Roy Jones jnr no match for Joe Calzaghe

Welshman Joe Calzaghe successfully protected his undefeated record with a one sided unanimous decision over former four weight World title holder Roy Jones jnr in New York. Jones had Calzaghe on the canvas in the first round via a short right hand and was in the fight for the first three rounds but Calzaghe’s workrate proved too much as he ran away with the fight during the middle and late rounds. Jones was unable to pull the trigger on his right hand or establish his jab throughout the fight and could do little more then cover up as Calzaghe unloaded combinations for the full 12 rounds. With the win Calzaghe retains the Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight title that he won from Bernard Hopkins earlier in the year and will likely retire undefeated.

Calzaghe started quickly in the first round, establishing his jab and forcing Jones to give up ground. Despite his combinations not carrying a lot of power, Calzaghe repeatedly tagged Jones with hooks to the head and body when Jones was cornered. After dominating the first two rounds of the fight, Jones uncorked a solid right hand that caught Calzaghe in a semi-crouch and dropped him to all fours. Calzaghe beat the count and survived the round, a round which saw a three point turnaround on the cards after Jones took what was clearly a round for the Welshmen and won it 10-8 with the knockdown.

The second round was hard fought with Calzaghe landing by far the more punches but Jones landing by far the cleaner shots. However, like when Calzaghe fought Hopkins earlier in the year, he showed no ill effects from the knockdown and started to take Jones out of the fight with his workrate. Both fighters traded shots in the third round with Calzaghe getting the better of the exchanges. By the third round Calzaghe started repeatedly dropping his hands in front of Jones, a tactic that he used for the remainder of the bout. Jones looked in survival mode in the fourth, but did land a solid right-left combination that only drew a smile from the former Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion.

Through rounds five and six Calzaghe tattooed the former pound for pound king with his combinations with Jones throwing next to nothing in return. Every time Jones tried to fight back, Calzaghe simply used his jab to keep him off balance and waited for Jones to gas before going back to work. In round seven, a left cross from Calzaghe opened a nasty cut over Jones’ left eye that continued to bleed throughout the fight. By rounds eight and nine Jones was offering next to nothing in return other than a flurry at the start of the round while Calzaghe was working for the full three minutes. However Jones showed heart and battled through until the final bell (which was preceeded by the referee slipping in comical fashion on the water that Jones’ corner had spilt in his corner; water that the referee repeatedly asked his corner to mop up between rounds) but failed to mount any serious offence in the remaining rounds.

All three judges scored the bout 118-109 (as did I) as Calzaghe scored one of the biggest wins of his career. After the fight both boxers commented that they would talk with their team about whether to continue in the sport. From what I could see, there was only one fighter who should retire after that fight and that is Roy Jones jnr. Jones can’t work for more then thirty seconds when faced with a live contender and will only get hurt if he continues to fight. Calzaghe seems to be better then ever and still has the skills to be in the sport for a while yet. However, the only real challenge out there for him now would be Chad Dawson. While the Hopkins fight was close on the scorecards, Calzaghe should have been a clear winner in that fight and the fight was ugly and I don’t think anyone would be interested in seeing it again. With the next weight division being 25lbs above Light Heavyweight, there’s really not much more for Calzaghe to do. Despite not getting the big fights until the end of his career, Calzaghe has made up for a lot of lost time in the last 2-3 years and will go down as one of the greats of the modern era.

Boxing Breakdown: Calzaghe vs Jones jnr

This is a great time to be a fight fan (by fight fan I mean a fan of all fighting, not a boxing fan who hates MMA or vice versa). When the UFC isn’t highlighting my weekend, we are getting quality boxing matches in its place. This weekend is no different as number two Pound for Pound fighter Joe Calzaghe puts his uncrowned title as the best Light Heavyweight in Boxing on the line against the former best Pound for Pound fighter in the World Roy Jones jnr.

