Jones Jr. gave U.S. heavyweight lift

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

— Few Americans can recite the names of the world heavyweight champions. (Yes, there are two of them, two natives of Ukraine.) Wladimir Klitschko holds three of the most recognized heavyweight belts. When Vitali Klitschko, his brother, occupies the same room, you might say he holds 25 percent of the world title.

Both brothers are extremely popular in Europe, especially Germany.

USA heavyweight boxing had pretty much been in the doldrums until promoter Don King matched light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. against WBA heavyweight titleholder John Ruiz. The only excitement came from the Jones side.

From the time Jones was an amateur middleweight star, the fight game had sought a worthy opponent for him. By then 34 and a pro-champion in four weight classes, he remained in search of a serious test.

Then Don King guaranteed him $10 million to fight Ruiz on March 1, 2003, at Las Vegas. Jones bulked up to 193 (not that you’d notice) and Ruiz weighed 226. Challenging Jones, one Jones fan predicted, would be about as risky as betting on a sunrise.

Ruiz planned to chase Jones into exhaustion, and then unload some heavyweight power that Jones had rarely sampled. The problem was, Jones never bothered to retreat.

One ESPN commentator thought Jones won every round except the first. On the official scorecards, Ruiz lost 118-110, 117-111, 116-112, which translates to winning three rounds out of 12.

Ruiz spent the evening looking as bemused as a fellow trying to dance to the lyrics instead of the music. He punched rarely and pessimistically, while Jones’ hands appeared to be on automatic pilot.

No boxing trait more clearly separates greatness from mediocrity than the ability to cut loose dazzling, accurate combinations. Muhammad Ali had that, as did Joe Louis and both Rays (Robinson and Leonard). Louis, in his declining years, explained the difference: “My hands left me before I even thought about it. Now I have to stop and think.”

Jones never defended the WBA belt he won from Ruiz, who promptly won it from someone else. You couldn’t blame Jones for not being eager to fight Lennox Lewis (6-5, 250), the most authentic heavyweight champ of the time. Don King wanted to match him with Chris Byrd, an IBC heavyweight, but Jones wasn’t interested. Soon he was trying to sweat down to the light heavy limit. Soon, two ordinary light heavyweights knocked Jones out and, at 36, he started fading from the scene.

In amateur boxing, a blatant robbery committed by three judges in the 1988 Olympic Games at Seoul, South Korea, cost Jones the gold medal in the light middleweight division. How many times a day would you think he remembers that?

Sports, Pages 16 on 11/27/2012