Welcome back to boxing after dark! In todays video we look at at the incredible trilogy bout between the great Roy Jones Jr Vs. Antonio Tarver for the light heavyweight championship of the world.
“You got any excuses tonight Roy “. That ringed in my head all night I couldn’t sleep. I was just a little kid when that fight happened and I thought Roy was invincible. I Learned very quickly no one is untouchable/invincible.
RJJ is the most talented boxer of all time imo, but it was his constantly changing weight that I feel really buried his career. He'd have destroyed Tarver in his prime, but having to put his body through what he did just to make weight, is what ended him. Thanks for the video!
Roys fighting style completely relied on his speed and agility... Once he lost his superhuman speed and agility he went from being untouchable to just another boxer.. but yeah in his prime he is P4P one of the best to ever do it, possibly the best.
I don't know. I think Tarver would have given a prime Jones just as much trouble as he did in the 2,000's. I do think Jones would have still won by a round or two, maybe even 3 or 4, but Tarver would have been the toughest matchup Jones could face in his prime if Jones moved up to LHW in his prime. Keep in mind, they were both the same exact age, so it's not like Tarver was the younger fighter by any stretch. Jones loved that lead left hook, but he couldn't just throw that against a southpaw as gifted and skilled as Tarver without taking the chance of getting countered with Tarvers lead hand.
@@donavonhoward114 a boxers prime or anyones prime in general is not dependent upon age alone because everyone ages differently... one person's prime could be at 20 years old (Mike Tyson) while another persons prime could be 25+ (Lennox Lewis)
His career has never been buried, he's probably one of the most celebrated boxes ever. Calzaghe however, that's a buried career, the average boxing fan has probably never heard of him.
I gotta mention this cause he's such a class act. My brother was a sports writer covering boxing I was able to mingle around with my press pass. Old Roy would often hang out around the press room. He was such a gentleman and gracious to everyone. You're the man Roy.
Roy gave up his career to fight a Heavyweight no one cared about. If he retired then maybe it would have mattered . His decline was the fastest in history for someone of Roys stature. Excellent video
@@Gen965I'm with you. I realize Ruiz wasn't no top heavyweight. even if he had the title. I think he should have fought Ruiz and quit a winner because he only lost one fight before that and that was by disqualification.
Roy got a warning in the first fight, he didn’t look the same obviously, easy in hindsight to say, but he should have walked away after that first fight with Tarver
@@BufordTGleason Roy's pride would not allow him to walk away. Remember Tarver was hounding Roy for a fight. That first fight left unanswered questions. If Roy ko'd or had beaten Tarver convincingly, then maybe he could walk away.
@@gregorybush3224 what I’m saying is that Roy got the answers he needed to know by the first fight that a victory in a rematch would be highly unlikely especially after reviewing the film. If Roy was honest with himself, he would have known that there were openings he was unable to exploit as well as punches he could not avoid as he had so effortlessly in the past. He could have easily said something like this “The Roy Jones in the ring tonight was not the Roy Jones. (Dude loved to refer to himself in the third person LOL) you are used to seeing and the move up and down from Heavyweight has been tougher than I expected and it showed tonight, therefore I would like to announce my retirement effective immediately” there is nothing left for me to prove and time to make way for the next group of great fighters like Antonio, Peace! So yeah I agree his ego was the problem but he could have walked away with an honest evaluation of his performance coupled with his weight change and years in the ring.
Jones career wasn't buried because of the Tarver fights. Jones had already climbed the highest peak in his sport after winning the HW title. It was the Ruiz fight for the HW title that effectively ended Roy Jones Jr as we knew him because he was never the same after he came back down to LHW.
You’ve got a point, I tend to think after the first Tarver fight would be more realistic. After beating Louise….I mean Ruiz, it would take a clairvoyants talent to see how much he would lose going back down. But after that Tarver fight he knew and should have walked away.
