In case you missed it, over the weekend Roy Jones, Jr., age 42, got knocked out by someone named Denis Lebedev.
Sigh.
I used to be an extremely big boxing fan, and of all the fighters two stood out as my favorites: Sugar Ray Leonard and Jones.
Leonard ended his career at age 40, getting his ass kicked by a conga line of stiffs. Now Jones is going out the exact same way—and I never saw it coming. I know … I know—this is boxing, where stars die out the hard way. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, I assumed Jones was different. He just seemed so smart and savvy; the kind of guy who’d do a Lennox Lewis and go out at—or at least near—the top. He’d enter business; do some commentating; maybe represent athletes.
Instead, he’s here—on the mat of a ring in the middle of nowhere, watching his Best Ever argument go poof.
Sad.
That’s a bad job by the referee. He should have stepped in faster – that last punch was a borderline cheap shot.
agreed.
You are right about except one thing: Sugar Ray Leonard did not go out against a “conga line of stiffs.” The last two opponents of his career? Terry Norris and Hector Camacho. Not stiffs. As for Jones’ last fight, Lebedev is a world-class Cruiserweight who was expected to make mince meat of Jones. As for the guys Jones lost to before Lebedev, Danny Green and Bernard Hopkins, not stiffs either.