By Brendan Galbraith – Yesterday, the great Roy Jones Junior stopped by Newbiggin by the Sea Amateur Boxing Club on the north Northumberland coast to meet fans and partake in an intriguing interview with, ITV Sport presenter, Andy Kerr.
Alarmingly, Jones has been talking up the possibility of moving up to heavyweight again, for perhaps one last fight, and he brazenly dropped in the names of David Haye as a future opponent that he would like to fight in the UK.
And on the prospect of facing one of the Klitschko brothers, Jones was just as nonchalant:
“I wouldn’t mind trying one of them – they had better watch”. Kerr, responded’ “You really would get in a ring with anybody”. Jones, solemnly replied, “Yeah, I don’t care”.
As the match-up between Haye-Harrison reminds us most things are possible in the fight game and in particular, the modern era is increasingly more about good business than good match ups.
Of course, there are many fight aficionados that are dismayed to see Jones remain in the ring and point to the losses that he has picked up in the last five years as evidence of his decline.
However, there is no sign that Jones is prepared to hang up the gloves, and in his interview with Andy Kerr for ITV Tyne Tees he was adamant:
“What motivates me is that God gave me a gift and if he hadn’t given me a gift all of these people wouldn’t be here right now, but because of that gift, until I see it diminished until it is now useable or not feasible to use no more, I feel like I should use it because if God give you something then you should take full advantage of it”.
“So I never try to abuse what he gave me and at the same time you cannot let people dictate to you when you do what you want to do. Because there are no people who could tell you before you got here what day you were going to be born, there is nobody who is going to tell you what day you are going to leave – so how can they tell you so much in between? So it all depends on how you feel. If you feel like you are still good enough and you feel like you can still make yourself get and do the disciplinarian things that need to be done – then you should fight.”
And what does Roy Jones Junior say to the critics that want him to stop, for the sake of preserving his legacy?
“Well, what I say is did they give me that legacy? No. I earned that legacy. So I also earn the right to say when I stop.” Jones added, “I might fight one time in the UK and then I might call it a day”.
Hopefully, Jones has a change of heart and decides to call it a day as there probably still are promoters out there who would only be too happy to cash in on the Roy Jones Junior brand, regardless if the great man is well past his prime.
The full Roy Jones Junior interview with Andy Kerr is available at the ITV Tyne Tees website. In the interview Jones talks about how the blatant robbery of a gold medal at the Olympics motivates him even more to succeed in the pro ranks and provided some advice for amateur prospect Bradley Saunders.
http://www.itv.com/border/a-boxing-legend98605/