@@BufordTGleason - He was a professional fighter and walking away from the sport and money wasn't an option, win or lose. Roy was a pure fighter that wasn't concerned about his legacy, because he already reached all-time greatness after winning the HW title. There was no other mountain for him to climb after that, so he kept fighting knowing that he wasn't the same type of fighter that took him to highest of heights in his sport. So, winning or losing to Tarver at that point really didn't matter because Roy Jones, Jr was already certified as one of boxing's biggest legends.
I was 22 years old at the time,watching this fight in my house in st .bernard parish Louisiana. Tarver Shocked the hell out of me then & still to this day,shocked the hell of me now. What also stood out to me after this fight is how Tarver went Hollywood instead of focusing on boxing and then Hopkins beat him soundly. I remember Hopkins called Tarver Hollywood in the ring before the fight.
From what I remember this is why RJJ departed from his dad because he wanted to do things his way. What made Roy so spectacular was his speed and dynamics. He never picked up on better defensive techniques as he got older.
this is why i think dads shouldnt be coaches. there's just too many emotions involved when their son gets their ass beat, or when they leave them like Roy did. nothing wrong with what Roy did, but some people may take it as slimy.
Taver saying Roy always handpicked his opponent was the dumbest statement he could’ve made. Roy jumped weight class to weight class to fight the best in that class! At the time that was unprecedented and still only a couple have pulled it off but not as extreme as Roy with the weight jumps.
True but you can argue that Tarver was way More skillfull and had More tools than that heavyweight Champion, its as if Errol spence had move to 160 to fight a less complete fighter than the Crawford fight
@@optimalpowersimracing6625 you know this was the second fight that mean he had ample amount of time to get acclimated to the weight this was his second fight making the limit he never had a problem making… No More Excuses ❌🚫🛑
I’ll never forget RJJ Tarver 1 in the 9th round. That felt like the most gripping round ever. Not like a hearns Hagler round 1 action or anything but how calculated it was. Every single grimace, every single counter, every single taunt. All a calculated game. One of the best examples of proper “sweet science” just two exhausted men using every single thing they had to influence the scoring. Tarver kicked too early round 9. Shoe shined with over a minute left. Jones baited him and took the final 35 seconds. Without that, Jones is probably handed a draw as Tarver takes momentum for 10-12th.
that was exactly my point. After the 9th, there’s more than 2 rounds but regardless I said had he not adjusted to tarver’s calculation, and took the round back in the final 20 seconds. Roy was slowing at that point and needed to jolt up. They don’t publish official round by round scores back then so I assume your source is Lederman? Fine source by me, I agree with using it. But You don’t know the official scorecard by round no one does let’s establish that. But That momentum swing was crucial. If you thought I said Tarver took the final rounds then you also would have thought I was saying Tarver took a draw. Which obviously didn’t happen. Meaning I was speaking in the hypothetical bc the result of the fight isn’t in doubt. Roy reacted with a late flurry after drawing Tarver in ensuring he left time on the clock. I personally felt he lost that round but I had him winning the rest. To prove my point, lederman gave Tarver round 10 in fact. Again to be clear, had he not adjusted remembering lederman already gave Tarver 10, that momentum gives him 11 and 12. To lay out the maths clearly, that makes it a draw on lederman’s card. 116-112 transferring 2 rounds to Tarver is a perfect 114-114. Does that make sense?
Their first fight literally did light up my tv screen! Right before the first bell my tv mysteriously caught on fire, had to hurry and put out the fire but my TV was ruined. Didn’t get to see the fight 😢
Fifteen years of dominance? That's what legends are made of. Not even a bunch of loses. All respect to Roy Jones Jr. for giving such good fights and not just swirling the ring!
I have grown up watching MMA since it's inception,.. I always liked boxing but MMA was 1,still is but I have so much more love for the sweet science. These videos are amazing. They educate me more and more. Cheers from Toronto
Roy should have never come back down from heavyweight. I think that really affected him. The first fight against Tarver was the beginning of the end for my favorite fighter.
