New year but same old lunacy from Roy Jones Jr, boxing’s bright-eyed boy who deserved a better ending

Steve Bunce: Jones will be 49 when fights in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida, in February and having his 75th professional fight. Why?

Roy Jones Jr at the beginning of his career, before the nine painful defeats (Getty)

New year and the same lunacy from a fighter chasing something they clearly lost a dozen or more years ago in a business that never fully closes its door on fallen stars.

Roy Jones Jr has been finished, dusted, unconscious, cut, left to carry his own bags a dozen times since he dictated terms, toyed with opponents and was the world’s finest boxer. Jones will be 49 when fights in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida, in February and having his 75th professional fight.

It was in Seoul, thirty years ago, at the Olympics ruined by corruption in the boxing competition that Jones Jr, the most dazzling of amateurs, was denied the gold medal by the most wicked of judging scandals. He held the silver like a steaming and putrid lump of human waste, dashed it away in a corner and turned professional to get what was rightfully his.

Jones was regal in the ring, winning 34 fights before a disqualification loss left a slight blemish on his record; five months after the defeat he got revenge inside three minutes with a coldness often absent from his other wins. In private Jones Jr raised fighting cocks and liked vicious dogs, the type that kill in betting pits.

In 2003 Jones Jr stunned Las Vegas when he won the world heavyweight title with a performance of boxing purity against a big lump called John Ruiz, who could fight back then. At that that time Jones was 48-1 in fights, had won 22 world title fights at middleweight, super-middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight. He was just 34, arguably one of the top five boxers in history and had he walked away at that point his legacy would have been secured.

Jones Jr is obviously not the only great boxer to continue fighting long after the sell-by date had been rinsed from his skull by a pounding, but Jones Jr, unlike Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and Joe Louis, just kept on getting up and dreaming again. The bright-eyed kid from the shameful Seoul Olympics has refused to listen to his body, his loved ones, his devoted flock and his critics during a series of crazy fights since that night of legend against Ruiz in Las Vegas so many fighting moons ago.

His finest hour - winning the WBA heavyweight title from Ruiz in 2003 (Getty)

The defeats came, starting in 2004 and twice he lost three in a row, often dropped and not moving as the referee counted or the doctor jumped in desperately seeking assurances that Jones Jr was still breathing. People in our business asked: What has happened to Roy? There was no simple answer and with each of the defeats, eight in total since the Ruiz win, it has become even harder to explain.

Ten years ago he lost to Joe Calzaghe in New York, he then beat a couple of other men who were fighting time as urgently as he was; the whispers that Roy had found the spark returned. They were obviously false, but the brutal truth is nobody wants to see an old fighter look old and we all seek a glimpse of something from a lost time, often finding a morsel to sadly justify our patronage.

Jones Jr became friends with President Putin, they swapped hunting and trapping tales, shared their experiences with gun and bow in pursuit of wild turkeys and bears. They laughed a lot and then Jones Jr was a Russian citizen and fighting on a promotion for a bicycle gang in Moscow, one of the many violent militias that Putin likes to have on speed dial.

The 48-year-old holds duel American and Russian citizenship (Getty)

One night in 2015 poor Roy was knocked out cold by Swansea’s Enzo Maccarinelli. “It gave me no pleasure - he was my idol,” Maccarinelli said. The aftermath was pretty lively with some very angry men looking for answers and prepared to ask the questions with chains: Putin had watched live on television and was not impressed that his latest citizen had been sploshed. The matchmaker took a beating, Enzo and his entourage escaped with respect.

Since that night Jones Jr has fought three times, had three wins, including one against a man having his very first fight. He also beat the self-declared world bare-knuckle champion in eight rounds, which was a fun carnival fight. Jones Jr has long been a major part of the boxing circus and his fight in February is unlikely to be his last.

His last, I would argue, was the flawless display against Ruiz and against the odds in Las Vegas fifteen years ago. Sadly, memories from that night have been ruined by the losses and shocking images of Jones slumping to the canvas with his eyes closed. He deserved a better end and boxing deserved a better ending.