If you thought Roy Jones Jr.'s knockout loss against Antonio Tarver was bad, it got even worse against
IBF Light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson. Johnson
landed a huge overhand right that landed behind the
ear of Jones, followed up by a left
hook to send Jones down in the ninth round. As Jones
went down the back of his head slammed against the
canvas, and he was unable to make any attempt to beat
the count. Just like that Glen Johnson shocked and
disrupted the Boxing world.
With that one huge overhand right, Johnson may
have cost Bernard Hopkins or Antonio Tarver a huge
payday. He may have also ended the career of one of
the all time greats. I don't mean to make it sound
like Johnson won the fight on one lucky punch. Johnson
controlled the fight from start to finish. Every judge
had Johnson winning the fight going into the ninth
round. 77-75, 77-75, and 78-74 were the scores in favor
of Johnson entering the ninth round. The crowd in
Memphis seemed to be wondering when was Roy going to do his
thing and end this fight. They may have also been
wondering whether Johnson was ever going to tire from
his relentless attack on Jones.
Johnson must have watched tape of Jones' fights
with Antonio Tarver, because like Tarver, Johnson kept
constant pressure on Jones, and had him fighting
defensively all night. From the start of the opening
bell Johnson came out relentlessly, not necessarily
landing a whole lot of punches, but staying very busy.
He was landing enough to win rounds, and eventually in
the ninth round knocked Jones out in devastating
fashion. People watching this fight might have thought
they were seeing Sugar Ray Leonard against Terry
Norris, Joe Louis against Rocky Marciano, Mike Tyson
versus Lennox Lewis, or even Julio Cesar Chavez versus
Oscar de la Hoya. What do these fights have in common
with this Jones fight? They all were the devastating
ends for great fighters.
After the fight the HBO crew expressed that they thought Jones should retire.
Two big knockout losses in a row to a man who once seemed invincible. Sometimes
watching Roy fight people would be surprised if he lost a couple of rounds, now
he has been knocked out back to back twice. Even
his trainer Alton Merkerson said after the fight that
Roy gets hit more now than he used to. It was kind of
sad to see the end, whether you like Jones or not. A once
great champion getting knocked out cold again, but
that's Boxing.
Glen Johnson retains his IBF title in most
impressive fashion, and after the fight welcomed a
fight with anybody. Jones was flat on his back, and
woozy for a good five minutes. It was stated after the
fight that Jones suffered a concussion. For the second
week in a row the ninth round does in a great fighter.
Jones will have some thinking to do, but fights with
Tarver or Hopkins are probably out of the question,
and retirement could be a possibility.