Ted , you could argue that the 8 months between the Ruiz and Tarver1 fights wasn’t a long enough period for his body to adjust to the muscle loss but the fight he was sparked in was 6months after this again , a total of 14 months to adjust to a 20ish lbs weight loss ?
Although I can’t remember seeing any signs of Roy slipping before the Ruiz fight ( indeed he dazzled the daylights out Clinton Woods just before Ruiz ) so unless Roy just got very old overnight then I suppose the weight loss must have been a factor in , at least ,the 1st Tarver fight where that ghostly Roy turned up but I still think , on balance , Roy’s downfall was more to do with father time than losing 20lbs .
Or maybe farther time was on his way and the weight loss kinda hurried him along .
Nice one mate .

He never really hit “bottom,” anyway. He only lost to good fighters, the worst of whom is Danny Green.

More likely, Jones just never had a great chin to begin with, just his reflexes were so darn fast that we never knew for sure. He had been floored a few times by less than awesome power punchers, so when he lost that tenth of a second that’s the difference between avoiding a shot and taking one square on the jaw, he started getting knocked out.

Also, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that his vision is somewhat impaired. The Green and Johnson KOs were both on punches to the back of the head that he just didn’t see coming at all. If his peripheral vision started to go down, that would explain why he doesn’t see those shots coming now.

As much as I admire Roys’ abilities as a fighter a sceptic might mention the words" Steroid " Withdrawal" Ted. Balcos demise coincided with Roys . Once Roy started fighting at 175 his style and body changed . He threw a lot less punches per round and relied on more on power . Its well known that steroids use and increased muscle mass do not aid stamina. Roy at 175 used to basically do nothing two minutes a round and explode with devastating combos for the other minute . Almost like Manny Pac v Cotto in that regard . Roy must have been on industrial quantities of anabolics to weigh 200 and have that body against Ruiz. Just supposition but as a sceptic I do wonder about these things . Roys ancient looking face makes one wonder as well . Its well known steroid withdrawal leads to premature aging because the body stops producing its own testosterone when one takes massive amounts . Then we have the fact that Roy relied almost completely on his speed and reflexes for his defence . I watched Hops v Jones again the other day and every time they fought at close range Nard started ravaging Jones . Once Roy had no legs with his average at best chin he was kaput . Nice point by Brickhaus visa vis Roys eyes as well. Cheers Ted .

That’s who hit rock bottom instantly.

Although the fall’s not from the top, ’cause he never get there.

Not so much sense about RJJ, he dominated the sport for a good part of the decade, and only lost to good fighters. After that, he somehow managed to keep himself relevant to some. Mijares has gone there but not Miguel Cotto.

Harry Arroyo was never a chump…..

I am now into gold BIG TIME. It may add some years onto my already mature life…..Between Boxing and Golf, what else is there except for family and some nice Scotch and Cuban cigars.

After getting TKO’d in the Azumah rematch Jeff then gets hammered by Calvin Grove in his next fight a year later. The KO punch sliced Jeff’s upper lip all the way to his nose. Two more wins over below av comp then Jeff gets bombed out in 2 by Holiday. 2-3, 3 KO losses in his last 5 fights – Crash and burn.

Until the Azumah rubber match 12 years later….

and Jones was all muscle. As a direct result of that loss Roy’s mental game appeared damaged. I watched the Tarver rematch in a jam-packed bar in New York and Roy did well in that first round, looked like he might be back. But he also looked a tad gun-shy. One of Roy’s biggest weapons, his un-shakeable confidence, was gone. He lost intensity after this and against Calzaghe he appeared to switch off and lose interest.