. When you move up and down the scales you obviously have to adjust your workout and diet, which 9 times outta 10 means you are going to be weaker. Here's the one thing you didnt mention that's also HUGE......Getting HIT! When you get hit AND HOT HARD and you're not accustomed to getting hit HARD and/or, Going Down......you don't know how to respond. Roy never dealt with getting hit by the mostly inferior and subpar oppenents. I've often told friends and colleagues in the fight game that fighters like myself, Corrales, Trinidad, Holyfield, Hearns, and Pacquaio are or were crowd pleasing fighters partially becuase of the inner ability to get back in there once they had been hit in mouth or knocked down. Roy lacked this quality.

Answer 2

His demise was from a number of factors.

1. His pride/ego - after defeating Ruiz he had to lose 25 lbs of muscle to come down to fight Tarver & he didn't take the proper amount of time to do that. Plus he allowed Tarver to get under his skin. He defeated Tarver in the 1st fight but there were questions about the fight & Roy wanted to prove that he could beat him soundly a 2nd time.

2. Lucky punch - Tarver is an average fighter & I think Roy for one of the very few times in his career was carless & got caught.

3. KO'd - a lot of fighters once they get KO'd are never the same ie: Mark Breland, Donald Curry, George Foreman & probably many others. Most fighters can't do like Tommy Hearns & get ko'd several times & just come back without being scared to be hit.

4. Came back to soon - when he fought Glen Johnson he should have chose a stiff to fight against 1st & get his confidence back.

5. Finally fighters have caught up to him when he was in his early 30's he was so superior to every fighter in his class. Look what he did to great fighters like James Toney & Bernard Hopkins early on.

He was great & maybe he still does have a few exciting fights in him but I don't want to see him get ko'd again by average fighters & that's what happend.

Answer 3

To answer your question Roy never over trained and age had nothing to do with it.

It was the weight loss. Look at Roy's body in the Ruiz fight and look at it in the (3rd) Tarver fight. Look how unhealthy he looks even with the time off.

He should never have fought Tarver in the first place. When he beat Ruiz he should have either fought smaller heavyweights i.e Holyfield and Chris Bird or he should have retired. There was no need to fight Tarver. If Tarver wanted to fight Roy it should have been at heavyweight and he definitely should not have fought him a second time. Even at age 38 he is still the fastest fighter in the division but something is missing and he will never get it back.

Answer 4

What got Roy was the thing with Ruiz, and also the fact that, for some one with his amazing skill, he didn't always try to go after the fighters who could give him the challenge, a la Floyd Mayweather Jr.Also, when you're heart is on playing basketball on the same day as you're boxing match, something is wrong.

Answer 5

Boxers get old overnight...remember how great he looked against Tarver the first time? He was loosing than rallied to take like 6 rounds in a row..he easily outboxed ruiz in the heavyweight division as well....then all this sudden he was getting knocked out. So yes, Roy was always good, then he just got old...that will happen to everyone, and shouldnt tarnish anyones legacy.

Answer 6

Im Roy's biggest fan.


It was the weight game because he lost 25 lbs of muscle and that takes alot out of a fighter. Especially Roy because thats where his speed and reflexes come from. After the first fight with Tarver, he shoulda let his body rest. But instead he fought AT right after. If Roy didn't play the weight game, he would have a record of 50 something and 1. He probly would be one of the top 5 best to touch of pair of boxing gloves

Answer 7

Father time tapped Roy on the chin with a left hook, age caught up to him at the worst possible time, and Tarver got lucky enough to be there when it happened. That left hook shattered Roy's confidence and ended an era. Roy Jones Jr. went from boxing's pound for pound best to ordinary in the millisecond it took Tarver to land a punch. The next two humiliating losses closed the show. Roy Jones Jr. is a memory as a world class boxer, once it's gone you don't get it back.

Answer 8

It was his age obviously. He ruled the game for 15 years, when you rely on your quickness and physical ability like he did, it's amazing he was even able to go that long. Speed is the first thing to go in a fighter, and at the age of 35 it is gone fo rthe most part. It had to do with A) His age, and B) dropping down from 193 to LHW and weight draining for the first Tarver fight(which he was still able to win on heart). After that, it just started to show more that he simply didn't have what he used to. It had nothing to do with quality of opposition, as he had fought and beat better fighters than Tarver and Glenn Johnson before.

Answer 9

I think it was his decision to move up in weightclass more than anything else. Bigger guys mean bigger punches and over time that takes a huge toll on the body. As for defeating Ruiz in the heavyweight division, Ruiz is a bum. Anyone looks good against him.

Answer 10

Forget this bullshi*t that he was a shot fighter, or that he had a glass jaw, what destroyed Roy Jones was the dramatic weight loss after the fight with Ruiz. Losing all that weight so suddenly damaged him neurologically and physically.