In some ways yes in some ways no, I think he should have dropped to cruiser weight at this point in his career since realistically speaking he was far too small for heavyweight think of how large Lennox Lewis, and the upcoming threats in the Klitchskos where in that time period
All he did was turn into a punch. He literally turned his head into a punch that was coming right toward his face. Crazy thing is that could happen to anyone.
Roy ignored the basics when he got ko'd. Bring you fist back to your face after throwing a punch. Throw more than one punch at a time. Get out of the way immediately. After he threw his right hand, he hesitated about throwing his left hook behind it. That split second was all Tarver needed.
Yeah, but Roy did that his whole career and was always able to get away with it because of his reflexes. He did things unconventionally, but because his speed and reflexes were super human he was able to ignore basics. But in this fight he'd gotten a little too past his prime to be able to get away with these things at this point.
@@desmondpowell3205 exactly. If only he stuck to the fundamentals all along. Combined with his speed and reflexes he would not have suffered those k o losses.
@@desmondpowell3205 so, I'm sure you saw his k o losses in Russia? Fighting at cruiserweight, I believe. Got destroyed by a Welshman and a Russian. Beterbiev was the Russian.
This fight broke my heart. Jones will always be the reason I fell in love with boxing. Watching him fight his next fight against Johnson and losing showed how spooked his was by this loss.
sorry that u fell in love with boxing because dude was a fraud and frauds break hearts i know u dumped him when he started becoming the poster boy of being knocked out i know u was mad the boy was a fraud fihghting bums and his coousins
Damn! Roy was as entertaining of a boxer as I’ve ever seen and that’s after watching all of the reruns of the greats ranging between either unique tacticians or flat out brawlers and bruisers…Roy just looked incredibly electric wow
and thats why he wasnt no fighter he was trying to play boxing being a athlete and wearing jordans and doing all that goofy shiiii but not fighting u cant play boxing u have to be a fighter and roy couldnt fight and thats why he started getting knocked out by everybody
@@WestsideCleveland Because he never cared to develop his defense and kept his hands super low. Watch both Tarver fights. Pressure is key against RJJ because he hated fighting on the inside. He loves to have the space to wow the crowd with his hands.
Roy Jones Jr didnt desapear from boxing world he is still fighting at age 54 and coaching and he is still reconized as on of the greatest boxer ever lived
wowwww! Im new to boxing and just watchingn Tarver for the first time. First two fights were excellent. Watching Tarver effortlessly land those punches through the tiny holes in Jones guard was a thing of beauty. Those angles too. Very impressive. No shame in losing to that man
Calzaghe vs Tarver would have been an interesting match up. Tarver in this fight with Roy reminded me a bit of Calzaghe in his fight with Jones. Although Calzaghes work rate was far higher than Tarvers, and Jones didn’t look as sharp as he was against Tarver. Tarver might be a bit stronger than Calzaghe although Calzaghes speed, engine and work rate was far superior.
When Jones fought Tarver, the first time, he was cutting down from being absolutely massive against John Ruiz when he won the HW belt. The weight cutting destroyed his career. He should have stayed at HW or cruiserweight to end it. He would’ve obliterated a Hasim Rachman and many others in their round robin tourneys.
@@EO2312. Ooooooo I don’t know about that. That first fight was VERY close and I remember thinking that RJJ was going to suffer his first legit L. Maybe I need to go back and watch but IIRC Tarver was banging on RJJ for several minutes and several rounds before RJJ finally started throwing. I remember in the first and third, but just how tentative Roy was but when he would actually let his hands go, he have a lot of success with the speed. He just kept backing himself up to the corner and letting Tarver pound on him. He took a lot of shots that fight which is why I believe Glenn Johnson was able to starch him so bad. EDIT: RJJ/AT 1: One judge had the bout even at 114-114, but the other two judges had Jones clearly ahead with scores of 117-111 and 116-112. (I’ll rewatch it)
@@MMAGamblingTips It’s because it was competitive. Watch it again. I’ve seen it a number of times and the late great Harold Lederman said it perfect. Antonio Tarver didn’t do a thing in the middle of the ring. Everytime I scored it, I get 116-112 8 rounds to 4.