While Jones hasn’t performed at his best in recent years, one only has to remember ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ where the out of form Muhammad Ali took on the seemingly invincible George Foreman and shocked the World to know this could be a great fight. There are comparisons with this fight and that great matchup, although it’s not on the same level as Jones seems to be more past his best then Ali was and Calzaghe isn’t quite the destructive force that Foreman was. Still, I don’t think this fight should be 100% written off as a mismatch and although I would rather have seen Kelly Pavlik in Jones’ place a few months ago, the ease in which Hopkins handled Pavlik leads me to believe that Pavlik wouldn’t have lasted the distance with the bigger, busier Welshman.

Joe Calzaghe
After being ridiculed for not fighting anyone for years, Calzaghe has emerged as one of the best pound for pound boxers in the World in recent years with a string of impressive victories over top opponents. His one sided beating of Jeff Lacy catapulted him into boxing super stardom and his follow up boxing lesson to Mikkel Kessler last year as well as the close decision victory over Bernard Hopkins makes Calzaghe one of the biggest names in the sport right now. Calzaghe has with him one of the quickets pair of hands in boxing today as well as almost unmatched cardio and excellent defence. However, the thing that Calzaghe does better then anyone in boxing today is adapts to his opponents style. In both the Hopkins and Kessler fights, Calzaghe was in trouble and changed his approach and left both fighters unable to do anything to him for the rest of the fight.
For Calzaghe to win this fight he has to take Jones into deep water and drown him. Calzaghe needs to be cautious early on when Jones is fresh and then push the pace in the middle rounds when he tires and not let him off the hook when he’s gassed. Jones is the older fighter and has shown in all of his fights since he beat John Ruiz (apart from the rematch with tarver in which he was knocked out in the 2nd round) that he can’t keep up a solid pace for more then a few rounds. Calzaghe needs to throw lots of punches like he is famous for and make Jones work at a pace that his body won’t be able to tolerate for the 12 rounds. If Calzaghe allows Jones to fight in spurts then he allows Jones to fight his fight and gives him his best chance of winning the bout.

Roy Jones jnr
Future hall of famer and arguably the greatest boxer since at least Pernell Whitaker, Roy Jones jnr has made a resurgence since losing three in a row a few years back. After being by far the number one pound for pound fighter in the World, Roy Jones ran into Antonio Tarver and after barely surviving with a close decision win in their first fight, he was knocked out with a single left hand in the rematch. An even more shocking knockout to Glenn Johnson later in the year was followed with another loss to Tarver a year later and Roy Jones went from the top of the mountain to six feet under very quickly. Jones bounced back with two decision wins over less the World Class opposition before winning (what was perceived by some as a big fight which really wasn’t) a unanimous decision over former Welterweight and Junior Middleweight king Felix Trinidad. Most of what made Jones successful years ago is now only visible in spurts mainly due to his loss of conditioning, however he still possesses quick hands, good one punch power and most of the reflexes that left many of the World’s best boxers like James Toney and Virgil Hill unable to land a glove on him for years.
For Jones to win this fight he basically has to catch Calzaghe early and knock him out. If Calzaghe can establish his workrate and make Jones work he’ll break him down the stretch. Calzaghe has shown in many of his fights including his last two bouts against Bernard Hopkins and Mikkel Kessler that he is suspect early to getting hurt. Jones is probably the first boxer Calzaghe has ever faced with quicker hands then him and this could be a big factor in the fight. Jones has to let his hands go early and land some hard punches because if Calzaghe gets through the first few rounds without feeling Jones’ power he’ll have an easy night.

Prediction
I have to go with Calzaghe in this fight because in the words of Matt Hughes ‘he has more outs to win.’ The only way I see Jones winning this fight is if he blitzes Calzaghe early and knocks him out, but the fact that Jones has struggled to put away some of the lesser opponents he’s fought recently (I honestly can’t remember their names) as well as Felix Trinidad who was knocked out by Bernard Hopkins at Middleweight leads me to believe that this won’t happen. Jones will probably have a good start to the fight because of his speed and may even be ahead halfway through the fight but Calzaghe’s workrate and ring generalship will be the deciding factors in this fight and I think he’ll come over the top of Jones in the second half of the fight to take a comfortable points win or score a late stoppage. I’ll go with the former. Joe Calzaghe on points.

