Ron Borges on Roy Jones
BoyMayo
I don't know if this has been posted or not yet. If it's a repeat,
I apologize.
.....BoyMayo
BOXING
Backed into corner, Jones backs out
By Ron Borges, Globe Staff, 02/08/98
oy Jones Jr. has been blessed with a curse.
The blessing is that he is among the two or three best boxers of his
generation. The curse is that people actually think he wants to fight
for a living.
If ever there was proof that the latter is not the case, it came last
Wednesday when Jones told his new promoter the same thing he told his
old ones: ''I think I'll pass.''
The former middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight
champion had sent a fax to Murad Muhammad in which he agreed to fight
37-year-old ex-heavyweight champion Buster Douglas on May 2 for $6
million and an assortment of other things Jones didn't think Muhammad
could deliver on.
Last Saturday night, Jones thought about it some more as he worked an
HBO fight broadcast, and his usual misgivings began to surface.
By Monday he had told Muhammad he had to talk to his parents about this
whole idea of moving up to heavyweight.
On Tuesday his mother shocked him, saying, ''Go ahead, son,'' which left
Jones in a place he never wanted to be - standing in front of his
father.
Jones has barely spoken to his father - who at one time was his manager,
trainer, hero, and confidant - since a nasty breakup several years ago
over Roy Sr.'s compulsive need to control his son and his career.
The father, who trained the boy all the way to the Seoul Olympics and
onto the road to three world championships, cut the son loose like a bad
habit, refusing to attend his fights or visit his new home or live in
the one the son had bought for his family.
But now, faced with the specter of actually having to back up one of his
boasts with action, Roy Jones Jr. ran home to his father, who
predictably advised him not to risk his life with such a commitment.
Thus did Muhammad and Douglas's promoter, Bob Arum, learn Wednesday what
the Levin brothers (who still advise Jones even though he seldom
listens) and HBO Sports officials learned long ago: Roy Jones Jr.
doesn't like to fight.
''That's boxing,'' said Time Warner Sports CEO Seth Abraham. ''That's
Roy. Roy is blessed at being maybe the best fighter in the world, but
it's a curse because he doesn't like the sport or the business, and
that's all tied up with his father and what happened in Seoul.''
In Seoul, he was so obviously cheated out of the gold medal that he was
later voted outstanding boxer of those Games. But he went home with only
a silver medal because at least two judges were paid to vote for a
Korean boxer in Jones's gold medal bout.
''He's a great fighter who's always looking for a reason not to fight,''
said Abraham. ''It's always something. He loves basketball more than
boxing, but he knows he'll never play in the NBA. So he fights, but he
doesn't love to fight.''
He also doesn't often fight. He hasn't been in the ring since
dispatching Montell Griffin, the only professional to beat him, last
summer. After that fight, in which he won back the World Boxing Council
light heavyweight title, Jones announced he couldn't care less about the
title or about a light heavyweight HBO tournament that would crown a
unified champion and pay him several million dollars per fight.
Instead, he fractured the title further by giving his up rather than
defending it against No. 1 contender Michael Nunn, and then announced he
would move up to the heavyweight division because he needed a
multimillion-dollar payday.
Not long after that, he turned down $5 million to fight Jeremey Williams
and sought $10 million to fight Michael Moorer after Moorer was dropped
five times by Evander Holyfield.
With his career stalled and HBO in no apparent hurry to overpay him to
fight what has become a stable of stiffs on his resume, Jones hired
Muhammad to aid the Levins in moving his career. To his credit, Muhammad
did a marvelous negotiating job, convincing Arum and Douglas to take
$1.7 million while Jones would get $6 million. He then satisfied every
one of Jones's demands - from how many rooms and plane tickets he would
get, to how the promotion would be advertised, to making sure his pal
Smoke Gainer was on the pay-per-view card.
Faced with this possibility of actually having to fight, Jones turned to
a man to whom he barely speaks, a man he claimed used to beat him with a
rubber hose in training. His father.
But in bailing his son out, Roy Jones Sr. also may have sunk his career,
despite all of Jones's talent and his record (35-1, 30 KOs), because HBO
has grown weary of trying to cajole a reluctant dragon into the ring.
''Screw Roy Jones,'' a television industry insider said. ''We're all a
little sick and tired of this.''
Abraham and HBO Sports vice president for programming Lou DiBella were a
bit kinder but no less frustrated.
''Roy sent Murad a fax last week that said he'd accepted the fight,'' an
incredulous Abraham said. ''It was not legally binding, but at the time
he didn't say a thing about his parents. He had the payday he said he
wanted and the real challenge he said he wanted. Maybe that was the
problem.''
Whatever the problem, and it is surely a deep-seated one, Jones sits in
his empty house, one of the richest young men in Pensacola, Fla., with
no place to turn. He says he cannot make the 160- or 168-pound limit
anymore, has no interest in fighting at 175, can't make a dime as a
cruiserweight because nobody in that division does, and now feels he
would be risking life and limb as a heavyweight.
Sounds like it's time for a retirement party.
