Not Buying Roy Jones Jr.

I used to be a boxing freak. By boxing freak, I mean there was a time in my life that I could tell you who every lower weight class champion was, who their number one contenders were, and when they were fighting.

That was about twenty years ago. Back when it was the WBA, WBC, and IBF. These days, there are about 15 sanctioning bodies, including Ring Magazine, and they all have three or four different champions in each weight class (especially the WBC, with their Interim Champions, Legends Champions, etc.).

I still like boxing, but I am not nearly as into it as I used to be. I only get into it when there is a big fight, like Mayweather-De la Hoya, Mayweather-Hatton, and Pavlik-Hopkins.

There is a supposed big fight tomorrow night in New York City's Madison Square Garden, which used to be the Mecca of boxing, but has been something less than that since a riot broke out in 1996 following the end of the first Riddick Bowe-Andrew Golota fight (I was there covering that fight for ESPN Radio).

The fight features thirty-six year old undefeated Joe Calzaghe, who will be defending his Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight Title (though he campaigns mainly as a Super Middleweight) against soon to be 40 year old Roy Jones Jr.

HBO PPV is presenting the fight, which is why if you have HBO, you've been watching their Emmy-award winning series '24/7.' I'll admit that I've checked it out, but I'm also going to tell you I will not spend a dime of my money on that fight. I'm not even sure I'll watch it when HBO presents it for free in a week.

This fight should not be taking place. Not because of Calazghe - he beat Bernard Hopkins soundly, and proved that he is a fighter that should be taken seriously (not usual for European fighters - remember Ricky Hatton??). The fight should not be taking place because of Roy Jones Jr.

I am a Jones guy. I loved it when he moved up from 175 pounds to 226 ponds to beat John Ruiz and win a version of the World Heavyweight Championship. But, unlike Michael Spinks, who did the same thing about twenty years before Jones, and beat a Hall of Famer in Larry Holmes to do it, Jones left the Heavyweight division as soon as he got there.

And it hasn't been fun for him ever since. His first fight at 175 pounds was a disputed decision over Rocky Balboa star Antonio Tarver (Jones should have lost). Then there were three straight losses - a Knockout by Tarver in the second round of their rematch, and knockout loss to somebody named Glen Johnson, and another loss to Tarver in the final part of their trilogy.

He's had three fights since the third Tarver fight. Two of them have been against club fighters in places like Boise, Idaho and Biloxi Mississippi (a far way away from Las Vegas). His last fight was in January, against Felix Trinidad, who was making a comeback, fighting twenty-one pounds above his best weight, and was universally regarded as shot. Still, Jones couldn't put him away. It was a lopsided decision, but nothing you could be impressed with because the Jones of old would have destroyed Trinidad. And the Trinidad of old would have been a lot more competitive than he was.

To put it simply, Jones hasn't done diddly squat to deserve a shot at Clazaghe. In fact, Jones hasn't done anything since beating Ruiz. In 2003. That's five years - a long time by anyone's standards, but a lifetime in boxing.

I'm also afraid for Jones. During the three fight losing streak he took a lot of huge hits to the head. Listen to Jones talk now as opposed to when he beat Ruiz in '03. There's a big difference. I've interviewed Jones (HBO begged radio stations around the country to talk to Jones for his comeback fights in 2006 and 2007) on a couple of occasions, and the last time I talked to him I could barely understand what he was saying. Then I watched him on 24/7. It wasn't any better.

Calzaghe is 45-0 with 32 knockouts. He easily beat Bernard Hopkins in April, and Hopkins just beat Kelly Pavlik, which tells me that Hopkins isn't dead yet as a fighter. The difference between Hopkins and Jones is that Jones took some beatings. Hopkins did not. I'm not going to be shocked if Calzaghe gives Jones a beating, but I'm not going to pay for it on PPV.

And I'm seriously considering leaving boxing behind altogether for MMA, which I swore I'd never do.