Roy Jones Jr: “People have gotten over wanting Mayweather vs Pacquiao II and that’s why they’re talking so much about the McGregor fight”

Roy Jones Jr recently returned to the ring at age 48 against former cruiserweight title challenger and bare-knuckle fighter Bobby Gunn. After a slow start, Jones showed flashes of his former self and stopped Gunn in 8 rounds. With Jones boxing career heading towards a close, his career as a ringside commentator is as strong as ever, as he is frequently featured on HBO’s championship boxing telecasts.

In part 2 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview with Roy Jones Jr, I get his views on the talk of a Mayweather vs. McGregor bout and if he thinks that fight could be bad for boxing. Roy also gives his thoughts on Mayweather vs. Pacquiao 2 and a couple of PPV events set to happen this spring, Golovkin vs. Jacobs and Canelo-Chavez Jr. Additionally, Jones gives his prediction for both those fights, along with the chances of a Canelo vs. GGG bout this year. Here is what Roy Jones Jr had to say.

Jenna J: Floyd Mayweather is talking about facing Conor McGregor, what do you see in that fight?

Roy Jones Jr: To me, the MMA guys are good, they are great guys, but what it boils down to is a jack of all trades versus the master of one. Usually the jack of all traders is not supposed to beat the master of one. I can’t really see how McGregor beats the master of one. He is a guy who tries hard and is going to come out and give it his best effort, but it’s very hard for a jack of all trades to beat the master of one at that one particular trait.

Jenna J: Do you think it hurts boxing to have that type of fight? Is it good to have the best boxer out there fight someone who is not on his level?

Roy Jones Jr: How can it possibly hurt boxing unless Conor got lucky and knocked Floyd Mayweather out? How else could that possibly hurt boxing? It’s going to bring even more attention to boxing than him fighting another boxer. It’s going to bring more revenue to boxing and MMA than anything else, so how can that possibly hurt boxing?

Jenna J: Do you think there’s any desire to see a rematch between Mayweather and Pacquiao?

Roy Jones Jr: I think most people have gotten over that and I think that’s why they’re talking so much about the McGregor fight because they are looking at what’s next. What’s next on the list of great things that Floyd Mayweather has brought to boxing is Conor McGregor. It’s a big time event, it’s an event that will draw major revenue, and that’s what boxing is supposed to be about, so that has to be what’s next.

Jenna J: Another fight of interest is Canelo Alvarez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. A lot of people are counting Chavez out of the fight even though he has a significant weight advantage. What do you see in that fight?

Roy Jones Jr: You can never count Chavez Jr. out because of his effort and the way that his whole career has gone. He was a guy who started boxing and none of us really gave him a chance to do much of anything because he didn’t even have an extensive amateur background. To go as far as he went without having any amateur fights was a tremendously remarkable feat. With that being said, there’s nothing you can say that he can’t do because how many guys do we know that turn pro with no amateur background and become a world champion?

Now Chavez is fighting a fellow Mexican and that means that he’s going to give it all he’s got, he’s going to put his front foot forward and he knows he’s probably in for the fight of his life because not only is it a Mexican battle but it’s a Mexican battle for Mexican supremacy. A lot of people are going to cheer for Chavez because they are mad that Canelo Alvarez because he’s not fighting Gennady Golovkin.

To me, Chavez Jr. is in a win-win situation, he can’t lose either way. For him to have the guts to fight Canelo with no amateur background, he’s won already. Secondly, he can’t lose even if he did lose because he’s a guy who goes up to 190lbs, so for him to get down to 168lbs is not an easy feat anyways. You do have to give him a chance because there’s a size advantage, he may be able to take a little bit more if he’s not too drained from making weight. I think he’s going to be fine, I think it’s going to be a great fight and I think he has a really good chance of winning.

Jenna J: There’s an HBO pay-per-view coming up in March between Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs. What do you expect in that fight?

Roy Jones Jr: A great fight from both fighters. To me, Daniel Jacobs is in really deep because we have seen Danny Jacobs go down before. We’ve never seen Golovkin go down before and we don’t think we’re going to see him go down this time. With that being said, I think Jacobs has his hands full. He’s probably going to be the toughest guy that Golovkin has faced, on paper, but because we’ve seen him go down before, it’s hard for us to see him not going down again.

Jenna J: Do you think we will see Canelo fight Golovkin in 2017?

Roy Jones Jr: I think it’s possible, it all depends on how the Chavez fight turns out and how the Jacobs fight plays out. You can’t just say, “Oh they’re both going to win those fights.” Those are pretty tough fights and they have to go out and win. To me when you look at it, you wouldn’t think that Golden Boy would put Alvarez in a fight they think he couldn’t win and at the same time, you wouldn’t think they would put Golovkin in a fight that they think they couldn’t win because he also knows there’s a tremendous payday with Alvarez down the line.