Jones Is Beginning to Think of Lewis
May 8, 2000
By TOM SPOUSTA
SARASOTA, Fla., May 5 -- Roy Jones Jr. shuffles forward and throws a few pillowy jabs unworthy of his reputation as pound for pound the world's best fighter. Early in a recent sparring session, at his warehouse gym hidden in a local industrial park, he looked uninterested, unmotivated, almost bored.
Two words altered his mood.
"Show time," Alton Merkerson, head coach in the Jones camp, said from outside the ropes midway through the third round.
Jones quickly changed personas, snapping his lethal double jab at will and smoothly moving his opponent around the ring. The pop of his punches suddenly matched the volume of the rap blaring from the stereo system.
Without question, boxing's undisputed light-heavyweight champion can still summon his vast talents on command. Yet at 31, despite his success, Jones finds himself in a midcareer crisis and wondering what challenges remain inside the ring.
"I'm smarter than I've ever been, but not as sharp as I've ever been," Jones says. "It'll take a lot of mental work and motivation to get me as sharp as I was. It'll take some bigger fights and tougher opponents."
Saturday night, Jones meets Richard Hall for the World Boxing Association light-heavyweight championship in Indianapolis. Hall's record (24-1, 23 knockouts) would seemingly make this one of Jones's tougher title defenses.
But Jones calls it a business fight, which will be his last on HBO. His contract with the cable network then calls for him to make one more pay-per-view appearance.
Beyond Hall, Jones doesn't see much ahead for himself among light-heavyweight contenders. Jones said he was seriously considering moving up to the heavyweight division. He has already scouted a potential opponent, too: Lennox Lewis, the 6-foot-5-inch, 247-pound heavyweight champion.
"I'm touching 190 pounds right now," Jones said, grinning slyly. "I never used to get that high. One more pound, and hello heavyweights."
Regarding Lewis, Jones said: "If he got to where no one would beat him, if Tyson or anybody else can't do it, I'd step up and take my shot. As a true champion, I can't turn it down. I know he'd feel the same way."
Jones continued: "People think he'd run right over me. It won't happen that way. I like Lennox. I respect him as a champion because he'll fight anybody. He's good, but he can be beat. He's big, he's strong, but he wears down quick. He takes punches on the chin just like everybody else.
"He'd be hell to beat, and hard to get to, but I'd sure try."
A bout between Lewis and the 6-foot Jones sounds more like a promoter's fantasy than a fighter's reality. But during an hourlong interview at his rented home on Sarasota Bay and later at his training site, Jones was serious about a future fight with Lewis.
Depending on his fight schedule in the spring, he sets up camp here to play for the Gulf Coast SunDogs of the United States Basketball League. One of six co-owners of the team, Jones is also the starting point guard.
A few hours before the workout, Jones had pulled into the Manatee Community College parking lot and emerged from a white Cadillac DeVille already wearing his gold and purple SunDogs uniform. He played three consecutive games last week, averaging 2 points and about 32 minutes of hustle in victories over Washington, Long Island and Kansas, arriving for warm-ups at the Hal Chasey Gymnasium about 90 minutes after his boxing workouts.
Tired or not, Jones blends easily into the offense; he is a passing guard, not a scoring threat, and plays decent defense, spending most of his time jockeying in the low post against opponents several inches taller than he is. Even if he wasn't a co-owner, he would be good enough to make the team.
"Basketball keeps my mind working," Jones said. "It keeps me wanting to improve. I do the intangibles. I tip the ball. I do all the little things. That's my role. I love it. I don't get that tired sparring."
As in his five previous U.S.B.L. seasons, Jones figures he won't miss more than two of the SunDogs' 30 games, including one the night of the Hall fight. He always shows up for practices and shoot-arounds. After fighting Hall on Saturday in Indianapolis, he plans to rejoin the team Monday night for a game against the Long Island Surf in West Hempstead, N.Y.
Remarkably, fear of a hand or other injury has never affected Jones's dedication to playing basketball.
"Why be scared of that?" Jones said. "If it ain't broke, I'm still fighting."
In 1996 Jones played a U.S.B.L. game in Jacksonville and defended his title that same night. Another time, he worked out for nine rounds in Sarasota, boarded his Learjet and flew to Atlantic City, played 42 minutes and returned immediately after the game so he could train the next morning.
At the recent Boxing Writers Association dinner in Manhattan, Jones accepted his award as Boxer of the Decade for the 1990's, arrived back here at 3 a.m. and was the first player at the SunDogs' 10 a.m. practice.
"He's unbelievable," said Sundogs Coach Rex Morgan, who is also a part owner of the team. "When he gives you a commitment, he stands by it. Sometimes after heavy sparring, his hands swell up and hurt his shot, but he still plays. He's gotten a lot better, too."
Basketball doesn't substitute for roadwork in Jones's training regimen. If anything, the game helps him more with hand-eye coordination. Mostly, he plays because it doesn't feed his ego. In that sense, Jones compared himself to Michael Jordan, who allowed himself to be humbled by baseball.
"In boxing, most guys are too arrogant, they always want to think they're the best," Jones said. "I don't want that. I'm not big on pride like that. My pride shows up in boxing."
Yet respect seemed to be a factor in Jones's decision to make the fight with Hall his last on HBO under his current contract. Jones believes that HBO executives didn't think his future fights would produce large enough profits. But believing that he should be rewarded for six years of loyalty to the network, Jones turned down an offer for a two-year extension to his contract in late January.
"I've given off one of the best images ever for HBO," Jones said. "I'd like to feel wanted. Every fight, I'd get the highest ratings, and I'm not a heavyweight. What more do I need to do? It didn't matter who I fought. People wanted to see the Roy Jones show."
Kery Davis, HBO's vice president for programming, said he was concerned over the quality of Jones's future opponents. Also affecting any long-term deal, he added, were the facts that Jones is 31 and has refused to vacate any of the titles he holds with the three main sanctioning organizations.
"We put a tremendous offer on the table," Davis said without naming any figures. "The numbers were the highest for a nonheavyweight on our network. It was a deal that represents the fact that he's the best fighter in the world."
At a crossroads inside and outside the ring, Jones prepares for another title defense against another No. 1 contender. Like the others, Hall is not given much of a chance to win simply because he's fighting Roy Jones Jr.
Yet Jones said: "There's always somebody out there. People just don't see it because they're comparing them to me. But they're out there. It's hard. Everybody's out to beat you. Last year, some people thought Reggie Johnson beat me -- that got me going a little bit. But there's not many of those anymore."
In the ring, responding to Merkerson's call for "Show time," Jones began firing more heated combinations that forced his partner, the light-heavyweight Billy Lewis, to back off and regroup. As Jones heated up, the others working out in the gym followed his lead. Between rounds, Jones ordered the compact disc changed to the rapper DMX's "The Kennel," a song with a hauntingly deep bass and monotone refrain:
One more road to cross One more risk to take Gotta live my life Like there's one more move to make.
Jones nodded approval, apparently motivated enough for the moment.
"Right now, I'm dominant; I'm on top," he said. "I want to take advantage of me. I want to take what God gave me and use it to the fullest. I can't duck behind nobody because I call my shots. I got it set up that way. Me and my ego have come this far together, and it's gonna stay that way. That way, you never run out of challenges."
Now THAT's a champion. - LPS5 |