Other fights this weekend
Not much on the undercard at Madison Square Garden. The only other notable fight this weekend is between IBF Middleweight king Arthur Abraham and mandatory challenger Raul Marquez. I can’t see Marquez upsetting Abraham let alone lasting the distance. Abraham should win by stoppage and hopefully set up a clash with Kelly Pavlik sometime next year.

Hopkins upsets Pavlik

Former undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins upset current WBC/WBO and Ring Magazine Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik by unanimous decision. Hopkins dominated the fight without ever letting Pavlik get set during the 12 round catchweight contest (both fighters fought at 170lbs). With his use of angles, Hopkins continually frustrated Pavlik and never allowed him to let his hands go while he used his jab and straight right hand to tag Pavlik whenever he was in range. The times Pavlik did try and punch, Hopkins countered with hard right hands and three punch combinations that at times had Pavlik looking in trouble. Both fighters were deducted points; Pavlik in the 8th round for rabbit punching and Hopkins in the nith for holding. Hopkins won on the scorecards by margins of 119-106, 118-108, 117-109.

At 43 years of age this is a big win for Hopkins that will keep him in the running for another big fight. In my opinion it also puts him back in or around the top five pound for pound fighters in the World. He did lose those two fights to Jermain Taylor but both were by close decision in fights where it seems obvious now that he was boiling down to a weight that was hurting him to make. Then he beats two top fighters in Antonio Tarver and Winky Wright before losing a split decision (I thought Calzaghe was an easy winner personally) to one of the best fighters in the World in Joe Calzaghe. This man is still one of the best fighters in the World. Calzaghe has already ruled out a rematch saying his fight with Jones will be his last, but a fight between Hopkins and Jones jnr (win lose or draw vs Calzaghe) will be a big fight. Hopkins-Dawson as well could be a good fight. How about Hopkins-Kessler if Kessler moves up in weight? There’s some good fights out there for ‘The Executioner’ and even though he’s old and he’s boring four out of every five fights there fights you want to see him in.

As for Pavlik, he needs to move back down to Middleweight. His punches have no snap at this weight and he just overall doesn’t look anywhere near the fighter he is at 160lbs. Pavlik should take the mandatory with Marco Antonio Rubio, tear him a new one then look at either Winky Wright or Arthur Abraham. Neither of those guys could stand up to what a 160lb version of Pavlik brings to the table. The matchup was all wrong for Pavlik, he faced a bigger guy that he couldn’t outmuscle who was also quicker and technically better then him who had been boxing since before Pavlik was born. There’s no shame in losing to Hopkins in my opinion and Pavlik is still one of the top fighters pound for pound in the World. One loss to a bigger man like Hopkins who is al all-time great is no big deal.

On the undercard, WBO Featherweight titlist Steve Luevano did what 9 out of every 10 Australian fans wanted to see happen and whipped Billy Dib. Dib was made to look amateurish at times, often getting caught with his hands down and chin in the air by the better techincal boxer Luevano. It wasn’t completely one sided as Dib had his moments, using his hand and foot speed to score and successfully evade Luevano’s counters, but the cleaner, harder shots were landed by Luevano throughout the fight.

This week in Boxing (16th August)

I decided to start a new feature on this site. Each Saturday I’ll post a wrap-up of what happened during that week in boxing (outside of the really mega stories which I’ll post as they happen/when they happen) and give my take on it. I read quite a few different sites as well so I’ll comment on the odd article that I find to be stupid and put crap on the author. I’m hoping this segment will actually get someone to comment on the site because I’m feeling a little lonely. I might also do an MMA version of this segment, although right now I’ll keep it to boxing because there aren’t a lot of good boxing matches happening over the next few weeks.

