(Transcribed by Michael Readman) Roy Jones Jr. has been continuing his boxing career well into his forties, and while his success fighting in a higher weight division has been mixed, Jones currently finds himself on a five fight win streak. Jones, (59-8 42KOs) has won titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight, and is looking to cap off his career with a belt in the one division he has yet to capture one, cruiserweight.
In part 2 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview with Roy Jones Jr, I get his thoughts on who he would like to fight next, and how far away he sees himself from a title shot. Jones also talks about working with Jean Pascal and what he expects from the March 14th bout with Sergey Kovalev. Additionally, Jones shares his views on a potential Pascal-Stevenson bout, and if he thinks it’s bad for the division not to have one unified champion.
Jenna J: Roy, you’re still boxing, you’ve had pretty good success lately, winning a lot of fights and doing tours overseas. What are things looking like with your boxing career?
Roy Jones Jr: Things are looking good, I’m still doing what I do. I’m on a five fight win streak right now an I’m looking forward to getting back in the ring again and I think as a matter of fact, I’m fighting again on March 3rd and I’m hoping to get a date with Marco Huck at some point in the spring or the summer.
Jenna J: So, you’re looking at Marco Huck for the WBO title. Where would that fight take place? Would you have to travel overseas for it?
Roy Jones Jr: Yeah, they want me to come to Germany, which I’m not against if the money’s right and everything. Yeah, I’ll go to Germany, I’m not against nothing. If we gotta make it happen then we’ve gotta make it happen.
Jenna J: You say that you want to go for a cruiserweight title. If you get that title, is that it for you?
Roy Jones Jr: Yeah, if I get that, that’s it for me because what are my goals after that? I won every title between middleweight and heavyweight if I win a cruiserweight title, so what other goals do I have? The biggest thing that I learned over the last eight years is that if you’re gonna box, then you must have a goal. If you don’t have a goal then you must not box.
I have a goal to win a cruiserweight title and once I have accomplished that goal there is no point just going out there and fighting, I would be like I was when I fought Tarver the second time. The second time I fought Tarver, I fought with no goals, no incentive, I just fought him because people wanted me to fight him, and in boxing you can’t do that because boxing is not play sport, it’s a real fight.
If you don’t have goals or an incentive, then you shouldn’t be out there and I won’t make that mistake again. After I win that cruiserweight title, if I don’t have a goal or a real reason why I’m fighting, then I’m not gonna fight.
Jenna J: Is it just a big fight that you’re looking for at cruiserweight or is it anyone with a title because Wlodarczyk recently lost his title?
Roy Jones Jr: Anyone with a title. I tried to fight Grigory Drozd too but I can’t get his people to call me back, so it sounds like they don’t want it. I would love to have it but it sounds like they don’t want it. I would take any cruiserweight title.
Jenna J: Roy, how long do you think you realistically have to get this goal done in your career?
Roy Jones Jr: A year or two. Bernard Hopkins fought till he was fifty, I was a little quicker and sharper than Bernard, so I’ve tightened my defensive aspect of the game and he fought until he was fifty, I think I should be able to fight until I’m fifty five!
Jenna J: Let’s talk about Sergey Kovalev’s fights with Jean Pascal. What do you ultimately think is gonna happen?
Roy Jones Jr: I don’t know, I can’t talk about that right now because I’m training Jean Pascal and I don’t wanna give away our gameplan this early in the game so no.
Jenna J: You don’t wanna give away his game plan there. Do you expect your fighter to have his hand raised at the end of the night?
Roy Jones Jr: Of course. I wouldn’t go into the fight if I didn’t think he could win it, of course I do.
Jenna J: Do you think if he wins that he should fight Adonis Stevenson?
Roy Jones Jr: Already tried to do that. I don’t know if Adonis would fight him. He tried to fight Adonis before he fought this fight. I don’t think he should do nothing after he wins this, he should sit back and let them come to him. He’s the man at that point.
Jenna J: That’s exactly what he told me. He said if he wins the title, he won’t actually fight Adonis Stevenson. Do you think it’s bad though for the division that we wouldn’t have that one champion?
Roy Jones Jr: No, it’s not like that because it all depends on what happens. It’s all about who comes to the show, who comes ready, who’s willing to take the gamble. It all depends on what happens. We can’t say what will or what won’t happen, it all depends on how the situation shapes out.
Pascal at that point would be considered the man in the light heavyweight division, he don’t have to go looking for nobody. He can now sit back and say, “Adonis do you wanna fight?” just like Floyd’s doing with Pacquiao, “You take x, y, z and we’ll fight, if you don’t want to take that then we won’t fight, simple.”
Jenna J: Roy, you have a lot of fans out there, you always have a lot of support. Anything you wanna say to your fans out there?
Roy Jones Jr: I just wanna say thank you to all my fans for always supporting me, I’m still in the loop. I’m trying to win this legitimate cruiserweight title, one of the top ones that they consider legitimate. I have a WBU cruiserweight title but I really want one of the top ones that they consider the main four. Whatever y’all do, I’m back in the studio working at ‘Body Head Bangers Volume II’ it should be out by April or May, make sure you all cop that.
Ezpinosa said that Arum wasn’t being truthful by telling the Media about the ongoing negotiations concerning the fight. He said that no deal has been made up, we knew too well that Mayweather was not his own boss since he’s the puppet of Haymon. Haymon built his philosophy in boxing by avoiding risk factors which could endanger his fighters. Therefore, the much awaited fight between Floyd and Manny will not come into fruition since Espinoza and Haymon considered Pacquiao too dangerous for Floyd!
Yes, Espinoza is like Phil President abnoy who advocates ‘staright path’ as principle for governance, but his actions and programs are the opposite—–crooked path.
You will be punished for this. Mark my words. Repent now or you’ll never see your face smile again.
Never say anything regarding to Philippine governance.