Short jabs
You figure this out. WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis will not
train at Big Bear, Calif., where he normally prepares for title fights,
but instead will work out of the Leprechaun Gym in Miami for his March
28 bout with Shannon Briggs. Briggs is training at the same gym. Main
Events spokesman Mike Boorman suggests, ''Maybe they can share an
apartment also.''... International Boxing Federation super middleweight
champion Charles Brewer will defend his title against England's Herol
Graham on the same card. In his last defense, Brewer defeated Boston's
Joey DeGrandis, while the fight that got Graham another title shot was
his victory over Vinny Pazienza ... On April 7, somebody's stalled
career could end when aged Tim Witherspoon fights dangerous but
disaster-prone Jimmy Thunder on USA Network ... Main Events had a big
week with Roberto Garcia (29-0, 23 KOs). Early in the week, it signed
Garcia to a promotional contract and by the end of the week it learned
he would fight Harold Warren for the vacant IBF
unior lightweight title that another Duva fighter, Arturo Gatti, had
just relinquished ... Jose ''Buffalo'' Martin, the longtime trainer of
Julio Cesar Chavez, died in a car accident in Spain Jan. 4. Chavez is
still scheduled to fight Miguel Angel Gonzalez for the vacant WBC super
lightweight title March 7 ... Speaking of the IBF, how can anyone issue
heavyweight ratings like theirs with a straight face? The IBF's January
list claims Vaughn Bean is the No. 1 contender, followed by Frans Botha,
Hasim Rahman, Ray Mercer, and Henry Akinwande. Excuse me if I gag just a
bit ... The Professional Boxing Writers Association has selected the
Arturo Gatti-Rafael Ruelas war as the 1997 fight of the year. Gatti's
manager, Pat Lynch, was named manager of the year ... Gatti, by the way,
needed 13 stitches to close the cut over his left eye that cost him his
recent bout with Angel Manfredy ... This may be more a testimony to his
opponents than himself, but young Zad Judah is not only 14-0 with 10 KOs
but has not lost a r
und on any judge's scorecard since turning pro. He is 41-0 in rounds ...
World Boxing Organization-IBF junior bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia
will fight his last fight at 115 pounds Friday in his hometown of
Albuquerque, if all goes as he plans. Tapia has added a new co-manager
and trainer in former Tommy Morrison handlers Tony Holden and Tommy
Virgets. Tapia had tried to convince Teddy Atlas to train him in place
of Abel Sanchez but Atlas was reluctant to get involved in a situation
where a fighter is co-managed by his wife. ''I told Johnny he needed his
wife but I didn't,'' Atlas explained. Tapia made the switch, he says,
because Sanchez could not devote all his time to him, the same reasoning
he used when he walked away from Arum to sign on with Don King. ''I
needed someone for me,'' Tapia explained. ''Tommy is dedicating himself
to myself.'' Tapia believes he will be at his best at 118 pounds,
although it's difficult to argue with his 42-0-2 record and dozen title
defenses at 115, but insists he wi
l go no higher. ''I don't want to fight at 125 or 130,'' Tapia said.
''I've been 115 since 1988, so I want to try something different but I
don't want a weight I walk around at. That's no work.'' Tapia denied he
is moving up in pursuit of hometown rival Danny Romero, whom Tapia
defeated in a controversial fight last year. In fact, Tapia said he has
no interest in Romero. ''It was such an easy fight the people don't want
to see me fight Danny again,'' Tapia said. ''Danny is the only one who
wants that. But why? It would be the same fight as the last time. What's
he going to do different? Box me? I already proved what I had to prove.
The only reason Romero is still around is because he mentions my name.
Romero is gone already. He's out of my dreams.'' ... Fernando Vargas
will need surgery to remove a calcium deposit on the knuckles of his
right hand. That injury forced the cancellation of his first real test,
a fight with Romallis Ellis.
Local bleatings
Onetime Providence middleweight Brian Barbosa (22-3, 16 KOs) defends the
US Boxing Association title and seeks the vacant North American Boxing
Federation version as well vs. Antwun Echols (23-3, 16 KOs) on USA
Network Tuesday night ... Mike Cappiello fights on a small card at the
Roxy Feb. 20 ... Chelsea heavyweight John Ruiz defended the NABF
heavyweight title for the second time with an 11th-round TKO of former
world champion Tony Tucker last weekend in Tampa. Ruiz (32-3) is now
third in the world in the WBC ratings and seventh in the WBA. According
to promoter Art Pelullo, Ruiz is ''now ready for bigger fights against
[Mike] Tyson, Holyfield, or Lewis or any of the top heavyweights in the
world.'' The problem for Pelullo and co-promoter Panos Eliades, who also
handles Lewis's affairs, is that Ruiz announced after the fight he will
be seeking a new promoter when his contract expires in June. If he gets
one, he may end up back on HBO, which had said it would not use him
after Pelullo and Elaides blocked
uiz from fighting Tim Witherspoon after Eliades had originally agreed to
the match without Pelullo's knowledge ... Dan O'Malley will run another
amateur show at The Sports Resort in Weymouth March 2. For ticket info,
call 781-335-1000 or 617-786-9547 ... O'Malley will run a pro show
Saturday at the Braintree Armory, with South Boston junior middleweight
Shaun Creegan (6-0-2) headlining in a rematch vs. New Hampshire's Rick
Edson (8-7-2). They fought to a draw last month at Foxwoods. Undefeated
Tommy Attardo (7-0) and Quincy heavyweight Steve Scigliano also will be
on the card. Call 617-786-9547 for tickets.