@@EO2312. ok., i’ll go and watch it. I’ve only watched it twice. I’ve always. Roy was my favorite fighter of all time and I couldn’t stand seeing him lose like that. I believe he stayed in a sport just a bit too long for someone who relied on speed, power, and reflexes over technique. That’s exactly what happened when he ended up losing to Hopkins in the rematch. It was just technique. Look what happened in their primes. I think that Roy would have cleaned up both Joe Calzaghe Antonio Tarver from 1992 to 1997 when he was clowning on B-Hop and James Toney. This is all to say that Roy was so damn great before losing to Antonio that the competitiveness might have swayed me a bit. Roy didn’t just not lose fights, he didn’t lose rounds! Seeing him marked up was weird as well. I’ll rewatch it. 👍🏼
The first fight was a great fight. I remember though that Tarver never could land his jab at all really and I think that left just enough room for Jones Jr to out-hustle him with jolting counters most of the time
@@watappp Only because he kept on fighting when he was way past his prime. Every undefeated fighter would start losing if they kept on fighting when they were past it.
At the very least you can't come down in weight that far. Cruiserweight should have been the lowest he would go and even that he shouldn't have done. Agree with you.
@@jamesmarshall6619this is true he would have made a good cruiser weight at that time in his career ironically enough tarver gained and lost a lot of weight due to his role in rocky balboa and when we came down he had to fight Bernard Hopkins and that weight drain lost him the fight and even greater irony is that Roy jones was supposed to be the villain in that movie until he got put down by in the 2nd tarver fight
I gotta ask what made you decide from being a movie/Show channel to a boxing channel? Love the content I was just a bit surprised to see Harry Potter vids on your channel.
Roy spent too much time on the ropes and seemed out of shape after dropping down, but salute to Target he did what he had to do. Wished RJJ would have taken a year off like Ray Leonard after a loss to regroup
Had RJJ retired after the John Ruiz fight, he'd be top 3 all time without question. But Antonio Tarver was running his mouth so much Roy had to fight him. Dropped 25 lbs of muscle to fight a dude he really didn't need to fight. That says a lot about RJJ.
Actually Roy wanted to fight Mike Tyson after the Ruiz fight and then he's retiring, but had to fight Tarver because of his mouth. Fortunately for Roy, he didn't have to fight Tyson, otherwise he would have landed in the hospital.
@@higherpurpose1212nah at that time Roy would have probably finished Tyson as it was when Roy was still prime not having to cut weight and getting stronger at hw, meanwhile mike was losing himself at that time
@@higherpurpose1212Roy has been fighting since Tyson’s prime and till the match they had a few years ago. Roy’s been fighting for 30 years I’m pre sure
@@crushedscouter9522 seriously?! Going from being a middleweight champ to heavyweight champion of the world?! Who else you ever heard do that?! I'll wait..... and I'll be a skeleton by the time you reply!
There was a fight jones had prior to this one were it was obvious that he just was not there anymore. It seem like he lost his spark or motivation to fight like he use too. He was struggling to beat the opponent that a younger jones would have destroyed.
Jjr v Tarver There is NO DOUBT dropping down from HWeight depleted him. Absolutely no doubt & it wasn’t any other reason, plus Jjr athleticism & condition was depleting. Naturally athletic & immense speed but into his 30’s he didn’t adapt with this depletion. You cannot stay @that level, Tarver got him best time possible.
