WHEN the shock of Chris Eubank Jnr getting stopped in 4 rounds by Liam Smith wore off it was time for the blame game to start. It appears that we will by no means settle for a fighter’s defeat at face worth, that there’s at all times a cause. Inevitably it almost at all times begins with the coach. No surprises there. But when that coach is Roy Jones Jnr you’ll be able to’t assist however do a double take.
In equity, Jones has solely made issues worse by saying that an unlawful elbow from Smith was the main cause for Eubank’s downfall. It jogged my memory of a dialog I had with Tom “Boom Boom” Johnson in the days following his stoppage loss to “Prince” Naseem Hamed the place he advised me the similar factor. I keep in mind pondering how Johnson was in denial, simply as Jones is now. But no matter Jones’ perspective towards how the match ended, he’s definitely to not blame for Eubank’s defeat. Yet he might be blamed to a level, if not by Eubank himself, then by others who’ve a vested curiosity in the fighters profession.
If promoter Eddie Hearn didn’t hearth the first salvo then he definitely fired the largest one by principally saying that Jones was the incorrect coach for Eubank, that Chris’ best belongings had been taken away by the manner he was coached. Hearn is definitely entitled to his opinion, nevertheless it ought to be famous that he has taken some time to reach at it; Jones has skilled Eubank for greater than two years.
Hearn doesn’t promote Eubank, however has an curiosity in him if a matchup together with his man Conor Benn could be revived. That is a narrative for one more time, although. Jones didn’t take kindly to Hearn’s remarks and penned a response on social media, however these again and forth shouts are seldom useful to both get together.
His prowess as a coach mustn’t intervene together with his status as a fighter nevertheless it nonetheless makes you assume. Jones is at all times known as being an all-time nice, however when push involves shove is he actually?
Unless there’s a reversal of the outrageous resolution that went towards him in the 1988 Olympic Games, Roy won’t ever be a gold medalist. Due to that blatant theft he was by no means afforded the Olympic buildup in the professional ranks that was a springboard to stardom for Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya.
Though the undoubted pound for pound king when he fought, Jones by no means actually made a mark in a single specific weight class to be named as the finest ever in that division. He decisively defeated the likes of Bernard Hopkins, but few discuss with him with the reverence they do of Marvin Hagler when discussing all-time finest middleweights. Same factor at super-middleweight, the place Jones tounced James Toney, the place the dialogue often begins and ends with Joe Calzaghe and Andre Ward, with nary a point out of Jones. At light-heavyweight we hear about the likes of Archie Moore, Bob Foster, and Michael Spinks, however how usually does Jones’ title come up? And beating John Ruiz for a WBA heavyweight belt, although spectacular, shouldn’t be in the similar league as Spinks upsetting Larry Holmes.
You can, nonetheless, make a really legitimate case that no champion in boxing historical past confirmed the degree of dominance Jones did in his prime. He would hardly ever lose a spherical. Compare this to Floyd Mayweather who regardless of at all times discovering a solution to win struggled way over Jones ever did in his prime. Which brings us to the Hall of Fame banquet in Canastota, final June, which resulting from the pandemic inducted three lessons. Among these being enshrined had been Jones and Mayweather.
Mayweather handled the induction weekend like he was the foremost occasion and all the different honorees, Jones included, had been merely the supporting solid. Floyd proclaimed himself as the best of all time and stated he would at all times be. Meanwhile, Jones was seated at the finish of the very lengthy dais, a location often reserved for the much less prestigious honorees. Maybe this is able to have irked others in an identical scenario, however Jones merely didn’t appear to care regardless that he was in all probability the higher of the two when each had been of their respective primes.
It might be fascinating to see whether or not Eubank Jnr retains Jones as his coach. But simply the mere incontrovertible fact that an icon like Roy is placing himself able the place he may get fired by Eubank is one thing that might be unthinkable for the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali, who lived off of their iconic standing once they retired as Mike Tyson and Leonard do at this time. Somehow it appears beneath boxing royalty like Jones to place himself able of being dismissed by any fighter, not to mention Eubank.
But Jones, similar to at all times, is completely different to all the relaxation.
Roy Jones Jnr (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
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