WHOLE TOWN'S TALKIN' ABOUT THE JONES BOY By George Elsasser

An old song of a few decades back was titled "The Whole Town’s Talkin’ About The Jones Boy" … and continued with lyrics that included "He acts mighty peculiar now " … My goodness, who could have thought it?

May not be a truism - but rather an illusion - that fite fans are usually happy campers when told to drop the drawers and touch the toes, before being led to them high-priced seats.

But, to be sure, it’s no illusion that boxing fans top the charts in the suckers department that carnival man P. T. Barnum once spoke of … and so it is, the whole town is talking about the Jones boy and his shot at making history in the Ruiz bout.

History? … always liked Jones dating back to the big rip-off in that Olympic gold medal quest … recall at the time stamping him a can’t miss as a pro - has been just that and more at middle, super-middle and light heavyweight.

But this making history thing is a tough swallow for me … feel before any fighter is bestowed that type recognition he must first prove himself by earning it while under fire … if only on one occasion - and RJ has yet to qualify.

Hopefully, this coming Saturday will show Ruiz putting Jones to the ultimate test … maybe with Roy Jr. tasting his own red fluid - then, win or lose, we -the fight fans- will finally have a better read on just how high a post-fite career final resting place his memory will have earned.

And once the smoke clears, may the better man walk away with the WBA bauble - and leave history to the history makers of this great big world gone wacky.