Lol it had absolutely nothing to do with him losing. You're embarrassing yourself. The only reason he lost was because he got beaten down by a superior boxer who he ducked for years
@crushedscouter9522 51 No bro you’re missing the real point here. Just because Tarver got to Rjjr @the time doesn’t make him any different than other Rjjr losses. In Rjjr Prime pre HWeight move do you see a Calzaghe beating him? BHop? Johnson?Macrinelli? Lebedev? All of them would have be dusted peppered eaten would never of even got close to Rjjr. Problem Rjjr faced was age/time in his career WHEN the losses happened. He was pure athletic and used his speed/skill but moving to HW and dropping back down with the loss of his natural speed depleted him. Look @his attacks Jjr V Tarver 1 you see him gasping for air the combination speed had gone. When you are that athletic & train for years the body dynamics has to give @somepoint, Jjr had depleted & Tarver got to him 1st. HW move had he retired absolutely most would have hailed Jjr as the best IMO I certainly still do. The move back down LBH here no fighter really does that it’s always a steady climb through the divisions. Jjr got caught when his condition depleted & Tarver happened to be the guy to do it. Middle SMiddle LHeavy jump CWeight n go HWeight ladies n gents give Jjr his props.
By the time Calzaghe fought most of those guys where already washed let’s be for real he retired before the next generation of contenders could be up and coming fighters could maturate
Hello to you all from West London, England. I wasn't really a part of the entire Roy Jones Jr. (RJJ) era - I mean, I was around during that time, but I never really followed closely or had someone to encourage me to watch RJJ in action and truly appreciate what an exceptional fighter he was. Over here in the UK, our focus was on Prince Nas, Benn, Eubank, and Collins. It wasn't until the late 2000/early 2001 when someone reminded me to take a closer look at RJJ's fights. Despite the suggestion, I didn't pay much attention and continued to watch whatever was being showcased within my own country. Similarly, just as there were many American boxing fans who weren't fully aware of how skilled Nas, Benn, and Eubank were, there were also numerous UK boxing fans who were in the same boat when it came to recognizing RJJ's prowess.
Well I watched the first fight and Roy won the first fight and the first is what matters. Nobody has to fight a rematch. I mean of course they have to give up the belt if they don't.
For years Roy was untouchable. One of the best ever. We didn't know Roy had a glass jaw until Tarver finally reached him in their second fight and I say that because Roy got KTFO (on the floor) a couple of times after that.
U sound ridiculous, he never had a glass jaw, he had been hit plenty of times in his prime and never went down like that, when you get older you don’t take punches the same way as you did when you were prime, that’s part of it, and you can’t pull the trigger like you use to either
@stlrockn there's no such thing huh. Interesting... 🤔 So your body and mind can't weaken We have seen plenty of good fighters get old and/or hit a plateau and then start to decrease. It's what the human body does but you got it playa
Let’s be real if he didn’t change them weight classes he would’ve beat the hell out of Tarver in his prime…. Even they first fight he look sluggish but was still showing quickness. His defense is underrated as well
Roy will always be ny number 1 boxer, the bouts that he lost later in his career. I honestly never counted them, he was in his end years, and wasn't like he were, in his earlier years, he still the greatest and that's what the people remember, before the fall off, we know he was honestly the man
This was near his end at the top level for sure, he continued on, as for Tarver..... this is the only thing hes known for. He went on and nobody really cared. He lost to hopkins and thats what the hardcores remember. Its like buster douglas beating mike tyson. Its more of a thing that roy jones lost, not the birth of a new boxing superstar.
This was a close fight no matter what Tarver thinks, and it could have gone either way. Lord knows what the judge who scored it 116-111 was thinking??? The fight deserved to be scored either a draw, or a split decision for either man. It really was a coin toss. After this, Roy should have retired from boxing as well. It would have been a great end to a stellar career, and would have pissed Tarver off no end too. 🤣🤣🤣
It’s interesting, RJ some of his strikes he seems to fall into them, he’s more of an in and out fighter, but Tarver is more powerful, he likes to stand infront of his opponent and do power combinations and do a lot of body shots. I can see how it would be hard for RJ. Respect to both fighters.
