Roy Jones, Jr.’s Fan Fight and calls for his Retirement
Some fans have been begging Roy Jones, Jr. to retire since his unspectacular performance against Antonio Tarver in 2003. The mere fact that he did not look super-human was enough to worry his long-time supporters. “Super Roy Jones” had been so dominant in his career that he was generally recognized as the pound-for-pound best boxer in the world for over a decade.
The years since 2003 have been increasingly unkind to Mr. Jones. After a knockout loss to Tarver in their 2004 rematch, Jones has continued on to a 13 wins vs. 7 losses stretch. Included within those losses, Jones suffered four brutal knockouts. But Roy Jones, Jr. wishes to fight on, and again the boxing community argues the ethics of “allowing” an aging athlete to continue putting themselves in danger.
Silencing his “haters”, one at a time?
New media outlet URshow.tv and Roy Jones recently announced a contest straight from the early days of professional fisticuffs: any boxing fan with the guts to face Jones in the ring could have a chance at $100,000! …If said fan was able to knock the champ out.
The response from news outlets has been less than positive:
I’m not going to waste your time trying to validate this contest with references to similar matches in boxing’s history, and I am aware of the dangers this competition presents to all involved. The liability of the promoters — if the fan is severely injured — is likely the reason why this kind of event has rarely taken place since the industrial revolution. Any human being without a wealth of combat training is going to be completely helpless against Roy Jones, Jr.. The slowed reflexes of the 47-year-old boxing legend are not enough to wipe away his lifetime of boxing knowledge and ring savvy.
The current discussions of traumatic brain injury in the NFL have inspired deeper analysis of the the risks involved with football, boxing, and all contact sports. The debates continue and the results of modern scientific study are not yet complete. I am interested in the new information, but as an adult man it does not affect my opinion about our rights to engage in dangerous activities.
It’s your thang, do whatchoo you wanna do.
I often refer to what I call “the rule of consenting adults”: If all affected parties are consenting adults then I have no issue with whatever you choose to do. If people over the age of 18 elect to compete in contact sports, that is their right. One of my favorite states even has a street-fighting law that ties to this rule. In Washington state adults can fight each other in mutual combat, if a police officer is present to referee. “Mutual combat” is defined as:
“A fight into which both parties enter willingly, or in which two persons, upon a sudden quarrel, and in hot blood, mutually fight upon equal terms.”
A boxing match is not like an older person who is no longer capable of safely operating a car putting other drivers on the road at risk. Do I want to see one of my sports heroes suffer any further damage in the ring? No. Is Roy Jones, Jr. forcing anyone to watch him fight? No.
Here’s where it get’s funny…
So Roy Jones, Jr. wanted to knock out a fan…
…and even I was ready to eat some punches. You think maybe they didn’t take me seriously?
Realizing that URshow.tv was going to be flooded with some of the wildest videos ever, with fans begging to get beat up, I figured “Why not?” and threw together an obnoxious Conor McGregor-esque call-out.
No real disrespect was intended to Roy Jones, Jr. in my video. As I hinted at earlier: Mr. Jones is going to outclass and toy with whoever gets in the ring with him on March 20th. His recent knockout loss to Enzo Maccarinelli, while frightening, was not a loss to a “bum”. Enzo is a six-foot-four, 200 pound, professional boxing champion.
Ultimately, the URshow.tv contest was revised to filter out the entrants who were not already professional fighters, after the Arizona Athletic Commission stated they would not sanction the bout unless both fighters were established pros. Oh well, I was never going to gain enough weight to fight at cruiserweight anyway!
It wasn’t about the money for me. It was about respect. I truly am a huge Roy Jones, Jr. fan. While I would have done my absolute best to defeat “His Royness”, just a single punch from him could end my night! I would have been honored to be hospitalized by the man.
Thankfully you can still watch Roy beat up on average dudes by searching for “pros vs joes roy jones”!
*A special shout-out to the friends I clowned on in my video: sorry I edited out all the cool stuff you did. My highlight video, them’s the ropes, now go edit your own damn highlight reel!
