Even if you’re the most casual of boxing fans, you’re probably thinking something along the lines of: Wow, is this actually happening? Well, I can confirm that, yes, this is actually happening. Hall of Famer Roy Jones Jr will be fighting one of his fans – stay with me – and will be offering the guy $100,000 if he wins.
Just take a moment to let that news sink in. All good?
If you’re anything like me, you might be wondering whether the 47-year-old former Pound for Pound champ has taken a little too much inspiration from the first Rocky installment. In that movie, as we all know, Apollo Creed gave club fighter Rocky Balboa a title shot because…well, Creed got bored or ran out of ranked contenders or something.
So Jones Jr vs TBA Fan is an inspirational underdog story just like Rocky, then? Well, not exactly. In fact, no. It’s true this is a rare type of contest in boxing, but it’s not quite as Hollywood as Rocky. First off, Jones is no longer a serious contender, and is considered to be more of a novelty attraction these days. Jones was also obliterated by fringe-contender Enzo Maccarinelli last December.
Jones will be fighting on whether you like it or not, however, and it seems the next natural step is to fight a less risky opponent. Hang on, is fighting a fan even…legal? If you care enough to find out more, or even enter your name into the mix to face Jones, you can do so at UrShow. For what it’s worth – without knowing what criteria the opponent must meet to actually ‘get a shot’ – I’d imagine there’ll be next to no chance of an upset occurring.
The whole point of the event is to make dough, right? And really, even with Jones clocking up 47 years of life, is some random fan realistically going to be able to compete with a professional athlete? My guess is this thing will play out like a glorified exhibition, with nobody getting hurt. And if they do, it won’t be ol’ Roy.
And consider this: is Roy Jones Jr about to knock someone out? Roy seems to need the money, sure, but I’m pretty certain even he doesn’t want to be remembered as the guy who pulverized a fan. If you’ve nothing better to do, you can check out the similar-sounding Evander Holyfield vs Mitt Romney for ‘old time’s sake’. And then probably weep a bit.
What’s your take on the bizarre next stage of Roy Jones Jr’s career? Come on. Seriously. I want to know.