Jones was second only to the Great Supermiddleweight British World Champion Joe Calzhagi ..Retired Undefeated after more than 10 years plus World Champion after beating Jones, Hopkins , Lacy ,Mitchell ,Brewer , Kessler, Uebank etc etc etc .Different Class
Roy's was a young man's style. Low hands, dependence on head movement & foot speed, lunging punches. Zero losses Pre 35 years old (Griffen doesn't count), 9 losses after turning 35... Prime RJJ is arguably the P4P best boxer in history.
The one thing Jones, Tarver, and Chris Byrd should teach fighters is never go down weight substantially when you get older. Roy lost a lot of muscle weight and that's not unhealthy for the average person, but when you're fighting another top level fighter, weakening yourself is exactly the wrong thing to do. Roy's style was always predicated on instincts and athleticism, the weight loss drains you and your reflexes aren't the same and Roy paid a price for it. I thought Roy won the first fight because he won more rounds but the rounds Tarver won he threw and landed more punches. Tarver's problem in the first fight is there were long stretches of rounds where he threw nothing and Roy landed solid punches here or there to win those rounds. Tarver delivered more damage in the first fight, but they were concentrated over fewer rounds. Second fight, Tarver knocked him out so no discussion to be had. Tarver had to learn the lesson of weight loss in the Hopkins fight. He had gained muscle for the Rocky movie he was in, then had to lose that weight for the Hopkins fight and was lethargic. Again, Tarver weakened himself to fight an elite fighter in Hopkins and Hopkins schooled him and it sucked because I've seen a lot of Tarver fights, he just wasn't himself that fight. Hopkins may have still won but Tarver could have been better. Tarver had to admit the weight loss had an effect on him and later moved up in weight. Chris Byrd was a solid heavyweight contender, could hang with heavyweights, he move back down to light heavyweight later in his career and got absolutely smoked and retired. It's one thing to lose a few pounds but if you're losing around 15-20 pounds, especially weight gained by muscle, your body is significantly weaker. Roy obviously was hurt because his style was not conducive to being successful after his athleticism declined, he never adapted. Combine that with his weight loss, and it was just a matter of time before someone good caught up to him. The fact he won the first Tarver fight seemed to give him false confidence that he would be okay in the second fight when it should have been obvious he was not and needed to adapt. He's my all-time favorite fighter, at his peak he is still to me as good as a boxer could be at a peak, but his own sense of not needing to adapt, ego, cost him later.
Well a lot of people don't realize when to walk away a winner. Remember before he ever fought tarver he also lost to a disqualification. And when he went heavyweight he should have quit winner after he won the title.
No he didn’t… he went up and down so many weight classes it took a toll on his body… hey kept going up in weight classes because he kept cleaning out all the divisions. He’s the only guy in history to win the heavyweight title from junior middleweight… let that sink in bud
@@hocake8242 ducked Lennox Lewis. Bud. Picked John Ruiz who ruled the weakest. Era. So never beat the real heavyweight champ. Plus he was roided out of his mind. Nandralone dianobol etc etc.
RJJ won the first fight legitimately No question.The second fight he didn't have enough lateral movement, became too stationary made for an easy target
The fight didn’t ruin Roy Jones Jr career it was the dramatic weight loss from 201 pounds back down to 174 pounds, it took to much out of him, he lost a lot of power and stamina, he could have beaten Antonio Tarver easily
it’s crazy how people don’t seem to understand this. Even I tend to overlook the fact that coming into the 1st fight with RJJ, Tarver had put 17 people away in 22 fights. And he put Montell Griffin on the canvas twice in their fight even though Griffin made it to the final bell. And Roy took some HUUGGEEE shots from Tarver in that fight and never went down. And this was right AFTER cutting all that muscle. I think his chin was vulnerable by the time the 2nd fight came around. It was one huge clean shot away and to Tarver’s credit, he landed that shot. But Roy’s chin up to that point wasn’t as weak as people claim. It was just time. He’d already cemented his legacy prior to that fight. Still my favorite fighter of all time
Jones v. Tarver 1 was the first boxinb ppv I ever purchased. Unfortunately I fell asleep during the pre fight to only wake up at the scorecard . It's still remembered fondly.....kinda.
