Roy Jones Jr. not done yet

Former champ faces Jeff Lacy on Aug. 15

The Associated Press
Published Thursday, July 16, 2009

NEW YORK -- Roy Jones Jr. speaks so fast that even he can't keep up, the verbiage tumbling over itself in an often amusing and sometimes incoherent stream of consciousness.

He may be years past his prime, but the former eight-time champion still talks a good fight.

"I enjoy the business of entertaining," Jones said on a conference call Wednesday. "I'm in this business because it's what God blessed me to do. I love doing this."

Often compared to Muhammad Ali for his robust trash-talking, brash personality and the way he carries his gloves low around the ring -- relying on speed and guile for defense -- the 40-year-old Jones is now trying to fight off one more comparison that isn't nearly as flattering.

That, like Ali, Jones is trying to hang on too long.

"Roy has proven to be one of the greatest fighters of all time," Hall of Fame matchmaker Bobby Goodman said. "Roy Jones is a throwback, like the Bernard Hopkinses of this world. Roy could fight with any fighter in any era."

Jones is headed back to the ring on Aug. 15, taking on former super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy at the Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Miss. The erstwhile pound-for-pound king has lost four of his last eight fights, including a brutally one-sided decision to Joe Calzaghe last year that left Jones wondering whether he should press on.

Jones evidently answered that question in March, revitalized by an easy victory over a badly faded Omar Sheika in front of his home crowd in Pensacola, Fla. -- a fight that left Jones pondering something else entirely.

"Why is it that in boxing, if a guy loses, he can't do nothing else?" he said. "In boxing, if you lose you can't do nothing. Why is that? Why do people always look at it that way? If you lose and it turned out to be a war, why can't you fight again?"

Jones paused for a moment, as if for effect.

"Then again," he said, "losing ain't never in the top of my thoughts."

Indeed, Jones said his thoughts are dominated by fighting his way back to the top, trying to prove that he can still win a championship. That could mean moving up to cruiserweight and trying for a title in a fifth division, or going all the way back up to heavyweight.

"If you got a decent name and you're legitimate, that's all it takes," Jones said. "I don't care what weight you are, just say when and where and I'll be there."w

Jones (53-5, 39 KOs) knows he must first get past Lacy, who has been trying to rebuild his own career over the past eight months.

Lacy (25-2, 17 KOs) was unbeaten when he went to Europe to face Calzaghe in 2003, and was thoroughly battered in an unanimous decision. He returned to win three straight fights before losing another one-sided decision to Jermain Taylor in November.

After a tuneup fight against Otis Griffin, Lacy immediately called out Jones, who was seated ringside and quickly accepted the challenge.

"If you follow my career, I never backed down from any challenger," Lacy said. "Being that Roy Jones is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters and still is today, I don't ever want to back down from that challenge."

Even Jones seems to realize that the fight is a big opportunity for Lacy, a chance for him to beat a marquee name on his comeback trail.

Of course, Jones would acknowledge it in his own estimable way.

"If someone makes a name off my name, God bless them, because they had to use me to make a name," Jones said. "If they can use me to make a career for themselves, how remarkable must I be? They're missing the big picture. If you can use me to make your whole career skyrocket, then what does that say about me?"