Jonesin'

What a precarious perch a great boxer occupies....

Roy Jones is the best boxer of his generation. He has titles at multiple weight classes. He has schooled some big names. He made James Toney look like a ham n' egger. He beat the heavyweight champ. He has trouble finding fights that interest him.

Then he zigs when he should have zagged, and he gets smacked up like a recalcitrant serf. Roy was left crawling, dazed, and no longer untouchable. He was just another victim.

No matter how good you are, the human head can only take so much inflicted force. A boxer's fist is dense bone, and scientifically applied so as to land with maximum mass and acceleration. Properly thrown, it can smash your brain into your skull wall. When this happens, it's sleepy time- no matter who you are.

That Roy was able to avoid this blow for so many years is a testament to the tremendous skill he brings to the ring. This KO may have been more of a matter of his attention span relaxing than anything else. He may decpitate Tarver in the rematch.

Still, there isn't a picture of someone standing over a poleaxed Rocky Marciano. Ali took many haymakers from many better men, but he never crawled on camera like Jones. Even fighters who lost a few fights, like Hagler and Leonard, were never seen staggering across a ring like a 12 hour drunk. One lucky punch by Antonio Tarver may have just destroyed Jones' re-sale value.

He may be on that lower tier of Greats, now. Tyson looked like one for the ages, but a Buster Douglas beatdown led to a collapse. Tyson will be remembered as a fearsome champion, but he isn't in that Upper Class. Tommy Hearns won some big fights over a lengthy career, but a detractor could easily find pictures of him laying at his opponent's feet.  

Roy isn't done. He should try to avenge this loss, and do so in as brutal a way as possible. He may then get some more  big fights, but he is no spring chicken. He may have already suffered the loss that signals the commencement of the decline of his reputation.