Olympic Boxing Results
Not really results, I just wanted to vent my frustration about the scoring. I really don’t think there will be boxing at London 2012. The scoring system has somehow managed to break the rock bottom it hit at Athens 2004 and get worse. The way they do it just isn’t logical. These fighters sacrifice so much to get there, only for their dreams to rest on whether or not three judges react to a punch within a second of each other in order to score a point. Not only do they have to worry about scoring with their shots and making the other boxer miss, they have to hope that their point is scored by this completely random scoring system. Go back to round-by-round scoring if you have to and make it three-three minute rounds instead or let the judges keep their own cumulative score over the four rounds based on punches landed on the target area and then score it for the fighter who the majority of the judges think won. Anything will work better then the current method!

Jorge Arce returns in September
Again this isn’t really about Arce, it’s about what the WBA are doing with this fight. Okay try and follow this; Cristian Mijares unified the WBC and WBA titles with a points win over Alexander Munoz. The WBA do what they always do and make Mijares ‘super champion’ because he holds the WBA belt plus another title which is their fucked up policy. Now get this, without even filling the ‘regular’ WBA title, the WBA have announced Alexander Munoz will fight for the regular title, and Arce will fight for the interim title. How fucked up is that? To make matters worse, both guys are fighting average fighters. Why don’t the WBA just make these two fight because the winner will definately be the next top fighter behind Mijares and Montiel. That would be an excellent fight and something that boxing needs to happen more often; two top fighters fighting each other for the right to face the champion. Sanctioning bodies suck and as long as organisations like the WBA are allowed to do shit like this boxing will always be a second rate sport!

Joe Calzaghe to retire should he defeat Roy Jones jnr
I’m a bit pissed off by this. There are plenty of good fights for Calzaghe to take part in (well there’s at least one and possibly two). The winner of Dawson vs Tarver would make an excellent opponent for Calzaghe as would Kelly Pavlik should he defeat Bernard Hopkins (I really couldn’t sit through a rematch between Calzaghe and Hopkins). Jones jnr won’t test Calzaghe, he’s old and washed up. Calzaghe’s got plenty of fight left in him if he wants to keep going, and a win over who I think will be a top pound for pound fighter in boxing for the next five or so years will add enormous amounts to his legacy. Pavlik has to get by Hopkins first and I’m really not sure he can at the higher weight. Hopkins spoiling style and physical strength will make things ugly for Pavlik who will be forced to fight at a lower pace then he likes to. I’d love nothing more to see Pavlik mop the floor with both Hopkins and Calzaghe in his next two fights though.

Vic Toweel passes away
Arguably South Africa’s greatest boxer (I don’t know a lot about their boxing history but no other names came to mind) and former Undisputed World Bantamweight champion Vic Toweel passed away yesterday at age 80. Toweel went 298-2 as an amatuer (one of those losses came in the form of a disputed decision at the 1948 Olympics) before turning pro. He won the World Bantamweight Championship in 1950 with a 15 round points win over Bantamweight great Manuel Ortiz. ‘The Benoni Atom’ made three defences of his title before losing it to Jimmy Caruthers in 1952. During his reign he had troubles making the weight and had many fights above the Bantamweight limit. Toweel retired with a 28-3-1 record (14 knockouts) and lived the last 20 years of his life in Australia. RIP.

De La Hoya vs Pacquaio likely off
The ‘mega’ fight between top ranked junior middleweight Oscar De La Hoya and top ranked lightweight Manny Pacquiao is likely off after both parties couldn’t come to an agreement. Good Riddance! I really don’t know why people were so keen to see De La Hoya beat up a man who is 20lbs naturally smaller then him no matter how good he is in his weight division. The last thing I needed to hear on the occasions I visit message boards is how much greater De La Hoya is after a knockout win over Pacquiao. It’s bad enough as it is that people think he’s up ther with guys like Ray Robinson and Henry Armstrong (I personally don’t think he’s the greatest welterweight or lightweight of the last 15 years) without this overhyped mismatch taking place. Pacquiao will instead fight Humberto Soto, who is a good fighter but will likely test the pound for pound king Pacquiao. De La Hoya will probably make Felix Trinidad saw his leg off to make welterweight and avenge that loss in his farewell fight which might infact be worse.