By Ian S Palmer
The new generation of boxing fans may only know Roy Jones Jr. of Pensacola, Florida as an HBO analyst. But older fans were lucky enough to see him box while in his prime a decade or two ago. While Jones is often seen working on boxing telecasts he’s never hung up his gloves and will be entering the ring again this Friday, September 26 in Krasnodar. Russia. Jones will be taking on Hany Atiyo of Egypt in a 12-round bout for the Jones’ German version of the WBU Cruiserweight title. Jones has been fighting in Eastern Europe for the past few years as he’s had bouts in Latvia, Poland and Russia. He also visited Australia in 2008 to unsuccessfully take on Danny Green.
Jones is now 45 years old and the former pound-for-pound king is definitely past his prime, but still skilled enough and in good enough physical condition to take on the likes of the 30-year-old Atiyo. Jones is no longer a serious contender for a world title and hasn’t been since he was knocked out by Denis Lebedev in Russia in 2011. Since then Jones has four straight wins over Grade B or C boxers. His last outing wasn’t too long ago as he beat Courtney Fry by stoppage back on July 26.
Jones feels that fighting again in such a short time span is beneficial to him since he’s already in shape. He believes he’s in better shape now than he has been for years and the best way to stay in top condition is to simply stay active in the ring. Jones is easier to hit these days though as he’s lost some of his speed and fancy footwork. In addition, his chin has betrayed him on several occasions. The former champ will be entering the ring this weekend with an impressive record of 58-8 with 41 Kos. However, he’s been stopped in four of his eight losses by Lebedev, Danny Green, glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver.
Jones now struggles against boxers with quick hands and power and it’s doubtful that Atiyo has enough dynamite in his fists to stop Jones since he’s moving up in weight from light heavyweight for this contest. Atiyo will be climbing through the ring ropes with a decent record of 14-2 along with 10 Kos and will have a 3.5-inch height advantage over Jones. Both of Atiyo’s losses came in bouts against Joey Vegas and both of them came by knockouts. In fact, he hasn’t fought since Vegas stopped him in the fourth round back in June of 2013. Vegas also stopped him in the 11th round a year earlier.
So we know Atiyo has a questionable chin and lacks in experience. He also never fought anybody the average boxing fan has heard of. The one thing that Atiyo does possess though is decent power. But as stated, it has been down in the light heavyweight division. Still, a perfect punch could do some damage to the ageing Jones if he walks right into it. Even at this stage in his career it’s going to be hard to outbox a master boxer such as Jones and it appears Atiyo’s best chance could to be to go for an early knockout.
Prediction
Jones has had his share of knockouts during his career, but most of them were from an abundance and accumulation of shots rather than the one-punch variety. He stopped Jeff Lacy in 2009 when Lacy couldn’t answer the bell for the 10th round, but the last time he stopped anybody during a round was also in 2009 against Omar Sheika. However, Fry was unable to answer the bell for the sixth round against Jones in July. Jones still has some sting in his shots and there’s an outside chance he wins or loses by KO, but the safer bet here is that Jones takes this bout by a unanimous decision.
